Ralph Nader is holding a round table discussion tomorrow as part of his campaign in favor of Fannie Mae / Federal National Mortgage Association (OTCBB:FNMA) and Freddie Mac / Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp (OTCBB:FMCC) shareholder rights through his organization Shareholder Respect. The two government sponsored enterprises (GSE) are in conservatorship and other shareholders do not receive dividends and have no input into the GSEs’ eventual fate.
Nader, Theodore Olsen, and others to discuss Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
“With lawmakers on Capitol Hill considering legislation that purports to reform the GSEs, and likely determine the fate of investors in Fannie Mae / Federal National Mortgage Association (OTCBB:FNMA) and Freddie Mac / Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp (OTCBB:FMCC), this discussion is both timely and important,” the organization said in an email.
Nader, known for his consumer advocacy and 2000 presidential bid, will be joined at the round table by former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson, National Low Income Housing Coalition president Sheila Crowley, American Enterprise Institute fellow James Glassman, director of the US PIRG consumer program Ed Mierzwinski, Fannie Mae / Federal National Mortgage Association (OTCBB:FNMA) and Freddie Mac / Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp (OTCBB:FMCC) shareholder and CapWealth Advisors LLC founder Tim Pagliara, and president of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition John Taylor. The round table will take place at the Carnegie Institution for Science building in Washington D.C.
According to Shareholder Respect, Fannie Mae / Federal National Mortgage Association (OTCBB:FNMA) and Freddie Mac / Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp (OTCBB:FMCC) shareholders collectively own $33 billion in ‘phantom shares’ that may have no real value depending on what course the federal government sets for the two GSEs. The rough plan (plenty of details still need to be worked out) is to wind down both GSEs over the next few years, sending all dividends to the Federal government, and to close shop once the value hits zero.
Fairholme has already fought this through the courts (and lost, at least so far), but with so much money riding on the outcome you can expect shareholders to continue fighting for some form of compensation. The problem is that neither political party is particularly interested in changing course. Between critics who want the government out of the secondary mortgage market on one side and critics who don’t want public guarantees for privately held companies on the other, there’s not a lot of political support for Fannie Mae / Federal National Mortgage Association (OTCBB:FNMA) and Freddie Mac / Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp (OTCBB:FMCC) in their current form and it finding a new solution that meets the goals of both sides could be very difficult.
