Fannie Mae Ranked #5 in Fortune Magazine; Request Another Government Bailout

Fortune 500 Magazine just ranked Fannie Mae the fifth largest company in America, just above another federal government whore: General Electric.  And wouldn’t you know, as if on queue, Fannie Mae is requesting another $8.7 billion bailout.  Let's look at the history of this most august and profitable company in the past couple of years:

Fannie Mae reported Friday that it lost $23.2 billion in the first three months of the year as mortgage defaults increasingly spread from risky loans to the far-larger portfolio of loans to borrowers who have been considered safe.

The massive loss will prompt a $19-billion infusion from the government to keep the mortgage lender solvent, on top of a $15-billion investment of taxpayer money earlier this year

Notice the size of the loss of that year from the previous:

Fannie's most recent loss compares with a $2.2-billion loss in the first quarter of last year, before the government takeover.

Washington-based Fannie Mae and McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac have been growing ever more dependent on federal largess. The Federal Reserve has bought $366 billion of their mortgage securities and $70 billion of their debt, and has pledged to buy hundreds of billions of dollars more of both. The Treasury has committed to investing as much as $200 billion in each company to keep them solvent and has bought $124 billion of their mortgage investments.

In total, the government has committed about $2 trillion to supporting Fannie and Freddie and buying the securities they issue.

No one ever accused the politicians and bureaucrats in Washington D.C. of competence.  We as a people are in for a world of hurt.

Source:  http://articles.latimes.com/2009/may/09/business/fi-fannie9

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2011/full_list/index.html