Fannie and Freddie Going Green?
Tuesday, September 9th, 2008The biggest news of this week is by far the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which places the two mortgage giants in government conservatorship. Together the two own or guarantee about $5 trillion in home loans, about half the nation’s total, and have lost $14 billion in the last year. They are likely to pile up billions more in losses until the housing market begins to recover.
The primary goal of what is the largest ever financial rescue by the U.S. Government is to restore confidence and stabilize the housing industry. However, congress should embrace a secondary opportunity in this shake-up: attacking the current energy crisis by refocusing Fannie and Freddie to embrace energy efficient mortgages. (more…)
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