“‘Under no circumstances should the executives of these institutions earn a windfall at a time when the U.S. Treasury has taken unprecedented steps to rescue these companies with taxpayer resources,’ Obama said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart. ‘I urge you immediately to clarify that the agreement with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac voids any such inappropriate windfall payments to outgoing CEOs and senior management.’ ” [Link]

“The move to take control of the two companies, which may be announced Sunday, could amount to the largest financial bailout in the nation’s history, and is a bid to ward off further damage to the U.S. housing market which is in its deepest downturn since the Great Depression. ‘I think all shareholders will be disadvantaged,’ Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, told Reuters.” [Link]