[Grovenet] You don't have to be a liberal to hate this

[Katie Allnutt]

Isn't it wonderful when the taxpayers bail out the rich because years  
ago we privatized Freddie and Fannie.  And there are still big  
politicians who think it is wonderful to privatize systems that are  
set up benefit the body of America as a whole.  All we got was a  
shift of the profits to the Chinese and the costs shifted to us.

Both liberals and conservatives can be rightfully upset by this whole  
scheme but voters in general ignore the underlying problems at their  
peril.

Katie
It's not what they tell you that you have to be upset about, it is  
what they don't tell you.

On Sep 8, 2008, at 9:02 AM, Steven wrote:

> September 8, 2008
>
> Few Stand to Gain on This Bailout, and Many Lose
>
> By ERIC DASH
>
> Over the years, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac showered riches on many  
> winners:
> their executives, Wall Street bankers and Washington lobbyists. Now  
> the
> foundering mortgage giants are leaving some losers in their wake,  
> notably
> their shareholders, rank-and-file employees and, in the worst case,  
> American
> taxpayers.
>
>
> But even after the government seized the mortgage finance companies on
> Sunday and dismissed their chief executives, the companies’  
> outgoing leaders
> could see big paydays — a prospect that angers many investors,  
> particularly
> because ordinary stockholders could be virtually wiped out.
>
>
> Under the terms of his employment contract, Daniel H. Mudd, the  
> departing
> head of Fannie Mae, stands to collect $9.3 million in severance pay,
> retirement benefits and deferred compensation, provided his  
> dismissal is
> deemed to be “without cause,” according to an analysis by the  
> consulting
> firm James F. Reda & Associates. Mr. Mudd has already taken home $12.4
> million in cash compensation and stock option gains since becoming  
> chief
> executive in 2004, according to an analysis by Equilar, an  
> executive pay
> research firm.
>
>
> Richard F. Syron, the departing chief executive of Freddie Mac, could
> receive an exit package of at least $14.1 million, largely because  
> of a
> clause added to his employment contract in mid-July as his company’s
> troubles deepened. He has taken home $17.1 million in pay and stock  
> option
> gains since becoming chief executive in 2003.
>
>
> Both executives stood to make millions more from restricted stock  
> grants and
> options, but those awards are now worthless because of the plunge  
> in the
> companies’ share prices. Even so, their past pay — and the idea  
> that they
> might receive more — irks some investors.
>
>
> “This is completely outrageous,” said Richard C. Ferlauto, the  
> director of
> corporate governance and investment for the American Federation of  
> State,
> County and Municipal Employees, a large pension fund. “It is really  
> a slap
> in the face to shareholders and homeowners whose loans are at risk and
> taxpayers footing the bill for a bailout.”
>
>
> Whether Mr. Mudd and Mr. Syron will collect their severance package is
> unclear. A spokeswoman for the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the  
> companies
> ’ primary regulator, declined to provide details about their exit  
> packages.
> F.H.F.A. officials said the compensation of their successors,  
> Herbert M.
> Allison Jr. and David M. Moffett, both longtime financial industry
> executives, would be “significantly lower” than that of the  
> departing chief
> executives.
>
>
> Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have enriched their top executives for  
> years. Mr.
> Mudd’s predecessor at Fannie Mae, Franklin D. Raines, took home  
> more than
> $52 million while he was chief executive from 1999 to 2004,  
> according to
> Equilar data.
>
>
> Mr. Raines later agreed to forfeit several million dollars’ worth  
> of stock
> and options to resolve personal claims over allegations that Fannie  
> Mae had
> inflated its earnings to raise executive bonuses. Even though  
> Fannie Mae was
> forced to restate its earnings, Mr. Raines walked away with at  
> least $25
> million in pension benefits, as well as stock options he did not  
> cash in —
> many of which are now worthless.
>
>
> Mr. Syron’s predecessor at Freddie Mac, Leland C. Brendsel, took  
> home more
> than $28.4 million from 1993 to 2003, the only part of his pay  
> package that
> was publicly disclosed during his 13-year tenure as chief executive.
>
>
> The shareholders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, including many  
> employees,
> will not be so lucky. The companies’ share prices have plunged  
> about 90
> percent this year, wiping out about $70 billion of shareholder  
> value. The
> shares are likely to be worth little or nothing under the government’s
> rescue plan.
>
>
> As a result, Wall Street money managers and everyday investors  
> alike stand
> to lose big. Bill Miller, the star mutual fund manager at Legg Mason,
> increased his bet on Freddie Mac even as the company’s shares  
> plummeted this
> year. Last week, when Freddie Mac stock was trading at about $5,  
> Legg Mason
> disclosed that it had bought an additional 30 million shares. Other
> value-oriented investors, including Rich Pzena, David Dreman and  
> Martin
> Whitman, also placed big bets that the mortgage companies would  
> recover.
> None of these money managers returned calls for comment.
>
>
> “I am just shocked how they missed this, and why, when it became  
> completely
> clear that the problem was snowballing, guys like Bill Miller  
> doubled down,”
> said Douglas A. Kass, head of Seabreeze Partners and an outspoken
> short-seller.
>
>
> For years, the shares of Fannie Mae, the larger of the two  
> companies, have
> ranked among the most widely held stocks in America. Many ordinary  
> investors
> believed that the company’s quasi-governmental status would insulate
> shareholders from big losses.
>
>
> “People perceived they had government support of some sort,” said  
> Byron
> Wien, the chief investment strategist at Pequot Capital. “The  
> perception was
> they were more secure investments than they turned out to be.”
>
>
> Members of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rank-and-file were big
> shareholders, too. Stock and options could make up a fifth of  
> employees’
> total pay.
>
>
> While those who bought the companies’ shares lost, short-sellers  
> who bet
> against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac won. So-called short interest in  
> Fannie
> Mae and Freddie Mac stock soared in recent months as the companies’  
> troubles
> deepened.
>
>
> Among the most vocal short-sellers betting against the companies is  
> William
> A. Ackman, who runs a hedge fund called Pershing Square Capital.  
> Mr. Ackman
> was among the earliest to warn of the credit crisis, and he is  
> believed to
> have landed a windfall after shorting both companies, according to  
> a person
> with direct knowledge of a recent investment letter.
>
>
> Wall Street investment banks, meanwhile, are breathing a sigh of  
> relief.
> Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pay hefty fees to big Wall Street debt
> underwriters, and that is unlikely to change. Fannie Mae and  
> Freddie Mac’s
> business was worth $1.5 billion in fees in 2007, according to a  
> Sanford C.
> Bernstein report. Through the first six months of this year, that  
> figure
> sank to $600 million.
>
>
> Washington lobbyists, however, may be hurting. Over the last  
> decade, Freddie
> Mac paid more than $94.8 million for lobbying services, in part to  
> fend off
> attempts to tighten oversight, according to the Center for Responsive
> Politics; Fannie Mae spent about $79.5 million. The government plan  
> will
> immediately eliminate that spending.
>
>
> Some commercial banks and insurance companies that hold the companies’
> preferred stock could suffer, too. Auditors may force those  
> investors to
> mark down the value of the holdings. Sovereign Bancorp, a regional  
> lender
> near Philadelphia, holds about $588 million of the securities,  
> about 13
> percent of its tangible capital, according to a research report by  
> Keefe,
> Bruyette & Woods, a securities broker.
>
>
> Midwest Banc Holdings, a community bank in Illinois, and Gateway  
> Financial
> Holdings, which operates in Virginia and North Carolina, each have  
> tens of
> millions of dollars of the preferred stock, representing more than  
> one-third
> of their tangible capital, the report said. And federal banking  
> regulators
> said in a joint statement that a “limited number” of smaller banks  
> could
> need new financing.
>
>
> The Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., urged those  
> institutions to
> contact their regulator, which said it was “prepared to work with  
> those
> institutions to develop capital-restoration plans” and other  
> corrective
> actions.
>
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