Business News
US government to seize Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac (1st Lead)
Sep 6, 2008, 2:46 GMT
Washington - The US government was preparing to take over the twin mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, dismiss their top executives and prop up the companies with government funds, media reports said late Friday.
The Washington Post and New York Times quoted unnamed officials and company executives who have been briefed on the plan as the sources for their online stories.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Friday met with executives of the two companies and regulators along with Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director James Lockhart in Washington, Bloomberg financial news agency reported.
The chief executives of the two companies were summoned and told that they and their boards would be replaced, the Times reported.
The two companies have suffered 14.9 billion dollars in losses from the widening mortgage foreclosure crisis in the US that has rippled outward to foreign investors. The central banks of many countries, including those in Asia, hold considerable stock in Fannie and Freddie, Bloomberg reported.
Bloomberg reported that catered food was scheduled for delivery through the weekend to the FHFA, indicating intense talks were scheduled. Congressional leaders were reported to be on standby for briefings over the weekend, with a possible plan to be released to the public by Saturday or Sunday.
The two companies would be placed in a conservatorship, the Times and Post reported. Such a move would deal another blow to US finance markets as the country struggles with soaring mortgage foreclosures that have undermined the US economy.
Shareholders in the two companies would lose most of their investment, with taxpayers carrying any remaining guaranteed worth, the newspapers said. But the Post reported that while common stock could be diluted in value, company debt and preferred shares could be protected by the government.
In August, Fannie Mae reported a second quarter loss of 2.3 billion dollars, marking the fourth straight quarter of losses for the US bank. The company recorded a 1.86 dollar gain in the same period a year ago.
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Older Talkback
page: 1
Rage
White collar crime: FEDS to Wall-Street.
Sally Mae and other Wall-Street Friends can 'cleanly' walk away from billions in debt while keeping their ill gotten gains, newly-pressed Itallian suits, big houses, cars and secondary houses and pensions.
But students that are being 'slaved-down' into the gutter and streets cannot get rid of a noose of a meagre few thousand dollars. These students cannot afford to procreate, cannot afford to eat decently and are threatened, intimidated daily and have a life that borders on the suicidal.I said: people in Stdent loan debt cannot procreate, have families and so on. We can't walk away from this stuff.
This is not a joke.
There is something explicitly evil about this affair.
This anwers the question: Why Palin? THat is to say who wants to stick around on a sinking ship. Why not put a newbie at the helm and let the newbie take the heat. Wev'e seen it enough time sin the movie, and in real life reflect on the female CEO's rise in HP.
Fiscal responsibility is hammered into those that borrow from Fannie Mae. But it seems different rules and regulations apply if you borrow sufficient quantities of money.
Let Sally Mae sink. Let the Judges say 'elemination of bad debts: not possible'. And then let the Chinese which have lost incredible amounts, be those that harrass the executives. Now that seems fair to me.
The big picture: the Americans are not in it.
The small picture: If we review unemployment rates, and jobs lost, then Americans aren't in that one either.
Don't you see?
page: 1
Now that is socialism...Sep 6th, 2008 - 03:20:52
as practiced by the capitalists. Screw the people, rescue the craperations.
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