The Federal Reserve’s Exit Strategy: Unlegislated Bailout of Fannie and Freddie

The Federal Reserve closes its positions in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securities, the quantity of outstanding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac liabilities declines by as much as $1.5 trillion, thus allowing their remaining assets repay the remaining liabilities despite insolvency, and the outstanding quantity of U.S. Treasury debt expands by as much as $1.5 trillion in order to protect the lenders, while ordinary Americans continue to lose their homes and jobs. This would all be really clever if it weren’t so insidious. On Bloomberg television last week, James B. Lockhart III, the former head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (Fannie and Freddie’s regulator) commented on the bailout funds already provided to Fannie and Freddie, saying “Most of that money will never be seen again. They were just allowed to leverage themselves so dramatically.”