It was only a few years ago that DailyKos and other "progressive" venues were filled with stories about how the "banksters" running Obama administration finance were going to destroy the economy. Geithner and Summers, we were told, were buying worthless toxic assets, transferring government funds to the 1%, and ignoring the "solvency" problem that people like Duncan Black and Yves Smith diagnosed so authoritatively. The news that Fannie and Freddie have now returned $40 billion dollars in profits back to the taxpayers after repaying all the $180billion that Bush gave them, has not received much attention from progressives, however. This is not surprising because TARP profits, Maiden Lane profits, PPPA profits, not to mention the rescue of the UAW and America's manufacturing heartland haven't got much attention either. It turns out that the people who were screaming so loudly about "banksters" are not interested in finding out they were wrong.
As with AIG, Fannie and Freddie investors want to get a share of the profits the taxpayers earned by bailing those companies out. The investors want to return to the good old days when the public assumed the risk and the stockholders got the rewards. But, fuck it, let's pretend that pre-crisis, everything was just peachy. Let's imagine that Reagan's S&L bailout which transferred $200billion plus to the richest people in America was the good old days and ignore that Fannie/Freddie were designed to subsidize real-estate and finance interests at public expense but that the Obama administration has now captured profits for the public. After all, screaming about Tim Geithner, forecasting doom, holding hands with Rand and Ron, and urging purchase of precious metals is more, you know, progressive.
n his comments, Stegman said Congress must step in to change the housing-finance system, because regulators can’t do it on their own.
“Allowing the GSEs to exit conservatorship within the existing framework that includes their flawed charters, conflicting missions, and virtual monopolistic access to a government support” exposes taxpayers to risk and “is irresponsible,” he said.
bloomberg