Fannie Mae has paid the U.S. Treasury $134.5B after borrowing $116.1B and the government doesn’t count any of what was paid as payback. I’m not even speaking about the government’s illegal seizure of Fannie Mae. Fannie was used to bail out the big banks in the midst of a crisis in the private label mortgage market. I’ve never done a mortgage, I know! What I do know is that Fannie Mae doesn’t make bad loans to people with bad credit. Believe me, I haven’t even tried. Just before the crisis, Paulson gave a speech saying Fannie was adequately capitalized. I mean, what else? The government changed some accounting rules that they since have changed back, but in changing them made Fannie look insolvent and in changing them back swept the most profitable company in 2013’s profits for 2013 and beyond to the U.S. Treasury. They conspired to and decided to do this in 2012, the year before. Edward Demarco, who was previously at the U.S. Treasury, entered into an agreement as head of the FHFA and on behalf of Fannie to take more than 100% of the profits per year and sweep them to the U.S. Treasury till 2018 and then take everything happily ever after. Director Watt of the FHFA is actively covering this up by making payments of roughly the difference to restart the affordable housing fund.
A conservatorship by legal definition is no misnomer. The head of the government agency overseeing the conservatorship now says things are good and profits are for the foreseeable future but things are good for the government only and that’s the problem. The government hide’s behind the glass shield called the taxpayer, who is the scape goat for all their truly unjustifiable self-proclaimed justifications on justifications.
When, in the course of history, has the world’s most profitable private company in the following year ever been taken over by the government and is still ongoing? Fannie is by charter designed to be a counter-cyclical company that fills in when and where the private market cannot. You simply cannot take companies away from their rightful owners, steal all the money and then say THEY were the problem. During the crisis, Fannie held down the fort while the private money ran for the hills. Fannie’s perseverance is heroic! Fannie bailed the country out and we are the hero’s of this story and now we want our company back.
Fortunately for me, Judge Sweeney sees the government’s defense as schizophrenic. Schizophrenic was her word, not mine, but since it’s such a good word it’s mine now, and it’s good here.