Financial Crisis: Five Years Later, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Remain Unfinished Business

 

来源：华尔街日报    2013-09-11 

 

        Of all the temporary patches the U.S. government slapped onto the sinking financial system in September 2008 -- from pumping money into banks to rescuing insurer American International Group Inc. -- none was more urgent to then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson than saving mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.        2008年9月，美国政府为不断下沉的金融系统打上各种各样的临时补丁，比如向银行注资，又比如为保险公司美国国际集团(American International Group Inc.)提供救助。在时任财政部长鲍尔森(Henry Paulson)看来，这些措施没有哪一条比拯救房贷巨头房利美(Fannie Mae)、房地美(Freddie Mac)更加紧迫。

        'It was the single most important thing we did to prevent disaster -- real disaster,' said Mr. Paulson in a recent interview. But five years later, he adds, 'it didn't occur to me that we'd be here with nothing done.'        鲍尔森最近接受采访说，那是我们为防止灾难――真正的灾难――发生而做的最重要的事情，但没想到五年之后，我们似乎一无所成。

        Fannie and Freddie remain the largest single piece of unfinished business from the financial crisis. As record profits have replaced huge losses, some now question whether cosmetic changes could substitute for the more radical overhaul of the companies envisioned five years ago.        房利美和房地美仍然是金融危机之后最大的烂尾工程。随着创纪录的利润取代巨额亏损，一些人现在提出了疑问：面子上的改变能不能取代五年前计划的、对这两家公司更为彻底的改革？

        The profits are even giving Fannie, the bigger of the two, some of its old swagger. In an online video touting the company's profit streak, Fannie boasts that it will 'change the way people experience housing for generations to come.' Fannie had around 7,200 employees at the end of February, up from around 5,800 when it was bailed out.        这些利润甚至让房利美（两房中较大的一家）在一定程度上恢复了往日的自负。在一段宣传连续盈利成绩的网络视频中，房利美声称它将“改变未来几代人的安家体验”。截至今年2月底，房利美拥有员工大约7,200名，多于接受救助时的5,800名左右。

        The Obama administration, congressional leaders and the financial industry all insist that Fannie and Freddie must change. But figuring out exactly how to reshape or replace them is proving harder than most anyone imagined.        奥巴马政府、国会领导人和金融行业全都坚持认为，房利美、房地美必须改变。但具体怎样改变或取代？事实证明，想清楚这个问题的难度超过了几乎所有人的想象。

        'Everyone wants to get rid of Fannie and Freddie,' said Frank Sorrentino, chief executive at the $1 billion-asset ConnectOne Bank, a community bank in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 'But I don't think this country has the political appetite to lose many of the things they enable.'        新泽西州Englewood Cliffs社区银行ConnectOne Bank的首席执行长索伦蒂诺(Frank Sorrentino)说，大家都想抛弃房利美和房地美，但我觉得这个国家没有那种政治胃口，去把两房创造出来的那么多东西都丢掉。该社区银行管理着10亿美元的资产。

        The biggest reason is that the firms play such a central role in the mortgage market, including access to the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage. That product, which doesn't exist in much of the world, is popular with Americans who enjoy stable payments even if interest rates rise.        最大的原因在于这两家公司在房贷市场、包括30年期固息房贷市场扮演着非常核心的角色。30年期固息房贷在世界上很多国家都不存在，在美国人当中却很受欢迎，因为即使利率上升，他们的月供也是稳定的。

        The firms don't make loans. They buy them from lenders and package them into bonds. That middleman role created deep markets for mortgage securities by matching banks with investors willing to manage the risks of holding long-term, fixed-rate mortgages.        两家公司并不发放贷款。它们是从银行那里购买贷款，然后打包成债券。这种中间人角色在银行与愿意承担持有长期固息房贷之风险的投资者之间牵线搭桥，创造了规模庞大的房贷证券市场。

        Fannie and Freddie got into trouble because they took on more risk over the past two decades while using their political clout to beat back attempts to force them to hold more capital. They amassed huge investment portfolios to profit from the difference between their lower cost of capital -- a benefit of an implied federal guarantee because Congress created the firms -- and the rates they could earn on mortgages.        房利美和房地美之所以陷入困境，是因为它们在过去20年里承担了越来越多的风险，同时运用自己的政治影响力击退了逼迫它们增加资本持有量的努力。它们积累巨额投资组合，利用较低的融资成本（联邦隐性担保的好处，因为它们是国会成立的公司）与它们从房贷上面能够赚取的回报之间的差额获利。

        The companies experimented with loosening lending standards in the late 1990s. But in the early 2000s, Wall Street firms raced ahead of them by packaging larger quantities of riskier loans that often weren't eligible for backing by Fannie and Freddie. By 2005, Fannie and Freddie were losing market share. They began loosening their own loan standards to compete, taking on more risks at what would later prove to be the worst possible time. As the housing bust deepened in 2008, lawmakers called on the firms to take on more risks to help the market.        两家公司在20世纪90年代末试验放宽贷款标准，但在21世纪初，华尔街公司跑到它们前头，将风险更高、通常没有资格获得两房担保的贷款打包，而且打包数额更大。到2005年，两房的市场份额已经在流失。为了竞争，它们开始放宽自己的贷款标准，承担了更多的风险。后来的事实证明，此举恰恰发生在最不该发生的时候。2008年，在房地产泡沫破灭程度加深之际，国会议员又呼吁两家公司进一步承担风险，以扶助市场。

        By August 2008, Treasury officials concluded the firms didn't have enough capital and feared what would happen if investors lost confidence in Fannie and Freddie. A failed debt auction by the companies might trigger fire-sales of bond investors world-wide. 'It just would have been catastrophic,' said Mr. Paulson. 'We were racing against the clock here.'        到2008年8月，财政部官员认定两家公司资本不足，担心投资者对它们失去信心会产生何种后果。如果两房发行债券流拍，则有可能引起全世界债券投资者贱价抛售。鲍尔森说，那样的话就是灾难了，在这个意义上，我们是在跟时间赛跑。

        On Friday, Sept. 5, 2008, he summoned the companies' chief executives to separate afternoon meetings and told them they were being taken over. Fannie's board considered its options, including a court battle, but quickly concluded there weren't any good ones. 'Defending the company when the federal government had declared war on it did not seem like a prudent course,' said Daniel Mudd, Fannie's chief executive, in a recent interview. Two days later, the firms had been effectively nationalized, and Mr. Mudd was replaced.        2008年9月5日，星期五，鲍尔森召集两家公司的首席执行长分别举行午后会谈，对他们说两房将被接管。房利美董事会研究了包括法律诉讼在内的各种选择，但很快认定根本就没有什么好的选择。房利美首席执行长马德(Daniel Mudd)最近接受采访时说，在联邦政府已经对公司宣战的时候保卫它，好像不是一条妥当的路子。两天过后，房利美、房地美在事实上被国有化，马德亦被取代。

        The Obama administration remained conflicted over the mortgage giants. In a 2011 meeting with the president, then-White House economist Austan Goolsbee compared Fannie and Freddie with comic-book villains that had been captured and imprisoned in a cell on the ocean floor. It would be folly, he said, to turn the companies loose because they promised to behave.        对于怎样处置两个房贷巨头的问题，奥巴马政府内部依然没有统一的意见。2011年，时任白宫经济学家的古尔斯比(Austan Goolsbee)在与奥巴马会谈的时候将两房比喻为漫画书上被抓起来投进海底监狱的反面人物。他说，如果因为两家公司答应会好好表现就把它们放走，那也太愚蠢了。

        'If Fannie and Freddie are allowed to return to their old business model, then shame on us as a nation,' said Mr. Goolsbee, who left the administration in 2011, in a recent interview.        2011年离开奥巴马政府的古尔斯比最近接受采访时说，如果放任房利美、房地美回到原来的商业模式中去，那我们这个国家就太无耻了。

        The government has plowed $188 billion into Fannie and Freddie. By the end of September, the companies will have sent $146 billion in dividends back to the Treasury with nearly two-thirds of those payments made this year. Many analysts forecast that within a year, the firms will have sent more to the Treasury than they borrowed.        大事记：震动美国金融系统的事件政府已将1,880亿美元的资金注入两房。到2013年9月底，两家公司返还给财政部的股利将达1,460亿美元，其中今年支付的部分接近三分之二。很多分析人士预测，在一年时间之内，两房返还给财政部的金额就将超出它们借入的金额。

        Fannie and Freddie are reporting banner profits thanks to rising home prices and falling mortgage delinquencies. They have boosted the fees they charge lenders while refusing to guarantee risky loans. Private investors have shied away from buying mortgages without federal backing, leaving Fannie, Freddie and other federal agencies responsible for insuring nearly 90% of all loans.        受益于房价的上涨和房贷逾期率的下降，房利美、房地美财报成绩亮眼。它们提高了向银行收取的服务费，同时拒绝担保高风险贷款。民间投资者不愿购买没有联邦担保的房贷，所以房利美、房地美和其他联邦机构负责担保了全部贷款当中接近90%的部分。

        As the debate over the companies' future comes to a head, policy makers' views of the causes of the 2008 crisis have shaped their proposed solutions.        在有关两家公司何去何从的讨论达到白热化之际，政策制定者对2008年危机肇因的看法左右着他们提出的解决方案。

        Some conservatives see Fannie and Freddie as the chief culprits of the bubble, saying that they pioneered risky lending standards at the urging of politicians who wanted to boost the homeownership rate. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, is moving forward a bill to wind down Fannie and Freddie over five years and cede their roles to the private sector.        一些保守派人士将两房视为泡沫的罪魁祸首，说在那些希望提高拥房率的政治家的催促下，它们充当了放宽放贷标准的急先锋。众议院金融服务委员会(House Financial Services Committee)主席、来自得克萨斯州的共和党众议员亨萨林(Jeb Hensarling)正在推动一项议案，拟在五年时间内逐渐收缩两房，把它们的角色放归私营领域。

        Other lawmakers say Fannie and Freddie helped inflate the bubble but weren't necessarily the worst offenders. In their view, the companies ran off the rails because as shareholder-owned firms, executives couldn't resist the urge to buy riskier loans to grab extra profits even as the housing market overheated.        其他议员说，房利美和房地美吹大泡沫的因素之一，但不一定是罪魁祸首。在他们看来，两家公司之所以偏离正轨，是因为它们是股东所有的公司，哪怕是在房地产市场已经变得过热的时候，高管们也无法抑制收购风险更高的贷款以获取更多利润的冲动。

        A Senate bill, introduced in June by Sens. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) and Mark Warner (D., Va.) would replace Fannie and Freddie with federal reinsurance for mortgage-backed securities, much the way the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. insures bank deposits. The goal is to restore private investors to the position of taking the first losses on mortgages but provide the guarantees that many believe are needed to preserve access -- especially during downturns -- to 30-year, fixed-rate loans.        根据参议员柯克(Bob Corker，共和党，田纳西州)和参议员沃纳(Mark Warner，民主党，弗吉尼亚州)6月份在参议院提出的一份议案，房利美和房地美将替换为房贷支持证券的联邦再保险机制，就像联邦存款保险公司(Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.)为银行存款担保一样。其目标是恢复民间投资者第一个承担房贷损失的角色，同时也提供担保――很多人相信，要让人们能够继续获取30年期固息贷款（特别是在不景气时期），这种担保是必不可少的。

        President Barack Obama waded into the debate for the first time last month when he said that he supported the general aims of the Senate bill. The White House also is working behind the scenes with the Senate on a related proposal that could potentially use parts of a shuttered Fannie and Freddie to fashion new mortgage-guarantee entities, according to people familiar with the discussions.        图解：一场重塑美国经济的风暴美国总统奥巴马(Barack Obama)上个月首次加入这场讨论，表示支持上述参议院提案的总体目标。据知情人士说，在幕后，白宫也在与参议院一起制定一套相关提案，可能会将房利美、房地美关闭，然后将它们的一部分改组为新的房贷担保实体。

        Everyone is digging in for a protracted battle. At one end are home builders, real-estate agents, small lenders and consumer advocates who want to preserve the largest possible federal safety net. At the other end are free-market economists who believe housing receives too much government support. Loan guarantees, they say, put undue risk on taxpayers while diverting investment from other sectors of the economy.        所有人都一门心思要进行一场旷日持久的争论。一边是建筑商、房地产中介、小银行和消费者权益保护组织，他们希望保住联邦政府提供的最大安全网。另一边则是奉行自由市场的经济学家，他们认为房地产市场获得了过多的政府支持。这些经济学家说，贷款担保给纳税人带来了过多的风险，而且从其他经济部门分流了投资。

        Big banks generally fall somewhere in between. They have long viewed Fannie and Freddie as competitors, but they don't want to lose access to a government guarantee that keeps markets functioning smoothly. Banks have profited handsomely over the past two years by collecting fees for refinancing loans that can be sold to Fannie and Freddie.        众多大银行总体上处在中间的某个位置。它们很久以来都将房利美和房地美视为竞争对手，但也不想失去让市场平稳运行的政府担保。过去两年，银行为那些可以卖给房利美、房地美的贷款提供再融资，通过收取服务费赚了不少。

        Some critics warn that the suggested replacements gloss over the private sector's role in producing lots of shoddy mortgages. 'All of the proposals we're seeing have one thing in common: They would essentially give greater control over the market to the biggest banks that were key participants in the bubble,' said Joshua Rosner, managing director of research firm Graham Fisher & Co. and a longtime critic of Fannie and Freddie before their collapse.        一些批评者提醒，替换两房的方案遮盖了私营部门对于制造大量劣质房贷所扮演的角色。研究公司Graham Fisher & Co.董事总经理、两房坍塌之前就长期批评它们罗斯纳(Joshua Rosner)说，现在的所有方案都有一个共同点，那就是将在事实上把更大的市场控制权交给那些曾在泡沫生成过程中发挥关键作用的大银行。

        Fannie Mae Chief Executive Timothy Mayopoulos is prodding Washington to make up its mind. He says he is concerned that continued calls for liquidating the company could send his best employees for the exits. They 'have families to feed,' he said in a May speech to officials from the nation's biggest banks.        房利美首席执行长梅尔波洛斯(Timothy Mayopoulos)正在敦促华盛顿下定决心。他说，他担心人们持续呼吁清算房利美会导致最优秀的员工丢掉工作。梅尔波洛斯5月份对全国大银行的高管致辞时说，这些员工得养家糊口。

        After Fannie reported a $58.7 billion profit during the first quarter, in part from reversing certain write-downs it had taken after the bust, it launched the online 'progress report' that touts its recent achievements, including charitable giving.        由于扭转了泡沫破灭后发生的减记等原因，房利美一季度录得利润587亿美元。在这之后，房利美在网上推出“进展报告”，大力宣传包括慈善捐赠在内的近期成就。

        Compared to Freddie Mac, 'the culture at Fannie has always been much more self-confident, much more 'We're going to survive this thing,'' says Robert Bostrom, former general counsel at Freddie Mac.        房地美前法律顾问博斯特罗姆(Robert Bostrom)说，与房地美比起来，房利美的氛围总是自信得多，总是更能表现出一副“我们会挺过这道难关”的样子。

        Mr. Mayopoulos didn't endorse a particular outcome in his May speech. But he reminded the bankers that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages weren't a 'naturally occurring phenomenon in financial markets.' And there was 'limited evidence,' he said, that private capital was ready to return in large scale.        Jonathan Ernst/Reuters图片：金融危机五年再回首梅尔波洛斯在5月份的致辞中没有对某个具体的改革方案表示支持。但他提醒银行家说，30年期固息房贷不是“金融市场自然发生的现象”。他说，没有多少证据表明私营部门资本已经做好大规模回流的准备。

        'We fully appreciate that Fannie Mae should play a smaller role in a properly functioning market,' he added, 'and we are working to make that happen.'        他还说，我们深知，房利美应当在一个妥善运行的市场中扮演一个更小的角色，我们正在朝着这个目标努力。

        While Fannie and Freddie aren't permitted to lobby, allies have begun speaking up in their defense. Small banks worry that without the firms, they would have to sell more of their loans to megabanks like Wells Fargo & Co. that would turn around and sell other services such as checking accounts to those borrowers. 'I would be handing my clients to them on a silver platter,' said Mr. Sorrentino of ConnectOne Bank.        虽然两房不被允许组织进行游说，但盟友们已经开始为它们说好话。小银行担心，没有这两家公司的话，它们就只能把更多贷款卖给富国银行(Wells Fargo & Co.)这样的超级大银行，而这些大银行又将回过头来把活期账户等其他服务卖给这些借款人。ConnectOne Bank的索伦蒂诺说，那样就等于我把自己的客户拱手送给他们。

        Hedge funds and institutional investors that have bought Fannie and Freddie shares represent another unlikely ally. They say that rather than plowing the companies under, the government should instead place new curbs on their activities, subject them to higher capital requirements, and spin them off as private firms.        曾借走房利美、房地美股票的对冲基金和机构投资者也意想不到地成了它们的盟友。这些投资者说，政府不应该让这两家公司消失，而是应该对它们的活动施加新的限制，让它们受制于更高的资本金要求，把它们分拆为私营企业。

        'It seems like the lawmakers are hellbent on waging this sort of Don Quixote kind of battle against demons that are no longer there,' said Michael Kao, chief executive of Akanthos Capital Management in Woodland Hills, Calif., which has invested in both companies since before their collapse.        加州伍德兰希尔斯(Woodland Hills)的Akanthos Capital Management公司在两房坍塌之前就投资了它们。首席执行长Michael Kao说，议员们好像已经下定决心，要对已经不存在的魔鬼发起这样一场唐吉诃德般的战斗。

        All of the alternatives being proposed in Washington 'simply won't work,' says Bruce Berkowitz, chief investment officer of Miami-based Fairholme Capital Management, which sued the Treasury in July to challenge the terms of the government's bailout. The lawsuit alleges that the Treasury is illegally expropriating the company's profits. A Treasury Department spokesman said, 'We fully believe our actions have been lawful and appropriate.'        迈阿密公司Fairholme Capital Management的首席投资长伯考维茨(Bruce Berkowitz)说，华盛顿提出来的这一切替代方案根本不管用。伯考维茨的公司在7月份起诉财政部，对政府的救助条款发起挑战。起诉书声称财政部是在非法征收两家公司的利润。财政部一位发言人说，我们完全相信，我们的行为是合法、妥当的。

        To avoid consolidating more than $5 trillion in assets and liabilities onto the federal ledger, the government never took full control of Fannie and Freddie when it bailed them out. Instead, the U.S. agreed to inject vast sums of aid in exchange for a new class of stock-'senior preferred' shares-that paid a 10% dividend. The government also received warrants to acquire nearly 80% of the firms' common stock.        为了避免将超过5万亿美元的资产和负债整合到联邦账簿上，政府在救援房利美和房地美的时候从未完全控制它们。相反，联邦政府同意通过注入巨量援助款换取一种名叫“高级优先股”、股息率达10%的新型股票。政府还获得了收购两家公司近八成普通股的权证。

        The shares, considered worthless, were delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in 2010. But soon after, some investors concluded the firms would become profitable one day and began buying their shares at deep discounts. The government upended those bets last year when it amended the terms of its rescue.        这些股票被认为没有价值，在2010年从纽约证券交易所(New York Stock Exchange)退市。但不久之后，一些投资者认定这两家公司有朝一日将扭亏为盈，于是开始以极低的价格买进它们的股票。政府去年修改救援条款，颠覆了投资者下的这些赌注。

        The new agreement requires all of the firms' earnings to be sent to the Treasury as dividends. Those payments don't reduce the senior preferred shares held by the Treasury, however, and they prevent the firms from building capital. As a result, restoring them to private ownership requires Congress or the Treasury to change the bailout terms.        新的协议要求两家公司的全部利润都作为股利送给财政部。但这些款项并不导致财政部持有的高级优先股减少，而且使两家公司无法进行资本积累。因此要使它们回归私人所有，国会或财政部就得修改救助条款。

        Hedge funds have taken to Capitol Hill to build support. In a June letter to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, Rep. Michael Capuano (D., Mass.) called the current bailout terms 'outrageous usury' and introduced a bill that would relax them, making it more likely that Fannie and Freddie could one day exit government control.        对冲基金已经在争取国会的支持。众议员卡普安诺（Michael Capuano，民主党，马萨诸塞州）6月份致信财政部长雅各布・卢(Jacob Lew)，称现行救援条款是公然的高利贷。他还推出一项缓和救援条款、使两房更有可能在有朝一日退出政府控制的议案。

        But shareholders have found mostly an unreceptive audience. Taxpayers should be entitled to every penny of profit for so long as Fannie and Freddie are viable due solely to their government support, said Mr. Corker, the Tennessee Republican. His bill would leave little for shareholders.        但大多数股东都不为所动。共和党参议员柯克说，只要两房完全是因为政府支持而存活，纳税人就应该有权享受每一分、每一厘的利润。他的议案将使股东所获无几。

        'These entities are totally worthless from the standpoint of generating any kind of [income] without the federal government's' backing, he said in July. 'For the sake of the taxpayers, I hope that you do not win. But you have at it.'        柯克7月份的时候说，从产生收入的角度来看，如果没有联邦政府的支持，这两家实体完全没有价值；为纳税人着想，我希望你们打不赢官司，但你们打就是了。