In the cast of corporate characters, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are A-list villains, thanks to the central role they played in the 2008 financial meltdown. The two mortgage-finance firms failed as spectacularly as AIG, the poster child for finance-gone-wrong, with the combined Fannie-Freddie rescue totaling about $111 billion so far—the biggest bailout of all. Both firms are effectively nationalized, and the government would probably wind them down except for one thing: They underwrite about three quarters of all the mortgages issued in the United States.
[See how the government is swallowing the economy.]
POULAR POSTS:
- HSBC profit halves to $5 billion as bad debts jump
- Some bailout firms up lobbying spending in 2Q
- Bailed-Out Banks Doled Out Big Bonuses
- Lloyds loses $5.3 billion in H1 on bad loans
- Corporate Welfare on Steroids and the Coming Inflation Crisis
- Let the Good-times Roll, with Your Tax Dollars
- SEC plans ‘pay-to-play’ curbs on investment firms
- US turns up pressure on Honduras coup government
