On Sunday I shared some initial thoughts about the Fed take-over of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. If you read it, you know I’m not exactly happy about the outcome.  My friend Bithead shared some great thoughts Monday, and I don’t disagree that something needed to be done.   He and I both agree [...]

Today US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced plans for the new Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to take Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae into conservatorship.   The power to do this was provided in HR 3221 which was passed in July.
The move includes replacement of the CEO of both organizations, and an infusion of about $200 [...]

By now you probably know that both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have had very poor quarterly reports.  Worse than expected.  And now we’re in for worse trouble.
Money is now expected to be tighter as we roll into the fall and home buying will continue to be slow due to the fact rates will be [...]

As expected, President Bush signed HR 3221 into law this morning, making billions of federal dollars available to home owners, shoring up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and providing closer oversight of the financial aspects of home ownership to the Administration and Congress.
What a shame.
After speaking with a good friend of mine that is a [...]

In reference to my post on Saturday regarding HR 3221, the “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008″, I discovered a site where there is a copy of the Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate for HR 3221. Over the next ten years, according to the estimate, this bill will create a nearly $25 Billion [...]

Well, it took almost 3 months, but Congress finally passed the bill today, on older version of which was  passed by the House in May, after some considerable back and forth between the Senate and the House.  The bill is HR 3221 (pdf), titled: “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008″.
The entire bill is over [...]

Not so much because tinkering with the economy on a regular basis is messy as much as having Congress doing the tinkering is just dangerous. Remembering that the Prime Directive of nearly every member of Congress is “Do nothing that interfere with my re-election”, and the corollary is “Take care of my deep pocket [...]