Bailout Time for Fannie and Freddie

			February 10, 2010 Log in / Register
			Text Size

The Terror-Industrial Complex

Wall Street Wants a Refund

America's Confused Approach to Afghanistan

Haiti, Forgive Us

Palin Calls Global Warming Research 'Snake Oil Science'

Wall Street Wants a Refund
By Robert Scheer

Some Healthy Summit Skepticism
By Ruth Marcus

America’s Confused Approach to Afghanistan
By William Pfaff

Haiti, Forgive Us
By Amy Goodman

So Much for Plan B

And Now for Another Big Toyota Recall

Palin Calls Global Warming Research ‘Snake Oil Science’

Scientists Uncover New Risk Associated With Thirdhand Smoke

NASA Needs More Moonage Daydreamers

Congress Has a Snow Day

Blame It on the 2 A.M. Worm

Sarah Palin’s Cheat Sheet

The Super Bowl: Perfect Backdrop for the Abortion Debate

Nationally Themed McDonald’s Burger Causes Kerfuffle in Italy

Tracing the Neural Circuitry of Humor

Larry Blumenfeld on Ned Sublette’s ‘The Year Before the Flood’
By Larry Blumenfeld

Two Books Take On Tintin, Boy Reporter

Pseudo-Reality Web Show Zooms In on Abortion Issue

When China Rules the World

Dig led by Martin Jacques

Financial Meltdown 101

A Dig compiled by the editors of Truthdig

Bailout Time for Fannie and Freddie

foreclosurewearhouse.com

Congress to the rescue! Mortgage lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are being propped up in their time of dire need, thanks to a bill passed Saturday that will lift the world’s two largest financial institutions out of immediate danger and help some homeowners handle mortgage crises.

The Telegraph:

World markets are poised for a major relief rally today [Monday] after the US Congress met in a rare weekend session to pass the most far-reaching rescue package for America’s financial system since Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.

The emergency bail-out gives the US Treasury sweeping authority to inject capital into the giant mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which together own or guarantee half the country’s $12 trillion stock of home loans.

The ceiling on the US national debt has been lifted by a further $800bn, giving the Treasury almost unlimited resources to prop up the two lenders.

In parallel, the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) is to guarantee up to $300bn of fresh mortgages for struggling homeowners trapped with soaring loan costs, often the result of “honeytrap” contracts.

The scheme aims to avoid an avalanche of fresh defaults as the housing market continues to deteriorate. Over 740,000 homes fell into foreclosure in the second quarter.

Read more

More Below the Ad

Advertisement

TAGS: congress economy fannie mae foreclosure freddie mac housing market mortgage new deal recession subprime

Related Entries

February 10, 2010 Wall Street Wants a Refund
February 9, 2010 Haiti, Forgive Us
February 6, 2010 Goldman’s Hand in AIG’s Collapse
February 5, 2010 ‘Left, Right & Center’: Global Markets Reeling; China Flexes Muscle; Apologies
February 4, 2010 Good News for Bad Cars

Email to a friend

Get truth delivered to
your inbox every week.

Previous item: Iraq Blasts Kill Dozens

Next item: From Surplus to a Record Deficit

Elsewhere: .

Comments

Are you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig.

By Glen Owen, July 29, 2008 at 2:08 am #

I find it curious that in all the news about IndyMac Bank failing, I saw no mention that Mozillo founded IndyMac as well as Countrywide.

I worked at Countrywide when they were running three shifts a day to jam $14 billion a month into the new loan hopper.

Why Mozillo is still walking free is anybody’s guess.

Report this

By Reubenesque, July 28, 2008 at 6:36 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

More wars, more baleouts, more stimulus checks. If the country’s money printing shops break down from overuse what will we burn to stay warm this winter?

Report this

By Dr. Knowitall, PhD, PhD, July 28, 2008 at 6:09 pm #

This is laughable. $300B in “fresh mortgages?” What’s that? A few months in Eyerack?

The US gov. enables usurers and predatory lenders and then, when things backfire, our gov. comes to their rescue, at the expense of the taxpayer.

One has to wonder how the Hell the mechanism to do such a thing was ever conceived and refined to its so highly sophistocated level in only a couple hundred years. And we thought the invention of the wheel was monumental.

Didn’t Ben Franklin say, “Neither a borrower nor a lender be.”? Most of us have succeeded quite admirably practicing half of his admonishment.

BTW, congratulations to middle-classers who might—but probably won’t—benefit from this. We’re led, and we want to believe that, for once, people who work hard to build a life in this country might be given some small consideration from their government. I’m not holding my breath.

Report this