Briefings

Week InReview: March 29, 2019

Will Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac be re-privatized soon?

My answer to this question, for at least the last five years, has been “lol no,” and I keep not being wrong. Here you go...

President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued a long-awaited memo calling for reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but stepped back from suggestions his administration could push through wholesale changes while bypassing Congress. …

Policy experts said the memo, which makes reference to “legislative” reform, represented a defeat for advocates of a unilateral executive approach to GSE reform — an idea floated by Steven Mnuchin, Treasury secretary, and Joseph Otting, acting head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees the GSEs.

With unilateral executive action off the table, all that is required now is for bipartisan majorities of the House and Senate to reach an agreement with the White House on how the housing market should be structured and whether hedge funds who own Fannie and Freddie stock should be rewarded in the re-privatization.

— Matt Levine's Money Stuff

Read entire Week InReview: March 29, 2019

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