Investors Unite Podcast

Veteran housing policy expert Alex Pollock of the R Street Institute offers some thoughts about GSE reform legislation currently before Congress as well as his proposal to rebuild and maintain the enterprises’ capital reserves along the lines of requirements for Systemically Important Financial Institutions (SIFIs)

Investors Unite member Michael Ciklin, who is a Princeton graduate and holds a joint JD, MBA, MRE from University of Florida, joins Executive Director Tim Pagliara to discuss the findings from a Special Report he and fellow Investors Unite member Adam Spittler published, which is a forensic look at the bailout of Fannie Mae and subsequent conservatorship and Net Worth Sweep of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Ciklin explains some of their findings, including the assertion that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were not in need of a bailout, and gives his take on recent developments, including the government’s attempts to withhold documents relating to the Sweep and Dr. Jerome Corsi’s series of stories that call in to question the idea that the Obama Administration used proceeds from the Sweep to circumvent Congressional prohibitions on spending on some elements of the Affordable Care Act. 

R Street Institute Distinguished Senior Fellow Alex Pollock joins IU Executive Director Tim Pagliara to discuss principles for housing finance policy, which he laid out in his recent study, "What’s next for U.S. housing finance?," including treating Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac like any other systemically important financial institution (SIFI). Previously, Pollock was a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute from 2004 to 2015 and was president and chief executive officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago from 1991 to 2004. 

University of Virginia School of Law Professor Saikrishna Prakash joins IU Executive Director Tim Pagliara to discuss Judge Margaret Sweeney's March 7 order, which is the latest in a series related to the ongoing tug of war over the disclosure of documents sought by Fairholme Funds regarding the Net Worth Sweep. Professor Prakash is an expert on Constitutional powers and seeks to help listeners understand the government’s misuse of executive privilege to keep documents related the Sweep hidden from view.

In the inaugural Investors Unite Podcast, IU Executive Director Tim Pagliara is joined by NYU Law Professor Richard Epstein. During the podcast, Epstein and Pagliara dissect recent developments in the effort to release government documents related to the Net Worth Sweep of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's profits, and discuss the likelihood of more documents coming to light. This episode was recorded shortly before the February 21 split decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that preserved Fannie and Freddie shareholders' right to seek compensation for losses related to the Net Worth Sweep. Stay tuned for Episode 2, which will explore that ruling further.