Geithner backs reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

But the Treasury secretary and the Obama administration haven't announced any detailed plans for the bailed-out housing giants when they emerge from federal control.Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday promised "fundamental change" for the nation's housing finance system, saying that bailed-out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will change dramatically when they emerge from government control.

AFP - US Treasury Secretary Timo

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday said moves to "fundamentally" reform government-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would have to wait for "a time of greater market stability."In prepared remarks to Congress, Geithner said any structuring of the multi-billion-dollar lenders "must be done as part of a reform of the wider housing finance system."

The sequester is all anybody wants to talk about. I get it: It’s the hip new crisis sweeping Washington. But remember Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? You know, the once quasi-independent housing giants whose takeover by the federal government has cost taxpayers upwards of $190 billion thus far? Well, Fannie and Freddie are still owned by the federal government and, on top of that, are the only thing holding the U.S.’ badly battered housing-finance system together, as the Feds back 9 out of 10 mortgages issued today.

The sequester is all anybody wants to talk about. I get it: It’s the hip new crisis sweeping Washington. But remember Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? You know, the once quasi-independent housing giants whose takeover by the federal government has cost taxpayers upwards of $190 billion thus far? Well, Fannie and Freddie are still owned by the federal government and, on top of that, are the only thing holding the U.S.’ badly battered housing-finance system together, as the Feds back 9 out of 10 mortgages issued today.