Fannie and Freddie face a new threat

[Geee]

Washington Examiner:

Once unthinkable, it is now inevitable: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will finish out President Obama's second term in the government's custody.

The demise of the two companies seemed certain when they were rescued by Uncle Sam during the subprime mortgage crisis and were the objects of sometimes heated protests.

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'When anybody talks about —˜too big to fail’ institutions, the banks pale in comparison to the trillions of dollars of international obligations that are held by these two institutions.'

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But President Obama's sweeping Wall Street reform law in 2010 left the mortgage giants untouched. And efforts in Congress to shutter the companies, including a bipartisan, Obama-backed measure in the Senate, failed to gain traction amid disagreeements among lenders, investors, liberals and conservatives.