# Fannie, Freddie could send $179.2 billion to taxpayers: White House (exact headline) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 10, 2014, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fannie-freddie-could-send-179-2-billion-to-taxpayers-white-house-exact-headline/683388 "2014-03-10T22:44:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Linden\_Arden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Linden\_Arden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linden_Arden)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fannie-freddie-could-send-179-2-billion-to-taxpayers-white-house-exact-headline/683388/1 "2014-03-10T22:44:54Z")
[http://news.yahoo.com/fannie-freddie-could-send-179-2-billion-taxpayers-175239683--sector.html](http://news.yahoo.com/fannie-freddie-could-send-179-2-billion-taxpayers-175239683--sector.html) > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. government-owned mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could send about $179.2 billion in profits to taxpayers over the next 10 years if the terms of their bailout remain intact, the White House budget office said on Monday. > > The amount is more than triple the estimated 10-year payments calculated last year in the White House budget proposal, driven by the companies’ increased profitability. > > Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have operated under federal conservatorship since 2008, when regulators agreed to inject capital into the companies to keep them afloat. > > They received $187.5 billion in taxpayer funds, but they have returned to profitability and by the end of March they will have had paid $202.9 billion in dividends to the U.S. Treasury. So, what should be done with these enormous profits now that taxpayers have been repaid? Should we keep them to pay down the deficit? Should they be returned to the stockholders? Senior creditors? Should they be broken up and disbanded? Many people want to know and there is almost no precedent on what to do with a GSE that is leaving conservatorship. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fannie-freddie-could-send-179-2-billion-to-taxpayers-white-house-exact-headline/683388/2 "2014-03-10T23:48:45Z")
“Enormous profits”??? $180 billion is barely a drop in the bucket, compared against an outstanding debt of $12.5 trillion, or approximately 0.005 cents per American citizen. And that’s over a time scale of ten years. Still, a penny saved is a penny earned, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fannie-freddie-could-send-179-2-billion-to-taxpayers-white-house-exact-headline/683388/3 "2014-03-11T00:01:28Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > “Enormous profits”??? $180 billion is barely a drop in the bucket, compared against an outstanding debt of $12.5 trillion, or approximately 0.005 cents per American citizen. And that’s over a time scale of ten years. > > Still, a penny saved is a penny earned, I suppose. I think some of your math is wrong. Still, a billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money. But if we socialized the risk, we should socialize the profit, and this money is better measured against the deficit, not the debt in any case. ---
**Author:** ![Linden\_Arden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Linden\_Arden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linden_Arden)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fannie-freddie-could-send-179-2-billion-to-taxpayers-white-house-exact-headline/683388/4 "2014-03-11T00:07:22Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > “Enormous profits”??? $180 billion is barely a drop in the bucket, compared against an outstanding debt of $12.5 trillion, or approximately 0.005 cents per American citizen. And that’s over a time scale of ten years. > > Still, a penny saved is a penny earned, I suppose. Yes, enormous profits. You are comparing profit against debt outstanding and forgetting the millions of monthly mortgage payments collected to offset such. To complete your train (or trickle) of thought you would need to compare debt to assets. Those assets have a 30 yr promissory note attached. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fannie-freddie-could-send-179-2-billion-to-taxpayers-white-house-exact-headline/683388/5 "2014-03-15T04:36:53Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > “Enormous profits”??? $180 billion is barely a drop in the bucket, compared against an outstanding debt of $12.5 trillion, or approximately 0.005 cents per American citizen. And that’s over a time scale of ten years. > > Still, a penny saved is a penny earned, I suppose. 180 billion divided by the population of the USA is what now? ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fannie-freddie-could-send-179-2-billion-to-taxpayers-white-house-exact-headline/683388/6 "2014-03-15T04:43:18Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > 180 billion divided by the population of the USA is what now? $600. So - about $5/month for each person in the US, for 10 years. Call it “Uncle Sam’s monthly latte”. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fannie-freddie-could-send-179-2-billion-to-taxpayers-white-house-exact-headline/683388/7 "2014-03-15T19:26:00Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > 180 billion divided by the population of the USA is what now? Hopefully enough to fund basic math education as it is so clearly and desperately needed. ---
**Author:** ![DagNation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@DagNation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DagNation)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fannie-freddie-could-send-179-2-billion-to-taxpayers-white-house-exact-headline/683388/8 "2014-03-17T05:25:50Z")
What would it be worth if it were sold in an IPO? Lets get our money and RUN!