Freddie Mac, Solar Energy and an Insurance Debate
The suicide of Freddie Mac’s Chief Financial Officer raises further questions about the company and the federal bailout program.
Texas is poised to increase the share of its electricity produced by solar energy.
Florida’s insurance chief responds to critics of government interference in the market.
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1. POLITICS
The suicide of Freddie Mac’s Chief Financial Officer raises further questions about the company and the federal bailout program.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Special Projects Counsel Hans Bader on how government policies have made the financial crisis worse:
“On Wednesday, the CFO of mortgage giant Freddie Mac committed suicide. The Obama Administration forced Freddie Mac to run up billions of dollars in losses to bail out mortgage borrowers, including irresponsible high-income households. Ironically, although the government took over direct control of Freddie Mac in the name of reducing its risky mortgage practices, it ended up doing just the opposite. The government made Freddie run up even bigger losses buying risky loans in an effort to artificially stimulate lending. In conduct reminiscent of Enron, federal regulators tried to prevent Freddie from disclosing to the public and the SEC how Obama’s mortgage bailout was forcing it to lose even more money.”
2. ENVIRONMENT
Texas is poised to increase the share of its electricity produced by solar energy.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis on where this new demand is coming from:
“Texas, once known for its oil tycoons and cattle barons, is now a stage on which renewable-energy moguls preen and strut. But whereas demand for Texas oil and cattle was market-driven, the State’s renewable boom is a creature of politics.”
3. BUSINESS
Florida’s insurance chief responds to critics of government interference in the market.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer on how Florida’s rules have driven private insurance companies out of the state:
“Contrary to [Commissioner Kevin] McCarty’s assertions, new firms have not entered the Florida Insurance market in any significant numbers anytime recently. Since the current property insurance environment was created in 2007, at least seven major national insurers have either left the state or significantly cut back on writing new business. New firms have entered the state but only five new firms—all of them small—currently actively write new homeowners’ insurance policies for typical dwellings. Only one firm has brought in out-of-state capital to do this.”
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