chris arnold of npr joins us. chris, welcome to "nbr." do you think it was a coordinated effort by freddie mac making it tough to refinance while profiting from higher interest rate mortgages? >> thanks, tom. well, i would not use the word "coordinated" necessarily. i mean, those two things you said were true. what our story showed was that on the one hand, freddie mac was making it harder for home owners to refinance their mortgages, making credit tighter. at the same time, the investment side of the company was going out into the market making leveraged bets that pay off if homeowners are unable to refinance. we were careful to say in the story we did not see any evidence that those two actions were coordinated, but they were going on. >> tom: right, and the trades we should point out, you also note, were legal. nothing illegal happened here. freddie mac, wasn't it just protecting its portfolio, like any other investor would do? >> right. these were not illegal trades. the difference here is that freddie mac is not another company. fred

host: chris arnold, is this a deliberate ploy by freddie mac to do this? guest: well, we are not alleging that freddie mac did anything illegal. nothing in our report turned that out. there is a fire wall between the investment side of the business and the side of the business that manages home policies. but at the same time, it is fair to ask the question. credit is being tightened and a lot of ways that some people think don't make sense. the federal reserve has raised questions at the same time that freddie mac is placing these target it bets, as jesse said, that pay off. this is sort of a leveraged, magnified way. this is important to understand. that's say that we loan you $100,000 to buy a house. traditionally, the way this works, if you refinance, you have 100,000 hours back. ok, we're not making 7% any more of you, but we have our money back and we can give somebody else the loan with that money. but freddie mac did is they sold off the right to collect the principal, the $100,000, and they only are interested now in these investments in the intere

chris arnold? guest: i believe when the homeowner goes into default, the investor on the other end of the loan receiving the payment, after a certain amount of time, the servicer in the middle will start advancing the payments to bondholders until the issue is resolved. this goes down a rabbit hole that may not be worth going too far down. the other caller did not have a friend or family alone and did not qualify. there is help for other people. if you do not have a friday or fannie loan, you are out of luck. -- if you do not have a friday or for any loan, you are out of luck. the president and senior folks are trying to get an idea going where the rest of the people could be reached by the program. this involves legislation president is putting forward. the problem is political onlookers say the chance of getting the legislation passed through congress is very slim. it is nice to say we will try to do this, but it seems politically untenable, especially since the way the president proposes to pay

. >> chris arnold, thanks so much for your time. >> okay.. >>> politics around the corner. mitt romney is going after the obama administration after new plans to end combat operations in afghanistan. >>> is putting in jeopardy the mission of the united states of america and our commitment to freedom. >>>. >> well his remark hurt or help his campaign? that's next. it's powerful relief that works at the site of pain and lasts up to 12 hours. salonpas. to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye-care experts at bausch + lomb. as you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. [ male announcer ] ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. now, that's a pill worth taking. [ male announcer ] ocuvite. help protect your eye health. [ male announcer ] engine light on? come to meineke now for a free code scan read and you'll say...my money

and propublica on freddie mac's business practices with chris arnold of n.p.r. and jeffreyizinger. and after that discussion of the january unemployment rate with robert feldman of georgetown university. later, look ahead at saturday's nevada caucuses and president obama's campaigning efforts in the state. live at 7:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. >> republican presidential candidate mitt romney said the lower unemployment rate and increase in in jobs announced earlier friday was good news. he said he hoped it would continue. the former massachusetts government made these remarks in sparks, nevada outside of reno in the western nevada supply company. following his comments he spoke to the employees in the next room. nevada is holding their republican caucuses tomorrow. this is about 30 minutes. >> and i have to answer that question. but i want to get the other comments raised here. i appreciate your perspective. my guess is none of you would stand up and say that the policies of the administration over the last two years have been real helpful to you and your business. that's my im