Fannie Mae Prior to 2008?

[jmn1983]

I have been in an ongoing argument with a friend J. Stein as to what the structure of Fannie Mae was prior to 2008 in terms of government involvement. He believes the government has always ran the corporation since its inception, despite countless sources showing in 1968 they became publicly traded companies ran by a board that was elected by shareholders. I understand that being a GSE there are certain regulations they must follow set forth by the government, but that is no different from any other business. To what extent did the government play in the operation of Fannie Mae prior to the takeover in 2008?

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

I have been in an ongoing argument with a friend J. Stein as to what the structure of Fannie Mae was prior to 2008 in terms of government involvement. He believes the government has always ran the corporation since its inception, despite countless sources showing in 1968 they became publicly traded companies ran by a board that was elected by shareholders. I understand that being a GSE there are certain regulations they must follow set forth by the government, but that is no different from any other business. To what extent did the government play in the operation of Fannie Mae prior to the takeover in 2008?

it was and is a creature of government 100%. Its charter and preferential status had to be renewed by government. The way this was done was to assure Congress that it was acheiving liberal goals of getting people into homes the free market said they could not afford.

Moreover, as a creature of government everyone assumed the were backed by government thus they were safer to deal with and so they got business very easily compared to real free market firms. Plus, they were able to borrow money more cheaply than real free market firms, again getting a big liberal crony capitalist advantage.

 

[waltky]

I want my Fan-nie Mae...

Fannie Mae: Despite It All, Americans Want to Buy, Not Rent
10/02/12 --- Despite barrels of ink spilled over the imminent tsunami in apartment rentals, Americans still want to own their own homes, and they have a lot to say about the new-look U.S. housing market.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 65.5% of adult Americans own their own home, a number that really hasn't wavered over the past year. With housing prices historically soft and mortgage credit hard to get, the conventional wisdom has it that U.S. adults have had it with the housing market and are looking to rent rather than own their own abode.

As Census data show, that conventional wisdom is wrong. In fact, not only do U.S. consumers continue to pursue the American Dream, just over a quarter of them -- 28% to be exact -- prefer to rent versus own their own home, according to a separate survey of 1,000 U.S. adults from Fannie Mae.

In Fannie Mae's August National Housing Survey, U.S. adults are as optimistic, albeit cautiously so, over the housing market. Fannie Mae says lower household income and declining consumer sentiment could undermine further bullishness on the home ownership front.

"Consumer attitudes toward the housing market remain modestly positive, despite signs of increased concern over the direction of the economy," explains Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. "While the latest results showed a pickup in the share of consumers expecting mortgage rates to rise, reflecting the uptrend of long-term interest rates since mid-July, that may soon change. Friday's disappointing jobs report underpins the gradual nature of this year's housing recovery and supports our view that the muted economic recovery is still subject to downside risk and that additional Fed easing will soon be forthcoming."

How do Americans view the domestic housing market? Fannie Mae reveals five key takeaways in its survey:

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Warren Buffett was a big investor at one point but he sold his stake a long time ago