For Immediate Release

Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac Bailout Could Cost Taxpayers $100 Billion or More

‘The federal government is preparing to take over Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae,’ says Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party presidential nominee. ‘Congress set up the taxpayers for big losses when it established these quasi-government agencies to subsidize the housing industry, and then earlier this year voted to approve direct federal support for them. Policymakers should learn from the latest financial disaster and say never again,’ Barr argues.

Barr says the bailout alone could cost $100 billion or more, and blames Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s for its role in creating the overall subprime lending crisis that prompted Congress to approve a $300 billion bailout of the housing industry.

“First, government subsidizes an industry,” says Barr. “Then, after the industry crashes, government bails it out! The one factor that never changes is: the taxpayers lose,.

‘The Fannie/Freddie bailout would be bad enough,” says Barr, noting it comes on top of the Federal Reserve bailing out the brokerage house Bear Stearns. “The automakers are lining up with their hands out for $40 billion in assistance. The federal deficit this year will run $400 billion, and next year’s red ink is likely to hit a half trillion dollars. That will inflate a national debt that already runs $9.5 trillion,’ he adds.

‘It is time to say no more. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac need to be privatized and sold off. And Congress must stop treating the federal government like a national soup kitchen for businesses in trouble,’ says Barr. “Even former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has cautioned against bailouts such as the Bush Administration is now championing for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”

Barr says both Senators Barack Obama and John McCain supported the housing bailout, and neither has specified any hard decisions that they would make to control federal spending.

‘Unfortunately, despite their rhetoric of change, they represent the Washington status quo,” says Barr. “Only Bob Barr and the Libertarian Party would change the way the federal government operates and put the taxpayers before the special interests that have never met a government program they didn’t like.”

Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr represented the 7th District of Georgia in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003.

The Libertarian Party is America’s third largest political party, founded in 1971 as an alternative to the two main political parties. You can find more information on the Libertarian Party by visiting www.LP.org . The Libertarian Party proudly stands for smaller government, lower taxes and more freedom.