Too big to fail - Fannie Mae
From the
Wall Street Journal:
Fannie Mae Needs $8.4 Billion More
Fannie Mae asked the U.S. government for an additional $8.4 billion in aid after posting an $11.5 billion net loss for the first quarter, the latest sign that the bailout of the mortgage investor and its main rival, Freddie Mac, is likely to be the most expensive legacy of the U.S. housing-market bust.
Fannie's losses reflected continuing weakness in the housing market and would have been worse without accounting changes that reduced its deficit. The quarterly loss was an improvement from the $23.5 billion loss for the year-ago quarter and marked the 11th consecutive quarterly loss for the Washington-based firm.
The company has now racked up losses of nearly $145 billion, or nearly double its profits for the previous 35 years. While many of the nation's biggest banks have repaid their government loans and some are back to racking up big profits, Fannie and Freddie are still suffering from the housing-market crisis.
I am amazed that these companies are still in business. If you are too big to fail, you need to get broken up into smaller pieces and the individual piece that fails, goes bankrupt, liquidates and starts over. Leaner and cleaner.
If I worked for a business and if I pissed money away on repeated bad business deals, I would have my ass handed to me on a platter if not being out and out fired.
Posted by DaveH at May 10, 2010 9:39 PM
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