Freddie Mac bets against homeowners

NPR and ProPublica have found that Freddie Mac, which is chartered to facilitate home ownership, has used its investments to bet on the failure of homeowners.  Here is the opening of the story at NPR, which you can read in its entirety through this link:

Freddie Mac, a taxpayer-owned mortgage company, is supposed to make homeownership easier. One thing that makes owning a home more affordable is getting a cheaper mortgage.

But Freddie Mac has invested billions of dollars betting that U.S. homeowners won't be able to refinance their mortgages at today's lower rates, according to an investigation by NPR and ProPublica, an independent, nonprofit newsroom.

These investments, while legal, raise concerns about a conflict of interest within Freddie Mac.