Trump's Treasury Pick Says U.S. Should Get Out of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae

Reuters/Fortune ^ | December 1, 2016, 6:00 AM EST

[GonzoII]

His comments sent shares of Fannie and Freddie to their highest levels since September 2014.

U.S. President-elect Trump’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, on Wednesday waded into the long-running battle over the future control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the largest players in the U.S. home mortgage market, saying that the lenders should be returned to private control.

[Steely Tom]

Not possible.

Too many Members of Congress get rich off them.

[xzins]

And they should not be forced to finance those with weak credit for more than they can reasonably pay for.

It should not be ‘private control’ with government strings attached.

[DoodleDawg]

Fine, as long as they’ve paid back the $200 billion bailout that they received first.

[GOPJ]

Steven Mnuchin - one very smart man...

[corkoman]

I like this guy already. And the fedgov should stop buying-out student loans - let the banks take the risks and do the leg breaking if kids default.

[wayoverontheright]

Oh my, privatizing Fannie and Freddie is long overdue. Eliminates a massive vote-buying scheme for the left, and in the end removes a huge market distortion which created the costly “bubbles” we’ve experienced.

It’s becoming a bit tedious, all this winning...not!

[JPJones]

A few years ago, I bought FNMA at $0.24 per share.

Go Trump!

[Red Badger]

Government should never have created them in the first place.

Whatever the government gets involved in, soon turns to crap.

The mortgage industry should be left to the private sector exclusively...................

[Red Badger]

Your capital gains taxes are gonna be yuge...................

[MNJohnnie]

So much winnning....

[ari-freedom]

But...but...he’s goldman sachs! Illuminati!! Area 51!!!

[Liz]

Clinton appointee----F/M CEO Franklin Raines
Letter to Shareholders--excerpted from 2003 Fannie Mae Annual Report

Excerpt ...Ten years ago the typical conforming mortgage required a down payment of 10-20%, and low-down payment mortgages were considered too risky. But then we helped to standardize the 3-5% down payment loan, brought it to global capital markets, and made it available to lenders and communities nationwide. Now low-down payment loans are commonplace. And we just adopted a new variance in our underwriting standards that will make the $500 down payment loan widely available as well...

In 1994, we pledged to provide $1 trillion in capital to ten million underserved families by the end of 2000. Thanks to our housing and industry partners, we met that goal early.

Then in 2000, we launched our American Dream Commitment, a pledge to provide $2 trillion in capital to 18 million underserved families by the year 2010, including $400 billion targeted specifically for minority families (later raised to $700 billion in response to President Bush’s Minority Homeownership Initiative). After four of the strongest years in housing and mortgage finance history, we’ve already surpassed the top-line goals of this commitment. But our work is far from complete.

So in January 2004, we announced our Expanded American Dream Commitment and pledged significant new resources to tackle America’s toughest housing challenges. Our new commitment has three main goals.

First, we will expand access to homeownership for six million first-time home buyers in the next ten years, including 1.8 million minority first-time home buyers.We also will help raise the national minority homeownership rate from 49 percent to 55 percent, with the ultimate goal of closing it entirely.

Second, we will help new and long-term homeowners stay in their homes through a series of initiatives, and commit $15 billion to preserve affordable rental housing and $1.5 billion to support the revitalization of public housing communities.

Third, we will increase the supply of affordable housing and support community development activities in at least 1,000 neighborhoods across the country through our American Communities Fund, and through targeted investments like Low-Income Housing Tax Credits that help finance affordable rental housing.

It is because of initiatives like our Trillion Dollar Commitment and our American Dream Commitment that we have exceeded our HUD affordable housing goals for ten consecutive years. End excerpt.

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THE BIG F/M FISH THAT GOT AWAY WITH A BUNDLE

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight’s report says that F/M CEO Franklin Raines---a Clinton appointee---and other Fannie Mae bigwigs, deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to artificially hit earnings targets in order to trigger multi-million dollar bonuses for senior F/M executives.

Ex-Fannie CEO Franklin Raines should be behind bars for life. He is a crook of the first order. This thief Raines cooked the FM books precipitating losses of $9B (that we know of) for the single purpose of creating bonuses for himself and other F/M insiders. The SEC said Raines broke accounting rules by playing with risky derivatives.

RAINES COOKS THE F/M BOOKS---WALKS AWAY A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE After Raines was fired and exposed as a fraudster for cooking the govt books, Raines walked away w/ $90 million dollars, a $26 million parachute, PLUS..... Raines gets a MONTHLY pension of $116,300 for life. Raines had already collected $4.87 million in "special performance" shares. Raines owns options giving him $5.8 million in net profit after redemptions, plus another $8.7 million in deferred compensation for his six years at the F/M helm. There's more.

Raines keeps $5 million of paid-up life insurance. He and his spouse get free medical and dental benefits for life, worth over $1 million. NOTE: Raines earned $20 million in salary, bonuses and stock awards (that we know of) in one year.

To keep Raines happy within philanthropic circles, Fannie Mae will match Raines' charitable contributions by $10,000 a year.

After he was fired, Raines told the F/M board that he's entitled to get paychecks until June 22 giving him another $600,000, which triggers a $2,000 monthly raise in his lifetime pension. He also said he's entitled to disputed options with a gross value of about $5.6 million.

[onona]

Whatever the government gets involved in, soon turns to crap.

We see it over and over again

[VRWCmember]

... and in the end removes a huge market distortion which created the costly “bubbles” we’ve experienced.

According to the article, it is very unlikely that the federal government backing of the bad debts that Fannie and Freddie purchase and then bundle into marketable securities (the MAJOR source of the market distortion) will be changed. So, it is a matter of returning control to the corporate cronies without disconnecting the syphon to the government teat. This is the "reform" that Obama has proposed for 8 years. Unless Mnuchin insists that the federal government backing terminates as a part of the privatization, this is NOT the win that you think it is.

[VRWCmember]

It should not be ‘private control’ with government strings attached.

Worse! It is 'private control' with no accountability and taxpayers on the hook for the corporate cronies' bad decisions.

The two so-called government-sponsored enterprises, or GSEs, help the U.S. housing finance market by buying the mortgage loans made by banks, freeing up space on lenders’ balance sheets to generate more loans.

Fannie and Freddie bundle those loans into marketable debt securities, highly prized by global investors because they enjoy an effective guarantee against default from the U.S. government.

[Liz]

ASAP, Trump needs to counsel his Treasury Secy to find out what exactly Obama and his COS Rahm Emanuel were doing at the US Treasury (story below). You can get awfully rich awfully fast knowing Treasury moves in advance.

================================================

"Don't worry, Mr President, the Dept of the Treasury is under your control."

=============================================

ONCE UPON A TIME, IN THE PRIVILIGED ENCLAVES OF
OUR NATION'S CAPITAL, RHAM EMANUEL HELD TWO JOBS Soon as they occupied the WH, Obama and the Chicago con artists (a) took control of the US Census; (b) Obama placed his COS Rahm Emanuel in control of the US Dept of the Treasury (oversees the IRS).

PAUSE TO REFLECT First-term Obama had tight control of Treasury; Obama calculatedly placed his then-COS Rahm Emanuel in a dual role.......in the WH and at Treasury. Obama had a stranglehold on Treasury via COS Rahm Emanuel's dual role Read on.

==========================================

THE SMOKING GUN---WSJ REPORT--On Jan 20, 2009 Timothy Geithner was appointed Obama's Secy of the Treasury. But within three weeks, the Obama White House tightened its grip on Treasury. Obama put his COS, Rahm Emanuel, in charge of Treasury---Rahm Emanuel's dual role was an unusual move.

When he got to Treasury, WH COS Rahm Emanuel was so involved in the inner workings that the phrase "Rahm wants it" had become an unofficial mantra among subservient Treasury staffers; prostrate in obeisance, scurrying to accede to Rahm's wishes, according to Treasury government officials. (Reported by WSJ / 05/31/09)

More here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124113406528875137.html

[Liz]

NOTE Obama didn’t even pick his cabinet, Citibank did.

WikiLeaks revealed a John Podesta email, one month before the 2008 Presidential election, Wall Street giant Citibank submitted a list of preferred cabinet positions in an Obama admin.....corresponds almost exactly to the eventual composition of Obama’s cabinet.

Obama didn't waste a nanosecond ***-kissing Wall Street and the financial types. His COS Rahm Emanuel came from Wall Street (after serving in Congress).

[pgkdan]

And they should not be forced to finance those with weak credit for more than they can reasonably pay for.

Not just weak credit, they also loan to those with low incomes and no prospect of ever paying off the mortgage. It's crazy.

[wayoverontheright]

Ah..very good point. We’ll see.