Geithner says government guarantee is key housing question
WASHINGTON |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday said there is a strong case for a carefully designed government guarantee for mortgages as policy makers embark on restructuring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
"Without such support, the risk is that future recessions could be more severe because the financial system would not have the capital to support mortgage lending on an adequate scale," Geithner said in remarks prepared for delivery to a housing finance conference. "House price declines could be more acute, with even greater damage to financial wealth."
(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)
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Comments (1)
NWcritic wrote:
its time to share the pain with investors and reduce the liability of tax payers, until this happens we are only delaying the bottom of the market drop and allowing those who profited from the housing boom to be proped up by our tax dollars
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