Fannie Mae (FNMA)

[contrarian bull]

When it was said that F&F could be "fixed" even without legislation - I for one was thinking slow recap, eventual release.

However this article takes that non-legislative action the other way:

According to a flyer on the conference, panelists will discuss how the GSEs can be “gradually eliminated over time through administration action alone. Legislation will not be necessary

This does seem to be the alternative path. It was started during the initial years of conservatorship when caps were put on the amount of mortgages F&F could hold and they had to de-risk (which lowers profit) by selling mortgage securities.

A few tweaks to F&F's premiums, a few guarantees to the big banks - and over time the F&F business will just go away. Once their profits and loan portfolios drop to zero nobody will care if they get liquidated.

I always hoped for a quick solution for F&F to prevent this from happening, but oh well...