I've heard that charge numerous times from the Conservatives I know -- that these government-supported agencies were the ones at fault for the "bad" Mortgages of last decade, and as a result responsible for the ultimate collapse of the Mortgage-Backed-Securities market. This they claim, this govt-charity for the poor, led directly to the Great Recession of the last decade -- not the recklessness of Wall Street derivative inventors and their hedge-fund speculators.
If that Fox-Falsism were indeed true -- wouldn't it be Freddie and Fannie who were the ones paying the Wall Street Bankers, and not the other way around?
BofA to pay $9.5 billion to settle Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac claims
Mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had demanded compensation from Bank of America for losses on securities backed by faulty loans issued during the housing boom.
by E. Scott Reckard and Walter Hamilton, latimes.com -- March 26, 2014
[...]
The government-sponsored mortgage finance giants had demanded compensation from the Charlotte, N.C., bank for losses on securities backed by faulty loans issued during the housing boom.
[...]
Previous FHFA [Federal Housing Finance Agency] settlements included agreements with JPMorgan Chase & Co. ($5.1 billion), Deutsche Bank ($1.9 billion), Morgan Stanley ($1.25 billion), Union Bank of Switzerland ($885 million), Credit Suisse Holdings ($885 million) and Wells Fargo & Co., which reached a $335-million settlement with FHFA without having been sued.
But even those massive figures don't compare to the cumulative damage Wall Street firms inflicted on homeowners and borrowers during the crisis, said Dennis Kelleher, chief executive of Better Markets Inc., a liberal nonprofit focused on financial reform.
[...]
$9,500,000,000
5,100,000,000
1,900,000,000
885,000,000
885,000,000
335,000,000
$18,605,000,000
PAID as DAMAGES (so far) to these "government-sponsored mortgage finance giants" (Freddie and Fannie) -- paid by the Big Banks -- and not v.v.
Imagine that Fox-Facts-Faxers!
Here's a bit more on the Bank of America settlement and a bit more on who that acronym is (FHFA), and who they are representing ...
Bank of America to Pay $9.5 Billion to Resolve FHFA Claims
by John Kell, wsj.com -- March 26, 2014
[...]
The Federal Housing Finance Agency [FHFA], which controls the government-backed mortgage giants, sued Bank of America and 17 other financial institutions in 2011 seeking unspecified damages on about $200 billion of mortgage-backed securities.
Under the terms of the settlement, Bank of America will make about $6.3 billion in cash payments to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In additional, the bank agreed to purchase some residential mortgage-backed securities [MBS] at fair market value, worth about $3.2 billion.
[...]
If Freddie and Fannie were really at fault,
wouldn't they be the ones buying back the junk-MBS-paper from the BofA -- and not the other way around?
Un-Inquiring Fox-watchers don't really want to know.