Barney Frank, the Democratic Representative from Massachusetts and Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has called for the abolishment of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
Frank, you should remember, is the Congressman who said that the companies were in great shape just before they imploded and are now on the hook for over 400 billion in public assistance. Oh, and Frank is also the one who drove the companies into that situation as he used them as tools of a social experiment forcing lending downstream to borrowers who could never repay their loans.
But ignore all that, it does not matter anymore. Now Congressman Barney Frank has a real plan. Just get rid the evidence of Congressional excess and experimentation and let’s start again.
Sorry Congressman, we have long memories here.
“The remedy here is…as I believe this committee will be recommending, abolishing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in their current form and coming up with a whole new system of housing finance,” said Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.
His comments initially rippled through bond markets on concerns that the government might pull away from the mortgage market. Many believe that’s unlikely and that any revamp would include continued government involvement. The government took over the companies in September 2008 as loan losses mounted.
Some Republicans have argued that the companies should ultimately be reduced in size and privatized, while at other end of the spectrum, some analysts have recommended turning the companies into government agencies. But several industry groups and academics have suggested that the government is likely to continue playing at least some role in the future of the companies. via WSJ
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