Housing in the US: still on taxpayer life support

You want to know the true state of housing in the U.S.?  Then look at the infrastructure supporting the housing industry--still on taxpayer "life-support."--

Financial Crisis Narrative Flunks Reality Check: Jonathan Weil - Bloomberg: "No doubt, it’s an outrage that Fannie and Freddie still exist, more than three years after they collapsed into government conservatorship. Last February, President Barack Obama’s administration released a report to Congress in which it proposed winding down the two companies. Yet there’s been little action on this front since then. The Treasury Department’s gross investments in Fannie and Freddie totaled $176 billion as of Sept. 30, according to the department’s fiscal 2011 annual report, released in November. More important, if the Treasury suddenly stopped supporting the companies, the housing markets in many parts of the country probably would crash. Although Fannie and Freddie weren’t the only causes of the 2008 crisis, letting them fail now could cause a new one, as might the collapse of any systemically important financial institution. For now, we’re stuck with them. Let’s just stipulate that Fannie and Freddie were a cause of the crisis, even a big one, and leave it at that. The crucial discussion our leaders need to be having now is how to end them. . ."

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