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“from ThinkProgress: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/09/20/323585/romney-fannie-freddie-hypocrisy/

Mitt Romney Blasts Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac’s ‘Failures’ While Profiting From Them

The Boston Globe noted today that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who has a habit of lambasting the “failures” of government-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has been profiting from investments in the two firms:

On his financial disclosure statement filed last month, Romney reported owning between $250,001 and $500,000 in a mutual fund that invests in debt notes of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, among other government entities. Over the previous year, he had reported earning between $15,001 and $50,000 in interest from those investments.

And unlike most of Romney’s financial holdings, which are held in a blind trust that is overseen by a trustee and not known to Romney, this particular investment was among those that would have been known to Romney.

As Mother Jones’ Andy Kroll noted, this particular fund of Romney’s “also included investments in Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, and JPMorgan Chase. If Romney invested in those banks in the second half of 2007, as a campaign aide says he did, then Romney’s investments benefited from the federal bailout of those banks, which received tens of billions of dollars to stay afloat.”

Boston Globe: Romney pummels, profits from Fannie, Freddie
http://www.boston.com/Boston/politicalintelligence/2011/09/romney-pummels-profits-from-fannie-freddie/a2YN7UoFKXQHW1RzAiaW4J/index.html