Who are Freddie and Fannie and what are they to me?

So Freddie and Fannie are in trouble and need to be bailed out. Well, for once, those two aren’t relatives of mine.

They are actually known as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae - although their formal names are Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation and Federal National Mortgage Association, respectively and they are holders of roughly half the mortgages in the country. And they are in worse shape than any of my relatives, which is saying a great deal. You can read more detailed information about them here.

Just like so many other holders of mortgages, they were left with a lot of crap on their hands. Sub-prime. Interest only ARMS. Ick. Yuck. Crap, crap, crap. The hell of it is that, with all the bail outs and forclosures and bank failures, there were millions of dollars that were made by people who should have been looking out for those who were borrowing money to buy their homes - often their first homes.

Just as in physics where matter can neither be created nor destroyed, money doesn’t just disappear. There were trillions - yes, trillions - of dollars that have flowed in and out of the housing/mortgage industries and while some are left with less than when they started, a few have a lot more.

I take comfort in the idea that those few are camels and there is an eye of a needle waiting in their futures.

I am no financial expert. But the people who are and have been hired specifically to monitor the economy and forestall such things happening couldn’t have done worse than I would have. Or you would have. Or the lint from my dryer vent would have.

So, not much to say here other than its best to keep one’s head all about are losing theirs, apologies to Rudyard Kipling.

In other words, keep the faith. This isn’t the worst of times. Certainly not the best, but far from the worst.

Now I’m going to go watch the season premier of “The Closer”, have a glass of wine, and try not to think ill thoughts of The Suits.