bret: the obama administration wants to change the way the government sponsored mortgage lenders do business, as the housing market downturn drags on. chief washington correspondent jim angle tells us about high-level piling on, on fannie and freddie. reporter: the key question at treasury department conference was what to do about fannie mae and freddie mac, the government-sponsored mortgage giants? secretary timothy geithner acknowledged that the actions were one of the main causes of the financial crisis. the strat squis were not the ole strategies were not the sole cause of the financial crisis but they made it worse and caused problems for taxpayer and they were avoidable failures. reporter: taxpayers were already on the hook for $145 billion in losses. the sweeping financial services bill president obama recently signed didn t even mention fannie and freddie which had republicans crying foul. wonder why fannie and freddie aren t in this bill.
to president bush for putting fannie and freddie in conservatorship. this was essential to break the model that helped produce the crisis. without that action, this is important to recognize, house prices would have fallen further. and the recession would have been dramatically worse. government agencies now guarantee 90% of all mortgages proposal on how to change that won t come until january. no consensus on what to do, but top officials concede the government footprint in housing must be smaller. bret: thank you. housing market got a tiny boost from construction last month. housing construction rose 1.7%, led by 32.6 surge in partner of condominium construction. wholesale prices were up .2 of a point. stocks rebounded today. the dow gained 104. the s&p 500 finished ahead 13. the nasdaq is up 27.5.
administration giving credit to president bush for putting fannie and freddie in conservatorship. this was essential to break the model that helped produce the crisis. without that action, this is important to recognize, house prices would have fallen further. and the recession would have been dramatically worse. government agencies now guarantee 90% of all mortgages proposal on how to change that won t come until january. no consensus on what to do, but top officials concede the government footprint in housing must be smaller. bret: thank you. housing market got a tiny boost from construction last month. housing construction rose 1.7%, led by 32.6 surge in partner of condominium construction. wholesale prices were up .2 of a point. stocks rebounded today. the dow gained 104. the s&p 500 finished ahead
bret: the obama administration wants to change the way the government sponsored mortgage lenders do business, as the housing market downturn drags on. chief washington correspondent jim angle tells us about high-level piling on, on fannie and freddie. reporter: the key question at treasury department conference was what to do about fannie mae and freddie mac, the government-sponsored mortgage giants? secretary timothy geithner acknowledged that the actions were one of the main causes of the financial crisis. the strat squis were not the ole strategies were not the sole cause of the financial crisis but they made it worse and caused problems for taxpayer and they were avoidable failures. reporter: taxpayers were already on the hook for $145 billion in losses. the sweeping financial services bill president obama recently signed didn t even mention fannie and freddie which had republicans crying foul. wonder why fannie and freddie aren t in this bill.