Senate panel probes Fannie, Freddie foundations

Reuters reports:

The U.S. Senate Finance Committee is examining whether Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac abused the tax status of their charitable foundations by using them to skirt campaign finance and lobbying laws, the panel's chairman said on Wednesday.

"I'm concerned that we're seeing more and more charities in general used in the best interests of lobbyists or special interests, and not in the public's interest," Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley said in a statement.

Let's give Fannie Mae credit they are the masters of leverage.They don't pay real estate taxes.They don't even file normal accounting reports with the NYSE.While others would be delisted Fannie keeps plugging along.Their foundation buys left-wing groups who might get upset that Fannie has a large share of the mortgage market.Eat your heart out Wal-Mart and Microsoft,you could have never pulled this off.