Just about everyone in Congress and the Obama administration say they would like to wind down the government's near-monopoly of the mortgage market, but it's hard to see that happening as both parties increasingly use Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as a fiscal policy tool... Even when Fannie and Freddie were private-sector companies - before they were seized by the government in September 2008 and placed in conservatorship - they were "political institutions," says Richard Green. For full article:
