EDIT:
Don’t forget that according to the whitehouses’ own website Fannie and Freddie are private companies:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2016/assets/gov.pdf
“They are not included in the Federal Budget because they are private companies,”
As a housing GSE, Fannie Mae is a federally chartered, shareholder-owned, private company with a public mission to provide stability in and to increase the liquidity of the residential mortgage market and to help increase the availability of mortgage credit to low- and moderate-income families and in underserved areas
//END OF EDIT//
Hey, just watched your segment on Fannie and Freddie with Dick Bove.
Loved it! Absolutely fabulous coverage.
Now, I realize that some of the questions and answers weren’t the best exchanges in the world, but overall, I think that this sort of coverage is fantastic.
Wanted to say that your perspective on why would Obama ever want to give private shareholders a dime is fair and reasonable, I mean why would he?
Well, my answer is this, it’s great to keep for a piggy bank for himself, but does he want to hand that over to a republican president? It’s my understanding that this charade will continue for as long as it benefits him and the political winds are shifting especially as this becomes more public, aka 228 > 187.5 which involves an amendment between two government agencies that their own acting director says trumps the law
so, the law trumping agreement between two government agencies is currently being litigated in the court of claims, which adjudicates government takings claims.
give it time, but there is a multi prong resolution here:
1. either congress releases via new legislation
2. either (not the president) but the secretary of the US treasury lew sends notice to fhfa / fnma / fmcc terminating the agreement on a court ruling
3. president calls melvin watt
lots of ways this can work out, but here’s the kicker… either this stays government owned, a government agency, and $5T goes on the government’s balance sheet… OR this becomes privately owned again.
in the privately owned situation where they just IPO an entirely new company, who do you think will want to own it if the previous owners just got $0 after their shareholder rights got expropriated by government self dealing?
anyway, the only way for this to continue is to return to private shareholders.
hope this helps!
love your coverage, keep asking great questions. i think you’re doing stupendous