Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Freddie Mac Needs Another $1.5 Billion Bailout

Freddie is back again for another $1.5 billion bailout. U.S. Taxpayers so far have spent about $150 billion to rescue Fannie and Freddie and the U.S. government estimates the total cost will come to $250 billion. Among the reasons for those losses are both mortgage giants are carrying a mountain of foreclosures.

In addition, while Fannie and Freddie hold those foreclosures, those homes are not paying property taxes which hurts state and local governments and in some cases, the homes have become eye sores, detracting from their neighborhoods and threatening the value of other homes near them.

Instead of pretending these problems don't exist and allowing the properties to continue to fall in value, the U.S. government and its taxpayers would be far better off if a Resolution Trust Corporation would be setup. The government set up the Resolution Trust Corporation from the late 1980's through the late 1990's and it conducted a massive sell off of the foreclosed properties, putting the real estate market on a much more solid footing afterward.

Dick
To learn more please see "Freddie Mac reports April-June loss seeks more federal aid," The Los Angeles Times http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-freddie-20110809,0,7215623.story

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