Today we start with a discussion of the U.S. government rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, constructing a vision of the big trends that brought us to this place, and where they might lead next. In my vision, it all revolves around debt. Fannie Mae (officially Federal National Mortgage Association) was founded in 1938, as part of then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal in which government money and reputation helped pull the American economy out of the Great Depression by supporting the mortgage industry. In 1968, to help balance the federal budget, Fannie Mae was converted to a...
