Twin government-owned mortgage behemoths Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are asking for an additional $19 billion in public funds to stay afloat after posting sizable losses during the first quarter of 2010.
Fannie is asking for $8.4 billion, while Freddie wants $10.6 billion. The “companies” posted a combined $21.1 billion loss from January to March of this year. Fannie Mae has already received $76.2 billion from taxpayers, while Freddie Mac has received $50.7 billion.
Originally, bailout money for Fannie and Freddie was supposed to have been capped at $200 billion, but Congress voted in December to remove that restriction.
SPEAKING OF BAILOUTS
Taking a page out of the Federal Reserve’s book, the European Union has approved a $1.08 trillion bailout for its ailing “Eurozone,” which has been rocked by the collapse of Greece’s ailing economy as well as the sorry financial footing of several other member nations.
The bailout was welcome news on Wall Street, where stocks soared nearly 400 points in morning trading.
But still … somebody’s gotta pay for all that money, right?
Right?
UNION PAYBACK CONTINUES
President Barack Obama’s payback to union bosses continued on Monday when the National Mediation Board – which governs labor relations at airlines and railroads – changed a decades-old rule in an effort to make it easier for airline employees to unionize.
Under the new rule, unions would be required to gain a simple majority of votes from workers who cast ballots – as opposed to the old rule, which requires that unions receive votes from a majority of workers who are eligible to vote.
Unions spent more than $100 million supporting Obama and Democratic candidates during the 2008 election.
By fitsnews
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