Fannie Mae-No Politics (FNMA)

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BLOOMBERG: So how much is $10 billion to the U.S. government? Only two companies in the S&P 500 Index had more than $3 billion in income-tax expenses in the recent quarter, Exxon-Mobil, which took a $5.8 billion hit on taxes, and Chevron Corp., which had a $3.2 billion tax charge, according to an analysis of Bloomberg data. Six other U.S. companies had income taxes between $2 billion and $3 billion, including Wells Fargo ($2.9b), JPMorgan ($2.8b), Apple ($2.5b), Berkshire Hathaway ($2.3b) and Citigroup ($2.1b) and Wal-Mart ($2b).

In other words, the Fannie haul is way more valuable to government coffers than many of the top corporate taxpayers combined.

That kind of loot is going to complicate President Obama’s goal – stated clearly yesterday — to wind down Fannie Mae and its cousin Freddie Mac. “We’ve got to turn the page on this kind of bubble-and-bust mentality that helped to create this mess in the first place,” Obama said.

However, lawmakers – even the ones scandalized by the government backstopping mortgages in 2008 – may be hesitant to back Obama’s real-estate policy play with everything looking so peachy. Serious mortgage delinquencies have dropped to their lowest level in five years. Only 5.9 percent of home loans are more than 90 days late, down from 7.3 percent a year ago, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in a report today. Fannie’s delinquency rate has dropped below 3 percent.

Meanwhile, the private-sector is being a little more aggressive about foreclosures, as fast-rising home prices provide more incentive to boot delinquent owners and search for new buyers. Repossessions jumped 11 percent in May as lenders too back almost 40,000 homes, according to RealtyTrac, a California-based data firm.

Fannie’s message this morning to Washington and Wall Street was simple: “We expect to remain profitable for the foreseeable future.”

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-08-08/fannie-mae-makes-it-rain-for-obama?campaign_id=yhoo