Rob Long: Fannie and Freddie: Not Dead Yet

Fannie Mae, the enormous, expensive, and pointless government-sponsored mortgage bank, is getting more expensive for all of us.  From the AP:

Fannie Mae asked the government Friday for an additional $8.5 billion in aid after declining home prices caused more defaults on loans guaranteed by the mortgage giant.

The company said it lost $8.7 billion in the first three months of the year. Those losses led Fannie to request more than three times the federal aid it sought in the previous quarter. The total cost of rescuing the government-controlled mortgage buyer is nearing $100 billion - the most expensive bailout of a single company.  

We're supposed to be winding Fannie and Freddie down.  But there's no end in sight:

"We expect our credit-related losses to remain elevated in 2011 as we continue to be negatively impacted by the prolonged decline in home prices," President and CEO Michael Williams said in a statement.  

Ah.  So they're going to "remain elevated," are they.  Just like our taxes.