Maybe Freddie and Fannie Could Sell Electricity, Too

Nobody knows what to do with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the “government-sponsored enterprises” that have been left holding the bag for a decade of excess in housing finance. Wayne Olson, a consultant at NERA who was director of finance for the Maine Public Utilities Commission, has [READ MORE...]





The Living Dead

The New York Times’ Andrew Ross Sorkin challenges the conventional wisdom that the ongoing survival of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the only folks out there buying mortgages, is costing the taxpayers money. In fact, Freddie and Fannie’s losses (which will total several hundred billion dollars) amount …

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You Say Tomato

Earlier in the month, the former IMF chief economist Raghuram Rajan took a swipe at indirect housing subsidies, which gave Paul Krugman an excuse to pontificate on the relative innocence of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in creating the housing bubble. (Republicans, it seems, are more …

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