Henry Cisneros: Fannie and Freddie won't need Treasury's help

I don't know what crowd Mr. Cisneros has been hanging around with, but Freddie Mac and Fannie are "Titanics" ready to sink and you can blame Congress for this mess. Up until a few years ago, these agencies had strict underwriting standards and their securities were rock solid - especially for retirees looking for interest or dividend income. But the Liberals in Congress felt that too many people with lousy credit and spotty work experience deserved a mortgage too, so these agencies were ordered to loosen their underwriting standards. Now as a result of these people receiving loans that they should never have received in the first place, retirees has seen the value of their securities in these agencies drop like a rock, and the taxpayers are left holding the bag once again. This is a crime what Congress has done to these investors, and if the government is going to bail out Bear Sterns, then it's only ethical they should make things right with the investors of these agencies who have lost their retirement savings.

What wasn't covered but is important is ,,how will perferred shares be handled if there is a government intervention.

For some reason I think they will get it though.

LC: Liz, I enjoy your interviews and think they are insightful, but having this man on your program is a disservice to your viewers. Why should we believe Cisneros as he paints this rosy picture? The CEOs of Freddy and FAnnie are both over-paid, and their organizations regularly pony up millions to Congressmen's political funds. Mozilo(Countrywide) is a crook and likewise for Cisneros(conspiracy, fraud, obstruction).

Henry Cisneros said he was glad to have the oppertunity to give the whole answer without people shouting and the limits of sound bites, then went on to defend Gino in general terms(a good man that made mistakes) PLEASE. Liz you did a woderful job of keeping him on message. He had nothing of substance to shine a light on the reasons for the government's lack of oversite on the whole subprime debacle. Liz hoop earings are you! You looked like a loverly red head version of mother earth.

Henry Cisneros, pfft ... liz you do good work, Cisneros saying no problem is like cavuto saying sub prime is going to be "no big deal" last summer.

It is people like Cisneros, Franklin Raines and Angelo Mozilo that got us into this "perfect storm" of mortgage problems. In 1994,as HUD Secretary, Cisneros was instrumental in pushing to change legislation including mortgage application requirements to increase housing ownership from 33% to 75%. His Clinton Administration buddy Raines, cooked the FannieMae books and left town with millions in severance and benefits. Having sat on the Countrywide board, it is understandable how he would cover for Mozilo made millions while the taxpayers, consumers and the banks were left holding the bag. Cisneros could not be more disingenuous and a bigger fraud if he tried.

Hi Liz: Really important Interview with Herry Cisneros, probing and informative. Mr. Cisneros was pleased to have a chance to tell the story as he saw it.He is right on about the second stimulus package, only give it to the people that are going to spend it right away. P.S. The hoop earings are definatly YOU, I've never seen a lovelier version of a red headed Mother Earth.

Liz, Your interviews are great. Unless the government pulls out of their involvement with Freddie and Fannie and lets them fail, which I doubt they will do, they will continue to "bail them out." Whatever way they do that it is the same-- it will ultimately come from the taxpayer. The government needs to let the free market work this out.