Friday, October 22, 2010

Fannie and Freddie have some really good news for you...



... but first, the bad news.

According to a government study based upon 3 predicted models of the economy, the cost of the bailouts for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may grow to $363 billion over the next three years. This figure was based upon the worst case scenario of the 3 models which comprised of a stalled economy and sluggish home sales.

And now, the good news.

If housing prices recover quicker than expected, the two companies would need a combined $73 billion on top of the $148 billion they already have received in bailout funding, according to new projections from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

If prices stay on their current course, the bailouts would total $238 billion.


See. Don't you feel better?

And recall how last Christmas Eve, two-time tax cheat, Tim Geithner, lifted the cap on how much tax-payer money could be poured into Fannie and Freddie and to put a cherry on top of all this, we mused the following at the time:
Just how toxic the assets that Fannie holds may be difficult to figure out since Fannie effectively wacked their own Inspector General. And to keep form, don’t expect the Justice Department run by that miserable hack to look into it. This also begs the question, with no IG oversight and no effective spending limit, what’s to keep Fannie from continuing to encourage and back subprime lending?


After all this, it does not appear there is much in the way of checks or incentives to prevent another housing bubble.

1 comment:

SarahB said...

Nothing to stop another one...other than the fact that the same loan products are not available...yet.