揮別房麗美與房地美嗎? (1)

Farewell, Fannie and Freddie?

揮別房麗美與房地美嗎? (1)

Housing finance reform is off to a promising start

房屋貸款改革已開始有遠景的展望

FEW TASKS facing Congress are more necessary than housing finance reform. The Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac (註) debacle cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars and left the mortgage market in government-controlled limbo. Yet few tasks are more thankless: Fixing the system whereby home loans get packaged into bonds and resold to investors is highly technical and heavily lobbied. There are many ways for lawmakers to get it wrong economically but not so many ways to get it right politically.

面對國會，購置房屋貸款的改革，是最迫切的重大事務。房麗美和房地美的大挫敗使納稅人賠了好幾佰億元，並使房貸市塲處於政府控制的地獄邊緣。可是這也是最令人感恩的-調整整個系統，藉此將房貸包成債券，再轉售給投資客，這樣工作是高度技術性，也大量被游說著。有許多方法，國會議員們在經濟上會把此系統搞壞，但却沒有許多方法在政治上，他們可以搞對。

【註】：

Fannie Mae–Federal National Mortgage Association 聯邦全國貸款會 (一般華人經紀稱為房麗美)

Freddie Mae - Federal Home Loan Mortgage Association. 聯邦房貸聯會 (以住宅為主的將成套的房貸(residential mortgage)售給投資客 (packed and sold to investors) (一般華人經紀稱為房地美)

So here’s the first thing to note about the new reform legislation from Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.): It’s good that someone’s willing to try. Both senators, and their six co-sponsors from both parties, know that the country can’t return to the Fannie-Freddie model, which disastrously privatized profits and socialized risks. 

Also, the recent housing upturn has started to produce profits for Fannie, and Freddie, - and hence for the government. The time to start unwinding and replacing them is now — before Congress develops an irreversible dependence on this deceptively easy source of cash.

因此首先讓我們來看看：兩位參議員提出的新改革立法案；這兩位是Mark Warner (維幾尼亞州選出的民主黨員) 和 Bob Corker (德州選出的共和黨員) 。有人願意嚐試總是好的。兩位参議員和兩黨六位聯帶賛助人，都明白不能再走回房麗與房地的模式，這個模式使利益私有化，但風險卻大眾化(賠錢由全民買單)。

而且最近的房市轉好，已開始為房麗美與房地美製造利潤，然後給政府製造利潤。就在國會尚未發展出，一種無法逆轉的依賴這種輕易使人上當，取得現金來源的方法，此時是該解開與換新它們(這個機構)的時候了。

Two senators deliver a serious proposal for housing finance reform.

兩位参議員提交對房市改革的一種嚴肅性的提議。

Public servants need to know they’re appreciated.民意代表們須知道它們是受感激的。

Fannie and Freddie failed so spectacularly — and, before that, distorted capital allocation so insidiously — that one might well ask why Congress can’t just wind them up and let the private sector fend for itself. There might be less liquidity for mortgages, and the 30-year fixed-rate loan might become an endangered species — as opposed to the pseudo-constitutional right home buyers and sellers，they have been conditioned to expect. On the other hand, who knows what innovations a free market might produce?

房麗美與房地美如此戲劇性地大失敗- 它們之前如此隱伏又狡詐地扭曲了資金的分配-以致人們有充足的理由要問：為什麼國會不結束他們，而讓私人公司自已保護自己。如果是這樣，就會有較少的貸款變現的流動性，而且30年固定利率貸款也許會變成受危害的一種；與假受憲法權保護的房屋買者與賣者相對的是，他們的期望一直有條件的受約束。另一方面，又有誰知道自由市塲也許會帶來什麼樣的革新?

(待續)

譯述者：

Justin, Lai 07/18/2013

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