January 24th, 2012
02:36 PM ET
10 years ago
Freddie Mac: What it did, what went wrong
New York (CNNMoney) - Freddie Mac is in the spotlight of the Republican presidential contest, as Mitt Romney attacks Newt Gingrich for his 2006 work for the mortgage finance firm.
But what the firm did, and the role it and larger rival Fannie Mae played in the housing crisis of the last decade, remain a source of confusion for many Americans.
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A suggestion to tea baggers and teavangelicals, do not believe foreign owned right wing media. In a poll, 58% of Americans want the government to help people keep their homes, and, if it were not for Freddie and Fannie, there would be no home sales.
most of the canidates are no better than a meth or crack dealer, shouldn't be allowed to lobby for five years after office, bought and sold to the highest bidder, and this mess about pattiotism and welfare
So it wasn't Fannie and Freddie that caused the economic problems, it was Mitt's friends on Wall Street! And Mitt is the one that is bringing this to light! LMAO!
" ... and, if it were not for Freddie and Fannie, there would be no home sales."
And this is so because the banks want too high of an interest rate, too high of an initial down payment, and too high of a monthly payment from 10 year mortgages instead of 30 years. In other words, homes are too high priced and the banks are just plain too greedy. Which is why Fannie and Freddie were created in the first place. To entice the banks into choosing between a larger number of lower profit loans, or a smaller number of higher profit loans. This is nothing new.
The problem is that deregulation encouraged competition for larger and larger numbers of lower profit loans, while the banks came up with their casino games to enrich their own stakes in each mortgage.
Perhaps it was the liberals who wanted to ensure that anyone could get a loan. Regardless of their ability to pay. Buy what you can afford. Something this country has forgotten.