Fannie Mae said on Thursday that it’s paying $59.4 billion in dividends to the U.S. Treasury. So between that and the sequester, does this mean our debt limit problems are over?
“I think that it’s kind of impressive that this clever little accounting gimmick that Fannie Mae discovered about tax credits has turned into $60 billion of real money, which is going to the government — yay, good for them,” said Reuters’ Felix Salmon. “But the debt limit fight is absolutely certain to happen sooner or later, and at some point this year.”
Mostly, it’s good news for the government, said Bloomberg Government’s Nela Richardson.
“Not only do they not have to deal with the debt ceiling, they don’t have to deal with Fannie Mae,” she said. “The company’s now profitable and the calls for reform are much less frequent when the company is actually making the government and putting off decisions for the government. It’s a win-win all around.”
Listen to the full audio for more analysis.
#Longreads
Time to catch up on the week with our Wrappers’ picks for #longreads for the weekend!
Felix Salmon suggests:
- Soros vs Sinn: The Europe debate.
- Martin Filler on MoMA and the Folk Art Museum building.
- Jim Holt on Benoit Mandelbrot.
Nela Richardson picked:
- Kelefa Sannah takes a deep dive into the Occupy Wall Street movement and the state of American anarchy.
- Chrystia Freeland explores parents and the money they spend to make their kids smarter, faster, more talented than their peers. Is it working?
- Related: Karen Weise reports that colleges financial aid is increasingly going to wealthier kids.
- Peter Coy asks what’s wrong with the American job market. The article takes a look behind the numbers to the obstacles to full employment that still remain.
And a bonus from both:
- That New American Foundation Pell report on Pell Grants, related to the Weise article.
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