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THE NAME That floats to the top of the bowl as a cantor replacement is our buddy, jeb hensarling!!!
THE HILL
Cantor had more centrist and establishment Republicans' back on issues such as working across the political aisle on immigration; to reforming taxpayer-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; to reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank, which expires at the end of September. Cantor and establishment Republicans argue it's an economic engine, while Tea Partiers say it's an example of "corporate cronyism," and an unneeded relic leftover from FDR's administration.
A shareholder with an exceptionally large amount or value of stock. While there is no specific definition of how many shares constitute a block, most people using the term refer to holding or trading more than 10,000 shares and/or shares worth more than $200,000. Almost invariably, blockholders are institutional investors.
cnbc or someone reported 55 large block holders. does not seem like a lot to me.
i am again blocked out of google group postings.
– U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo wants to dump Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Crapo, who was in Idaho Falls on Friday, told the Eastern Idaho Mortgage Lenders Association that he’s working on a bipartisan measure to put more authority back into the hands of private lenders. Local News 8 reports that the bill would require would-be homebuyers to put at least 20 percent down on their mortgage, unless they work through the Federal Housing Administration. Crapo believes it would help reduce the risk of home foreclosures and avoid a market crash like the nation experienced in 2006.
"Where does it say he dumped common shares? "
it does not use those words, but if you click on the hypertext at the bottom, it shows 2&6M share reductions for F&F,
that IS THE 3/31 REPORT.
faireholmes holdings changes for the quarter.
http://whalewisdom.com/filer/fairholme-capital-management-llc
dump of 9M shares of common.
, Mel Watt, in his first public speech said the agency is looking for more minorities and women in its workforce.
Watt told the directors of the FHLBs to place a higher priority on including more minorities and women in their work. He reminded the directors, as per the order of Congress, that each FHLBank have a designated Office of Minority and Women Inclusion that is clearly identified in its organization chart and the OMWI Director must report to the CEO or COO equivalent.
WTF?
'Why can the court order past dividends? The board can pass on the dividends to build up capital internally. The dividends are not cumulative.Why can the court order past dividends? The board can pass on the dividends to build up capital internally. The dividends are not cumulative.Why can the court order past dividends? The board can pass on the dividends to build up capital internally. The dividends are not cumulative.'
the court can rule that they are ill begotten gains, and must be returned to rightful owners, even though they were never awarded
automated evaluation for mortgage
does f&f use this? does anyone use this? how common is it? how does it work? is it more than zillow on steroids? how are f&f values determined?
The House Republican leading efforts on housing finance reform attacked the Senate plan Thursday, further underscoring the long odds an overhaul faces this year.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said in a statement that legislation recently passed by the Senate Banking Committee had likely come too late, and was too contentious to gain steam in the midterm election year.
In particular, Hensarling blasted the Senate plan for including affordable housing provisions he billed as a “wealth redistribution scheme.”
“The Senate bill features a controversial and irresponsible new politicization of mortgage credit insisted by Senate Democrats under the guise of affordable housing,” he said, going so far as to say those provisions are worse than doing nothing at all.
from the hill
not even sure how I got to be a Moberator
i know how and why i got there, i wanted to eliminate two of the moderators. they are now gone. i am probably considered one of the left wing moderators. i also have never deleted a post.
the ihub moderators are pretty strict. they may have wiped your post.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-S.D., announced Monday afternoon that his committee will reconvene in executive session to consider the Johnson-Crapo GSE reform bill, a move that could revive a bill many observers had thought dead.
" With today's interest rates, why would they not call back the prefs and reissue "
where's the 34B front money gonna come from?
who's going to be dumb enough to buy them, unless the united states govt guarantees them, and even that may not be enough.
interest rates of 6+% or so are available from honest sources. why mess with this pack of thieves?
After 12/31/2010 the dividend rate will be the greater of 7.75% or the 3-month LIBOR plus 4.23% per annum. Dividends paid by this preferred security are eligible for the preferential income tax rate of 15% to a maximum of 20%
"agreed to pull their support for Johnson-Crapo. "
those 6 never agreed to support J_C. the vote is still 12 to 10 in favor of release.
six billion
Unfortunately, caught in this court web are numerous community banks, many small and rural, who were encouraged by bank regulators to buy about $6 billion of Fannie and Freddie preferred stock prior to the conservatorship.
http://www.networklobby.org/legislation/revise-johnson-crapo-bill-make-housing-finance-reform-viable
new response to suits by government
http://www.valuewalk.com/2014/05/fairholme-perry-fannie-mae-freddie/
too long to summarize.
Buffett said it was very unlikely that Berkshire would become a big player in that market.
So what does Buffett think should happen to the market?
Buffett highlighted the U.S. housing market's enormous size ($11 trillion) as a massive challenge to privatizing the market simply because there isn't enough capacity in the private insurance market.
He seemed to believe a system similar to the plan proposed by Sens. Johnson and Crapo, as well as Sens. Corker and Warner, could potentially work. Noting that the 30-year fixed rate mortgage is a great thing for the average American, Buffett said the government ultimately needs to be the insurance entity to keep rates low.
His partner, Charlie Munger, took a more blunt stance.
Munger believes the current system is best option: Continue to conservatively run Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and do not return the entities to the hands of private shareholders. Despite addressing the common concerns with the current model, Munger expressed even more doubt that private mortgage finance players would operate a better system.
fhfa org chart
http://www.fhfa.gov/AboutUs/Pages/Leadership-Organization.aspx
it's mel. this guy controls a 5billion dollar company, all by himself. holy shit
email from imf news:
In case you’re wondering, the Federal Housing Finance Agency does indeed have the power to end the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. According to information published by the agency in 2008, the FHFA has the power to issue “an order terminating the conservatorship.” FHFA notes that while in conservatorship the powers of stockholders are suspended “until the conservatorship is terminated.” This declaration of powers was published by the agency on September 7, 2008, on its website. Here’s the link: http://www.fhfa.gov/Media/PublicAffairs/Pages/Fact-Sheet-Questions-and-Answers-on-Conservatorship.aspx. We assume that new FHFA director Mel Watt is well aware of this…
Hu
who the director? why he have the authority to terminate? is watt is the current conserservator?
"?Upon the Director’s determination that the Conservator’s plan to restore the Company to a safe and solvent condition has been completed successfully, the Director will issue an order terminating the conservatorship"
'In find it troubling that the CEO needs to communicate with Watt by mail.'
i do not. i would want it in hard copy, and return receipt required.
surely this is just a joke:
BofA Halts Buyback, Dividend Increase
Bank of America suspended its stock buyback and plans for a dividend increase after discovering an error in its accounting. Shares declined 4.9% in early trading.
as i have said before, who bought obama to force whatever administration he controls to toe the same line. "say the words, or your ass is bubblegum"
corker motives???
WASHINGTON — In trying to revamp how Americans finance their homes, key to about 20 percent of the U.S. economy, Sen. Bob Corker knows he has stepped into a special-interest minefield. Forces on all sides rank among the nation’s most powerful lobbying interests and campaign contributors.
Corker, R-Tenn., has been working for nearly a year to garner support for legislation to make mortgage lending more dependent on private capital and less on the federal government. He would put out of business, within five years, the two government-sponsored entities that fuel most mortgage lending now – the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac).
He would replace them with a new Federal Mortgage Insurance Corporation that would backstop private mortgage lending much like the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation backstops banks.
However, private firms would shoulder the first 10 percent of any losses themselves.
Corker’s bill has been adopted by the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., and on Tuesday, the panel begins voting on possible amendments. The Obama administration also supports reducing the government’s role in mortgages.
The Tennessee senator has taken on a subject vital to finance, insurance and real estate interests that spent close to $500 million lobbying Congress in 2013, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. So far in the 2013-14 election cycle, they have given nearly $149 million to federal candidates.
Corker said not everybody wants change.
“There are very, very wealthy investors at hedge funds in New York who want to kill this bill,”" he said in an interview.
It was a reference to various funds that own stock, especially preferred stock, in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fund managers see Corker’s bill as ending any chance of shareholders ever seeing a dividend again. Since August 2012, the Treasury Department has been keeping all of the profits from the two “government-sponsored enterprises.”
Corker said hedge funds want the status quo, with the federal government responsible of 90 percent of mortgage lending, “because they benefit.” In addition to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, other agencies involved are the Federal Housing Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
But the 100 percent government guarantee behind such lending, Corker said, “is not what the American taxpayers want.”
One of those who represents Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac investors in Tennessee is Timothy Pagliara, chairman of CapWealth Advisors in Franklin.
Pagliara, who has supported Corker politically and helped him raise campaign money, couldn’t be in more disagreement with the senator when it comes to his housing finance proposal. He describes the refusal to consider compensation for shareholders as an unconstitutional taking of their property.
“They started with a faulty premise that Fannie and Freddie had to go,” Pagliara said. “I call it residential Obamacare.”
Others contend the better-financed interests in the battle back Corker, especially Wall Street investment bankers who want a chance at the profits Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac now reap.
In contrast to their image at the height of the 2008 financial crisis – as embodying all that was wrong with federal housing policy – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both operate in the black today. Their combined profits for 2013 topped $130 billion.
“This would be huge for the financial sector. They are drooling,” Dean Baker of the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research, said of the Corker bill.
But Baker and other critics question whether a new agency, the FMIC, should continue the practice of taxpayers guaranteeing mortgages. Even a 90 percent guarantee would be pretty sweet for private firms, they contend.
“I can’t believe we would be going back to that,” Baker said. “Were these people not alive in 2008?”
Julia Gordon, a housing expert at the Center for American Progress, said that lawmakers should revisit a part of the bill that could let Wall Street engage in the same kind of risky practices that led to the housing crisis, leaving the taxpayer on the hook yet again. "You don’t want to give the keys to the car back to the guy who drove it into the ditch,” Gordon said.? But Corker said his bill “levels the playing field” by giving local lenders, like credit unions, access to many of the databases and other technologies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac employ.
“It’s going to create a tremendous amount of entrepreneurship across the country,” the senator said.
But Pagliara wonders why Corker is in such a hurry to tinker with such a large chunk of the economy.
“They don’t even know what’s in their own bill,” he said of Corker and his staff. “You screw up the finances of this and you shut down an entire industry.”
t-fud index is 36.34
http://www.housingwire.com/blogs/1-rewired/post/29712-wheres-watt
Others say Watt is just challenged by the scope of the job before him.
“It’s a big difference to go from being one of 435 to being the one,”
Big banks legal bills.
i presume most of fnf legal bills are buried in the justice dept, or in in house legal.
Rate: Approximately 0.15 Euros per share equivalent to approx. 0.207060 USD per ADR
Option# 1 Stock: (Subject to ADR fee 0.035 per ADS, Not Subject to 21 % Spanish with holding Tax)
Option# 2 Proceeds from sale of rights (Subject to ADR Fee 0.0025 per ADS & Not Subject to 21 % Spanish with holding Tax)
Option# 3 Cash: (fixed rate of approx 0.15 euro per share equating to an approx. net rate of $ 0.161077 ADS & Subject to 21% Spanish With holding tax, Subject to ADR Fee 0.0025 per ADS)
NRate: Approximately 0.15 Euros per share equivalent to approx.
those adr fees are not small. 0.035 of 0.15 is over 20% of the san donation. it is a tax deduction(i think, but not a tax credit.
the .0025 adr fee on door #2 is also not tax deductable. it is sort of small. the 21% spanish tax showesup as a tax credit.
option #3 also looks decent. i have always taken stock before. i think i got tooken. i think it the worst chose i will think about 2 &3 some more.
Nonparties and other members of the public may attend the status conferences conducted in the courtroom. ... "
do not agree. i tried to buy some(50 or so shares) a while back. my bid was in the money, but the seller must have had an all or none requirement. i am not big money.
RAFF, wazzatt?
t fud index. shows big tank.
453.33 ,,, 1300 ,,, 34.87 ,,, 10-Jan
472.93 ,,, 1300 ,,, 36.38 ,,, 17-Jan
468.82 ,,, 1300 ,,, 36.06 ,,, 18-Jan
463.14 ,,, 1300 ,,, 35.63 ,,, 24-Jan
453.74 ,,, 1300 ,,, 34.90 ,,, 15-Feb
477.4 ,,, 1300 ,,, 36.72 ,,, 21-Feb
550.95 ,,, 1300 ,,, 42.38 ,,, 28-Feb
580.9 ,,, 1300 ,,, 44.68 ,,, 6-Mar
574.66 ,,, 1300 ,,, 44.20 ,,, 8-Mar
473.78 ,,, 1300 ,,, 36.44 ,,, 14-Mar
469.64 ,,, 1300 ,,, 36.13 ,,, 22-Mar
453.04 ,,, 1300 ,,, 34.85 ,,, 29-Mar
440.4 ,,, 1300 ,,, 33.88 ,,, 7-Apr
Barclays: 4 reasons Johnson-Crapo is dead until post-election
Lending
Barclays: 4 reasons Johnson-Crapo is dead until post-election
Plus one reason it may be dead after that
Trey Garrison
he GSE reform measure put forward by Chairman Tim Johnson, D- S.D., and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, isn’t going to pass before election year is over, according to the analysts at Barclays.
Johnson-Crapo is one of three GSE reform measures on the Hill. The other two primary contenders are the House’ PATH Act and the Senate’s Corker-Warner.HousingWire has this side-by-side breakdown of the three measures.
On March 27, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., unveiled her own GSE reform plan that offers co-operatives as an alternative and an elimination of much of the free market system, but it has less chance than any of the other three.
Few in the industry or in Washington expect any real movement on GSE reform before the 2014 mid-term elections in November. This is despite the fact that the GSEs currently back 90% of mortgages, and the current structure is keeping private label capital out of the market.
Most in the industry want some kind of reform, but few are committing to supporting any of the main reform measures.
Barclays, meanwhile, offers its own thinking on why Johnson-Crapo isn’t going to be a 2014 thing.
1) No discrimination protection
"Several influential civil rights groups cited Johnson-Crapo’s lack of provisions to ensure the housing finance system is non-discriminatory."
2) The White House is running on empty
"The Obama administration has not yet spent significant political capital in support of the Johnson-Crapo bill despite issuing supportive commentary."
3) Support among progressives isn’t strong enough
"While key groups on the left remain engaged, the opposition is likely strong enough to deter progressives from pushing to get the bill to the Senate floor in 2014."
4) Lots to do and little time
"As another headwind, the Senate Banking Committee mark-up has been set for April 29, after Easter recess, leaving a smaller window for full Senate consideration."
“Accordingly, we now doubt this issue will pose a headwind to the housing stocks this year. Longer term, however, we believe the framework has been largely set for GSE reform in 2015,” Barclays reports.
Barclays adds that the similarities between Corker-Warner, Johnson-Crapo, and the newly announced House Waters bill suggest that a general consensus for GSE reform exists.
However, given that the best quantitative early forecasts call for strong odds that the Republicans will gain control of the Senate, Johnson-Crapo's fate would appear to be entirely dependent on the outcome of the 2014 mid-terms, and not just being held up until then.
ackerman's new addition is 15 mil shares. are they owned, or are the phantom shares? i realize this is chump change(45 mil or so), but are they real? are 15 mil shares off the market and held?
as i recall, the chances of any bill hitting the house/senate floor is under 1 in 20
Ackman's New Trade
could you explain to me what is a swap. where is what stock, i do not see a stock name on this post.
Waters Unveils Housing Finance Reform Legislation
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Ranking Member of the Financial Services Committee, released a comprehensive legislative proposal to reform the housing finance market. Known as the Housing Opportunities Move the Economy (HOME) Forward Act of 2014, the legislation ends Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and creates a new, cooperative-owned securities issuer.
For months, Waters has been working with her Committee colleagues, outside stakeholders, and consumer and affordable housing advocates to craft a measure that ends the incentives created by the ownership structure of the government-sponsored enterprises’ (GSEs) while preserving the role of small financial institutions, providing a more flexible approach to placing credit risk in the markets, and ensuring access to affordable rental housing for low-income families.
“Reforming a 10 trillion dollar housing finance market is an immense undertaking that must be carefully considered,” said Congresswoman Waters. “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s return to profitability and repayment of taxpayer dollars has led some to rightly speculate whether the enterprises need any reform at all. I believe that we have an opportunity to address some of the fundamental flaws of the current system, by ending the perverse incentives created by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's ownership structure and providing an explicit government guarantee that is paid for by industry.”
The draft bill furthers a conversation started by legislation released by Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and Mark Warner (D-VA) and, more recently, Senators Tim Johnson (D-SD) and Mike Crapo
(R-ID).
The foundation of the HOME Forward Act is a number of principles for housing finance reform, released by Committee Democrats in 2013. They include maintaining the 30-year fixed rate mortgage, protecting taxpayers, ensuring transparency, stability and liquidity within a new market, and preventing disruptions to the U.S. housing market during a transition to a new finance system. In addition, the legislation will maintain access for all qualified borrowers that can sustain homeownership and ensure continued affordable rental housing.
The HOME Forward Act establishes a new, lender-owned Mortgage Securities Cooperative that will be the single issuer of government-guaranteed securities and will be governed on a one-member, one-vote basis. The Act creates an explicit government guarantee, paid for by industry and used to capitalize a catastrophic insurance fund. It improves upon bipartisan proposals in the Senate by, for example, providing for credit risk sharing on a more flexible basis. Small financial institutions will have direct access to a "cash window" in order to preserve their access to the secondary market. And the legislation recognizes the important role of the National Affordable Housing Trust and Capital Magnet Funds, and fulsomely addresses the multi-family market.
The HOME Forward Act would empower the government to provide for liquidity in the secondary mortgage market and ensure access to sustainable homeownership for creditworthy borrowers of all backgrounds and in all regions of the country. At the same time, it would appropriately price for risk, protect taxpayers and level the playing field for large and small banks.
Waters added, “I am hopeful that this legislation will continue to move the conversation on housing finance reform forward. While there are differences, this legislation and the two bipartisan proposals in the Senate embrace a number of common themes. These include preserving the 30-year, fixed rate mortgage, protecting taxpayers from the costs of a housing downturn by establishing a strong new regulator, and ensuring that small and community financial institutions can participate in the new system.”
· The legislative text can be found here.
· A topline summary can be found here.
· A detailed summary can be found here.
· A section-by-section of the legislation can be found here.
explain the high volume at the end'
trades do not have to be reported until closing. if one wishes to hide activities, and have control over the MM, or wherever one traded, the trades do not have to be reported until close of biz.
pretty certain that is correct.
McGraw Hill Financial Inc. (MHFI)’s Standard & Poor’s unit must face California’s claims it deceived the state’s pension funds in its ratings of mortgage-back securities, a judge said in a provisional ruling.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-21/s-p-judge-tentatively-rules-it-must-face-deception-claim.html
this deals with the the bought AAA ratings. i presume fitch and moodies are the next stop.
i am surprised only want 5 bil, but this is the first flush.