Fannie and Freddie Are Super-Profitable, but Congress Doesn't Care
Investors bet against the odds that the mortgage giants will survive
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Shares in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage-finance giants, have mostly traded for pennies since the U.S. government seized them in 2008. The companies’ bad investments in risky loans in the runup to the credit crisis led to a $188 billion taxpayer bailout and enshrined them as symbols of housing market excess. It seemed like they’d never climb back.