Last night Fannie Mae posted relatively good earnings: down only $1.2 billion.
The Q2 loss represents the 12th consecutive loss for Fannie Mae. Its worst quarters hold 7 spots on our list of the biggest quarterly losses of all time, peaking in the $29-billion loss of Q3 '08. Altogether Fannie Mae has drawn $86 billion in federal aid to cover its losses.
So why the recurring bailout?
Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee more than half the $11 trillion US residential debt market, according to Bloomberg. Abolishing Fannie and Freddie would mean selling those mortgages at an astronomical loss -- or selling them to the government and creating an even bigger taxpayer problem. And then we'd have to invent a new system for getting a mortgage in America.
Check out the 25 Biggest Quarterly Losses Ever -->
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