World-News

A failure of U.S. mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could be a catastrophe for the global financial system, said Yu Yongding, a former adviser to China's central bank. "If the U.S. government allows Fannie and Freddie to fail and international investors are not compensated adequately, the consequences will be catastrophic,''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aslo2E01QVFI&refer=asia



What Will Mac 'n' Mae Cost You and Me?

These government-sponsored entities guarantee or hold $5.2 trillion in mortgages and have been hammered by defaults across the nation. Fannie Mae's shares closed on Friday at $5, down from almost $70 a year ago. Freddie Mac fell to $2.61, which is down from about $65. Their heavily leveraged balance sheets magnify even a small rise in delinquencies.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/business/24gret.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin


From Information Clearing House

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Buffett: “Game is over” for Freddie and Fannie

International Herald Tribune [France]

08/22/08

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two largest mortgage finance companies, ‘don’t have any net worth,’ the billionaire investor Warren Buffett said. ‘The game is over’ as independent companies said Buffett, the 77-year-old chairman of Berkshire Hathaway …. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae touched 20-year lows yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange on speculation a government bailout will leave the stocks worthless. … Fannie and Freddie mispriced their products and ‘kept existing because they had the federal government behind them,’ Buffett said...

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/22/business/22warren.php


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=global+financial
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=mortgage
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Fannie+Mae
http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=Freddie+Mac