Fannie, Freddie Bailout Necessary, But Not Enough
Posted on September 08, 2008 at 10:15 AM EDT
First my apologies to all regarding Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) preferreds. I called it wrong. They weren't saved. But in trying to learn from my mistakes I would offer that regulators clearly knew who held them within the banking system and concluded that the holders -- unlike the subordinated debt -- weren't sufficiently entwined (nor the individual holdings material enough) to be significant.I would however add that I think regulators are sending an important message to investors: Given the increasing size of the problem more and more classes of security holders will be hurt. For bank investors ...