White House wants less gov't in mortgage system

[WestVirginiaRebel]

TBO.com:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration wants to shrink the government's role in the mortgage system - a proposal that would remake decades of federal policy aimed at getting Americans to buy homes and would probably make home loans more expensive across the board.

The Treasury Department rolled out a plan Friday to slowly dissolve Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored programs that bought up mortgages to encourage more lending and required bailouts during the 2008 financial crisis.

Exactly how far the government's role in mortgages would be reduced was left to Congress to decide, but all three options the administration presented would create a housing finance system that relies far more on private money.

"It's clear the administration wants the private sector to take a more prominent role in the mortgage rates, and in order for that to happen, mortgage rates have to go up," said Thomas Lawler, a housing economist in Virginia.

Abolishing Fannie and Freddie would rewrite 70 years of federal housing policy, from Fannie's creation as part of the New Deal to President George W. Bush's drive for an "ownership society" in the 2000s. It would transform how homes are bought and redefine who can afford them.
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But will this be before or after he bails them out?

[pollyannaish]

I heard this on the radio yesterday. On the surface, it sounds like a good thing. Which makes me ask: Why is he doing this?

 

If there is no hidden agenda...this could do for Obama what Welfare reform did for Clinton.

 

An interesting move.

 

Edited to add: If they do this, they better not keep the death taxes so high. Because my plan would be to pay off my house and pass that on to my children so they had a better shot at affording a house.