Fannie, Freddie
If you're like me, you've been unable to make much sense of the news trickling out about problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. A lot of us have a hard time just understanding what it is that these strange mortgage-market behemoths -- government-sponsored corporations with the mission of increasing home ownership -- do, let alone what they might have done wrong.
Mitch Ratcliffe has posted an intriguing analysis over at the new Red Herring, suggesting that the moves against Fannie and Freddie are part of a Bush administration political "payback":
| | The call for new regulation is, in part, payback from the Bush administration for crackdowns on industries with which the White House has close ties, particularly energy, where executives have ended up in court after alledgedly stealing billions of dollars from investors and partners. The message is: "If you want accountability, we'll give you accountability." |
|
|
