Fannie & Freddie Finally Going Down

Looks like these crooks are finally going to be closing their doors, although I believe that some how the lefty libs will do something to resurrect them. The heads of these companies shouldn't be losing their jobs, they should be losing their freedom. Along with Barney Frank.

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration laid out three broad options Friday for reducing the government's role in the mortgage market. All three would almost certainly lead to higher interest rates and costs for borrowers.

The administration said in a report that the government should withdraw its support for the mortgage market slowly, over five years or more. The report describes a path for winding down the troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

But rather than making a single recommendation, the administration offered Congress three scenarios and will let lawmakers shape the final policy.

The options are:

-- No government role, except for existing agencies like the Federal Housing Administration.

-- A government guarantee of private mortgages triggered only when the market is in trouble.

-- Government insurance for a targeted range of mortgage investments that already are guaranteed by private insurers. The government guarantee would kick in only if those private companies couldn't pay.

The private sector will assume a greater role in housing finance under all of the options. The government currently owns or guarantees more than 90 percent of new mortgages.

"Under any of the scenarios there's going to need to be more private capital in the housing system," said Michael Barr, who recently left his post as assistant treasury secretary to return to teaching at Michigan University Law School. "That's going to mean more pressure on interest rates."

The bailouts of Fannie and Freddie have cost taxpayers nearly $150 billion. Republicans have called for Fannie and Freddie to be abolished, and have largely blamed the two for leading the country into the 2008 financial crisis.