Fannie Mae-No Politics (FNMA)

[capitalismforever]

I have the feeling that all this payments to treasury could be earnings retained.

Retained earnings isn't an account that holds value such as a line item found on the balance sheet. All retained earnings is, is a measurement that lets an investor know how much money the company has been able to retain over its lifetime. It answers the simple question: has this business spent more than it has retained for its shareholders? When you see $100b listed under retained earnings, it doesn't mean that's an account that is holding $100b. For that, you look to "cash and cash equivalents". That amount has been growing:



The net worth sweep goes to the general fund. The reason we know this is because the Treasury lists it as such in their financial reports. So any idea that the Treasury has retained this amount with the expectation of recapping the company is an overly-optimistic one.