December 28, 2009
Elizabeth MacDonald
Fox News
Ironic how the Pay Czar takes care of their own. It’s time for Congress to get back any remaining credibility and call all of them before the Senate, deep-sixing those that are un-American. Well that’s not likely to happen as the ruling Junta that follow Pelosi and Reid like lemmings over a cliff love what is going on. It is clearly an outrage that these entities are being given billions more dollars to continue with the same loan practices that led to the current world wide chaos in the financial world. Random thoughts while observing the passing parade, J.C.
Expect dismal fourth-quarter numbers for Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE), as the Treasury moves to pacify the markets by lifting their total credit facilities beyond $400 billion.
With that move, largely ignored in the holiday rush, the White House deftly avoids a nasty, negative headline criticizing the two biggest basket cases in the markets, publicly traded companies who got the biggest total bailouts of all because they are hostage to the Congress’s every housing desire.
Fannie and Freddie are portraits in miniature of a government distorted housing market getting a government bailout. Amid rising defaults, both made unusual disclosures recently, noting that the government’s pressure on them to assist the housing market could cost taxpayers.
But by lifting their credit lifelines, Congress avoided yet another bailout for Fannie and Freddie from an already embattled, bailout-happy Congress.
At the same time, the Administration and Congress avoid the criticism that Fannie and Fred are getting more taxpayer money even though their executive compensation is not subject to the pay czar’s limits, because they were bailed out before the pay czar’s strictures were put in place.
Unlike Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC), AIG (AIG), Chrysler, and GM, Congress deemed that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had not received “exceptional assistance” and therefore did not have to have their pay decisions scrutinized by the pay czar.
Top executives of Fannie and Freddie could get paid as much as $6 million for 2009, despite the companies’ horrendous performances this year.
The government has already doubled the lifeline provided to Fannie and Freddie in May 2009 (from $100 billion each to $200 billion each) and reports indicate that the two had wanted the administration to double that lifeline again (to a total of $800 billion). Fannie so far has received $60 billion, Freddie $51 billion from taxpayers.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac finance mortgages by buying them from lenders and selling them to investors. Together, they own or guarantee almost 31 million home loans worth about $5.5 trillion, or about half of all mortgages, reports indicate. The two also have hundreds of billions of dollars more in securitization stuffed off their balance sheets. Complete Story
hey this is a nice post and also bookmarked your site to look for more updates… thanks.
Pingback: Give American Muslims reason to fix their Islamic Jihad Problem; yes it is their problem « VotingFemale Speaks!