By FITSNews || At our business (and probably yours, too), if expenses are higher than profits, any number of things start happening …
The lights get turned off … the internet stops working … the phone lines get cut … and eventually the doors are closed and everybody goes home to start looking for a new job (a.k.a. “capitalism”).
From there, it’s basically like Coolio said in Fantastic Voyage … “if you don’t work, then you don’t eat.”
Well, in the fantastically backward world of Washington, D.C., things don’t work that way. For example, we have Fannie Mae, a government-owned mortgage behemoth that posted a $16.3 billion loss for the fourth quarter of 2009 – and requested $15.3 billion from the U.S. Treasury (i.e. your wallet) to stay in the black.
From Reuters:
Fannie Mae’s quarterly loss was $15.2 billion before a $1.2 billion dividend payment on senior preferred stock owned by the Treasury, putting total 2009 losses at $74.4 billion, compared with $59.8 billion in 2008.
With the $15.3 billion request for funds from Treasury, Fannie has now asked for $76.2 billion from the Treasury’s unlimited credit line.
Fannie Mae said the losses were likely to be ongoing.
“We expect to have a net worth deficit in future periods, and therefore will be required to obtain additional funding from Treasury,” the company said.
Wait … is this for real? We were writing about these morons two years ago … and by “these morons” we obviously mean both Fannie and Freddie Mac, the other government-owned mortgage behemoth (which by the way lost $7.8 billion during the fourth quarter of last year and will be tapping its unlimited line of Treasury credit soon).
Oh, you want more “good news?” From the same Reuters story …
The Obama administration has yet to lay out a long-term vision for both Fannie and Freddie.
Nice …
Well, other than awarding its executives massive bonuses, we presume …
By lou February 27, 2010 at 10:45 pm
Medicare is broke.
Social Security is broke.
Medicaid is broke.
The Post Office is broke.
So why in the hell would anyone let the government control their healthcare?
By political hack February 28, 2010 at 8:48 am
This is the same formula they will use with healthcare. Soon as government sets the market it becomes the market.
By Liberty for Me February 28, 2010 at 10:00 am
lou
The government my be in the red, but they are never broke as long as they are willing to endlessly tax and print the money they want.There will never be a change till the dollar is so worthless that everyone will be educated to what is going on.
By SCHotline February 28, 2010 at 10:15 am
There was a time when my we would have been surprised, even shocked what is sad is that we are starting to get use to this crap sandwich – very sad.
By southernmapart February 28, 2010 at 2:39 pm
About five years ago, over objections to items in a proposed county budget, a local bureaucrat said, “If we decide that you need it, you have to pay for it.”
Well, … that dude ain’t round no more. Aso, we’re working to go higher on the food chain to eliminate insane bureaucrats.
Definition of insane: “Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity. “
By Red February 28, 2010 at 9:38 pm
Not too worry, the same bozos are still in charge
February 29th, 2008 – Bernanke: “I expect there will be some failures. I don’t anticipate any serious problems of that sort among the large internationally active banks that make up a very substantial part of our banking system.”
March 16th, 2008 – Paulson: “We’ve got strong financial institutions . . . Our markets are the envy of the world. They’re resilient, they’re…innovative, they’re flexible. I think we move very quickly to address situations in this country, and, as I said, our financial institutions are strong.”
Mar 18th, 2008 – Bear Stearns Bailout Announced
May 7, 2008 – Paulson: ‘The worst is likely to be behind us,”
May 16th, 2008 – Paulson: “In my judgment, we are closer to the end of the market turmoil than the beginning,” he said.
June 9th, 2008 – Bernanke: Despite a recent spike in the nation’s unemployment rate, the danger that the economy has fallen into a “substantial downturn” appears to have waned,
July 16th, 2008 – Bernanke: (Freddie and Fannie) “…will make it through the storm”, “… in no danger of failing.”,”…adequately capitalized”
July 20th, 2008 – Paulson: “it’s a safe banking system, a sound banking system. Our regulators are on top of it. This is a very manageable situation.”
August 10th, 2008 – Paulson: “We have no plans to insert money into either of those two institutions.” (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac)
Sept 8th, 2008 – Fannie and Freddie nationalized. The taxpayer is on the hook for an estimated 1 – 1.5 trillion dollars. Over 5 trillion is added to the nation’s balance sheet.
By Ynotfirst March 2, 2010 at 7:44 am
check out how fannie and freddie are tied up with insurance companies who are tied directly into banks, which are up the investment companies *sses.
that explains it doesn’t it?