Help
Sign In
Europe
November 2009 
Fannie and Freddie
Posted on Sep 7th, 2008
by 
Albert
Albert
Who has heard about Fannie and Freddie? Heres to the introduction:
Fannie Mae
and
Freddie Mac
have entered public consciousness in WSJ, IHT, Financial Times and Top European newspapers and magazines. AND the US Election publicity. As much in the Obama camp as McCain troops. While I usually do not comment about financial markets and economic change this case seems to be a good opportunity to make something clear about profound change.
its about pre-blue loopholes in the international and global financial markets. Orange WSJ folks comment about these issues extensively. And right they are. These deep systemic wildfire-like spreading of unresponsible and not checked by the governments - phenomena and breakaway scenarios - are a serious topic for change.
And it needs inspection. Money, economy, finances need inspection. There is no magic anywhere which evolves these areas. of private AND public interest.
Indeed blue supervision (in spiral terms) as much in Clinton Time as in G.W Bush Time was seriously missing. Again, the same in Germany to be seen.
Here is an IHT article about the case. I am not AS easy as Krugmann about it. Just want to remind how complex and long the way will be for ANY giovernment in the world to really implement integral sustainable strategies and solutions in these areas.
Only a transpartisan approach of global reach and depth can do it. See also this paper of Peter Merry which I posted last year for an even bigger context:
Strategies for Bridging Global Gaps
Krugman: Fannie and Freddie
By Paul Krugman PRINCETON, New Jersey: Fannie and Freddie
And now we've reached the next stage of the seemingly never-ending financial crisis. This time Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in the headlines, with dire warnings of imminent collapse. How worried should we be?
Well, I'm going to take a contrarian position: The storm over these particular lenders is overblown. Fannie and Freddie probably will need a government rescue. But since it's already clear that that rescue will take place, their problems won't take down the U.S. economy.
Furthermore, while Fannie and Freddie are problematic institutions, they aren't responsible for the mess we're in.
Here's the background: Fannie Mae - the Federal National Mortgage Association - was created in the 1930s to facilitate homeownership in the United States by buying mortgages from banks, freeing up cash that could be used to make new loans. Fannie and Freddie Mac, which does pretty much the same thing, now finance most of the home loans being made in America.
Read more
Fannie Mae
and
Freddie Mac
have entered public consciousness in WSJ, IHT, Financial Times and Top European newspapers and magazines. AND the US Election publicity. As much in the Obama camp as McCain troops. While I usually do not comment about financial markets and economic change this case seems to be a good opportunity to make something clear about profound change.
its about pre-blue loopholes in the international and global financial markets. Orange WSJ folks comment about these issues extensively. And right they are. These deep systemic wildfire-like spreading of unresponsible and not checked by the governments - phenomena and breakaway scenarios - are a serious topic for change.
And it needs inspection. Money, economy, finances need inspection. There is no magic anywhere which evolves these areas. of private AND public interest.
Indeed blue supervision (in spiral terms) as much in Clinton Time as in G.W Bush Time was seriously missing. Again, the same in Germany to be seen.
Here is an IHT article about the case. I am not AS easy as Krugmann about it. Just want to remind how complex and long the way will be for ANY giovernment in the world to really implement integral sustainable strategies and solutions in these areas.
Only a transpartisan approach of global reach and depth can do it. See also this paper of Peter Merry which I posted last year for an even bigger context:
Strategies for Bridging Global Gaps
Krugman: Fannie and Freddie
By Paul Krugman PRINCETON, New Jersey: Fannie and Freddie
And now we've reached the next stage of the seemingly never-ending financial crisis. This time Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in the headlines, with dire warnings of imminent collapse. How worried should we be?
Well, I'm going to take a contrarian position: The storm over these particular lenders is overblown. Fannie and Freddie probably will need a government rescue. But since it's already clear that that rescue will take place, their problems won't take down the U.S. economy.
Furthermore, while Fannie and Freddie are problematic institutions, they aren't responsible for the mess we're in.
Here's the background: Fannie Mae - the Federal National Mortgage Association - was created in the 1930s to facilitate homeownership in the United States by buying mortgages from banks, freeing up cash that could be used to make new loans. Fannie and Freddie Mac, which does pretty much the same thing, now finance most of the home loans being made in America.
Read more
Access: Public
Not one bit surprised here….worked in the mortgage business in the 1980’s..banks will be next..we all need to get money in a shoe or something in case tings really crash big!
“their problems won’t take down the U.S. economy.”…wish I could say that is what I believe!
sure…however Clinton AS MUCH as Bush did not check it tough enough.
i too see not any apocalyptic crash but the need to install profound solution sequnces. Only integrally infiormed and deigned devleopment plans and blueprints for deep change of cultural codes all over the world will be sufficient. Remembering what Vaclav Havel once said:
“One cannot merely follow the timetable we have set for our influence on the world. We must also honor and respect the infintely more complex timetable the world has set for itself. That timetable is the sum of the thousands of independent timetables of an infinite numberr of natural, historical and human actions.”
government rescue - unfortunately, it rarely turns out to be a rescue, and more often it turns out to be, “Let us take care of that for you from now on…”
yes.rescue in ost areas -on small. middle and large scale means basically containment. This isnt enough any more.
New Development designs for complete regions, nations, cities, communtieis and worlds are needed . Without it , without these master codes neiher entrepreneurial approaches in themselves, nor governemt agendas. nor NGO`s nor any priovate intiative can work properly and in a sustainable way.
In some way the Fannie/freddie affair reminds me to the helplessness of global goverments in Caucasus or Mideast Conflict. And this is true for the Obama camp as much as McCain and as much for European Leaders .
The international economic sphere is complex enough. The financial spheres even more as uncontrolled red chaos energies are floating relatively free and without any strong regulation on a global level. The chronicles of WSJ and Financial Times -from the eightess when the first masters of the Un iverse like Milken, Siegel, Boskey, Levine et al gained global attention with their criminal energies- are full of examples.
In the core its NOT an economic issue for me. It demands perspectives about the developmental fundaments of a culture in the 21st century.:
Something I find curious is the general person in society, in my experience, is surprised by these happenings. Many also do not comprehend the far-reaching consequences of seemingly short-term bail-outs…consequences beyond the financial…
When I've read or watched the news in other countries, it seems the news is often far less sensational than the news is presented within my own country. For this reason, it is the BBC news I keep as my online home page. Here, many are highly reactive and jump all over the lastest broadcast, without slowing down to consider what's what.
“In the core its NOT an economic issue for me.” I agree, whole-heartedly. On a variety of issues, I wonder how programs and plans can be effective when those running them are of the highly reactive type. Or, political, seeking to gain, or impress, or be the Hero. (I am not of the Obama or McCain camp…I tend to rarely vote for candidates according to party…I vote the issues, not the party. I've seen and heard too much…)
Often, I am confused why more don't share your perspectives about “the developmental fundaments of a culture in the 21st century.” I am not an expert in these matters, but I have long wondered whether people do not see or if they choose not to see? Whether it be the core as related to the above or the core of other matters and issues, so many seem to want a quick fix so it will all just go away. But that is no fix. Not sustainable.
I can't help but wonder what gain there is in some presenting this latest Freddie / Fannie fiasco as doomsday, or, the sky is falling. We MUST move beyond all the hype and focus on quick “fixes”! It is not all about the money they want to scare us with! It reaches beyond our local town, our state, our country! These structures are not working.
You can see why I enjoy your blog so much :)
I think one sentence in the article says it all, “Privatise the profits and socialize the losses.”
I always thought that US-capitalists - and many of the European ones as well, if they can - are really socialists when it comes to losses, and this whole 'crisis' shows it again. The pity is, once the crisis has been mastered, and I think we will, the lesson is then forgotten, and we will get the same unchecked rethoric again around the “free play of economic forces”… it's all religion, really, and reality checks happen very rarely.
On the other hand, the need for overarching strategies is bound to fail as long as it is still thought about “top down” (which, by the way is also happening in Spiral Dynamics most of the time). Vaclav Havel really puts his finger on it when he says that the world has it's own agenda, it's own timetable. World society and world economy are self-assembling and self-organising processes that are not only out of control, but have never been under control to begin with.
Within the sphere of this fundamental uncontrollability and unpredictability (which is another way of saying that this self-shaping process is utterly creative and not bound by any known law) government can do what, alas, they cannot not do in a democracy… socialize the losses; any other choice might very likely wipe them away, or at least some of the basic stability they need to function.
There seem to be something, though, that wise people can do - and I count us among them ;-) We can be evangalists of diversity, trust in the self-organising capacities, creators of tools that maximize diversity and ever growing multi-facetted markets. Empowering, on the psychological and where possible material level, as many people as possible to co-create a happy life for themselves, their families, their society and finally the world; this we could surely do. The other thing we need to support is stopping closed silos, monopolies, cartells etc. wherever we find them…
Just my 2 cent's worth
Mushin, certainly a very special synnervation of these approaches is necessary. As CHE NL is expressing it already.
In case certain power constellations have to be changed there is more top down relvant. Just look whats happening in German Social Democratic Party right now with the leftists, represented by Kurt Beck and Frank Walter Steinmeier and Franz Müntefering:):)
No form of self organizing would be suffiicient here for the Agenda 2010 fraction:):)
Erin, thank you very much for your thoughtful comment.
I am aware that change is spelled in very diverse ways. Even from people who walk the talk. Diverse perceptions and perspectives are expressed in different pictures even.
I saw your comment on Annies blog entry about a summer of deep work and the pic. I was always fascinated by painting, film and visual arts. The darker colors of early morning and late evening , contrasts of light and darkness, and lots of visual phenomena seem to illuminate this big spectrum of approaches.
The collective shifts of deep tectonic plates in consciousness need very specific and diverse first person perveptions as much as collective takes from different cultures. Always from inside as much as from outside.
Here at Gaia special discussions are focused on. While passionate people with the same integrity and transformational drive are navigating their tenor in other directions.
There is no single forum worldwide where all this comes together. I am always surprised how unconnected some of the most conscious persons of the planet are.
And lets face it:
Even the European American transatlantic communication did not proceed very much. As Bureau Chief for Integral leadership review for German speaking countries I saw it again and again in last 12 months. The theme “Integral leadership” is right now elaborated to 90 Percent in Anglo saxon language sphere. European contributions amount to 10 percent.
What does this say?
is Integral Leadership or at least its public discourse less relvant here? Or do we have different cultural codes which place the whole thing simply in another context and nexus?
These are profound considerations and next years and decades will reveal how all this fits together.
And how many voices do we have from the even wider field? From Africa, Mideast, Russia, Asia, India and Australia and New zealand?
Myriades of views..indeed…
I am glad to have joined the TSK Forum. this vision is more alive than ever before..
Thanks again, Erin,
Best,
Albert
Albert, thank you for responding to my comment! I very much enjoyed reading your interesting and insightful thoughts. I look forward to discussing these topics further as weeks and months unfold.
One favorite line:
”The collective shifts of deep tectonic plates in consciousness need very specific and diverse first person perveptions as much as collective takes from different cultures.”
Ah! I have been trying to explain to friends what I sense as a deep shift, effecting new directions, slowly moving into place. A deep shift nearly indiscernable at present, but magnificent nonetheless. Your reference to “tectonic plates” is wonderful!
Also, I enjoyed your thoughts about light and dark, contrasts and colors. And myriades…
I am just getting back up and running, full of renewed energies!
Looking forward to more,
Erin