how would you phase out fanny mae and freddie mac?oes the private mortgage industry he's in additional regulation? from william schmidt, governor romney? >> i think you know fannie mae and freddie mac were a big part of why we have the housing crisis in the nation that we have,ened we've had this discussion before. speaker gingrich was hired by freddie mac to promote them. to influence other people throughout washington, encouraging them to not to dismantle these two entities. "normous mistake. i think instead we should have had as withing blower, not a horn tooter. saying they were causing a housing collapse we've seen in florida and around the country. are that he problem today? absolute absolutely. offering mortgages again to people who weren't possibly repay them, creating another housing bubble which will hurt the american people. the right course for our housing industry is to get people back to work so they can buy homes again. we have 9.9% unemployment in florida. it's unthinkable. 18% real unemployment here. get people back t

bernanke he is now pushing congress to help housing bernanke he wants the broke home proper offers fannie and freddie owned by the u.s. taxpayer to provide cheaper mortgages to more of the same taxpayers makes sense we think maybe bernanke he has his hands full just propping up the big banks let's get to today's capital account. as i said europe is really a sore that will not heal government medicine yeah not helping so much so let's see what's been going on lately france had a not so hot bond auction the country may not be looking so aaa after all spain is warning its banks to set aside fifty billion more euros to guard against bad loans greece needs dough as some of its citizens are forced to search through dumpsters literally for bread and you see it right there now the country faces the risk of default in march unless it gets a new bailout deal also investors drove appeals on hungary's debt they came close to ten percent italian ten year bond yields jumped back above that key seven percent level and trading in shares of unicredit the bank you see right there it's italy's largest bank

fannie mae c.e.o. franklin reigns and others. securities and exchange commission documents show that ed haldemann, who announced last week he's stepping down as freddie mac's c.e.o., received a base salary of $900,000 last year yet took home an additional $2.3 million in bonus pay. records show other fannie and freddie executives got similar wall street-style compensation packages. fannie mae c.e.o. michael williams, for example, got $2. $2.37 million in performance bonuses, including haldemann, the top fiv officers at fannie e bank $5.6 million in performance bonus pay alone last year, though a second bonus installment for 2010 has yet to be reported. according to agency records, williams and other at fannie pock etd $6.33 in incentives for what s.e.c. records described as meeting the primary goal of providing liquidity, stability and affordability." i think it's important to ask the question here: is it really necessary for these bonuses to be provided to these executives when we have men and women w

. >> we discovered to our shock governor romney owns shares of both fannie mae and freddie mac. >> you have checked your own investments? you also have investment in mutual funds that also invest in fannie mae and freddie mac. >> bill: money may be weighing down the republic candidates. lou dobbs on whether questionable investments will sink the g.o.p. in november. >> you went after pretty hard and heavy my dear friend papa bear bill o'reilly. okay? [ laughter ] you attacked him in an interview. >> i didn't really attack him. >> bill: she really did attack me. now she is not telling the truth on national television. we'll update you on npr commentator kerry groce. >> he says that the interview

it includes fanny making money and a perversion of the free market.erverts should pay a fee. >> how about google. >> rick go ahead. >> let's obey the law even if they take united states over the cliff. but steve said that he questioned why obama is not giving steve jobs a problem for taking those jobs over sees. read the the uni.eve jobs was ae policies and the fact of the matter today, it would be hard for a new apple to rise up because of google pay. why do you think that that is true. because google is friendly with the administration. how about general electric? i mean look at crony capitalism that is appalling and driven by this president. look at the gas taxs and we pay out more money for our il that they get in profits. >> we have a president who >> we have a president who want to fund fannie mae and - [laughing] woman: i used to wonder, why would a jew, a christian, and a muslim ever get together? - hello, hello. woman: and then i finally got it. they had a lot more in common than doughnuts. - ♪ love can build a bridge - ♪ oh, love and only lo

according to the associated press, he did have investments in fannie mae and freddie mac.y were not blind trusts. >> chris, this is the big issue. it's kind of puzzling. he's had many years to think about this. mitt romney and his campaign can't figure out how he should talk about his own wealth, whether it's his taxes. he should just get up there and say, listen, i've done well. i have a gazillion dollars. i don't even know how many. i have people who manage these funds for me. i don't know what goes on. if you tell me there's freddie mac money in there, i'm going to tell them to get rid of it. i don't want it anymore. that's how he should handle this. every time we get to this issue, he somehow muffs it. it's somehow perplexing. >> thank you, david. thank you, susan. >>> up next, newt gingrich picks up the endorsement of duke cunningham, who's doing time for bribery. i guess you get endorsements where you can get them. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. >>> back to "hardball." now to the side show. first up, talk about extra baggage. newt gingrich has clinched ano

. >> we discovered to our shock governor romney owns sreres of both fannie ma and freddie mac. >> you have checked your own investments? u also have investment in mutual funds that also invest in fannie mae and freddie mac. >> bill: money may be weighing down the republic candidates. lou dobbs on whether questionable investments will sink the g.o. in november. >> you wt after pretty hard and heavy my dear friend papa bear bill o'reilly. okay? [ laughter ] you attacked him in an interview. >> i didn't realttack him. >> bill: she really did attack me. now she is not telling the truth on national television. we'll update you on npr commentator kerry groce. >> he says that the interview was 40 minutes of defamation. >> bill: caution, you are about to enter the no spin zone. the factor begins right now. captions by closed captioning services elderly women disproportionately. it might be that romney comes across more presidential and maybe smoother i don't know. something big changed. the most likely something is mrs. gingrich. >> bill: morris, wait, take a deep breath. deep, blow out. okay

last night, romney said gingrich, in fact, is also invested in fannie mae and freddie mac.e did some fact checking, wolf, that is also true. >> a lot of mutual funds info s invested over the years in fannie and freddie. good work. >>> newt gingrich's rivals have a blast with his space plan. >> if i had a business executive come to me and said they want to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, i'd say you're fired. >> we're going to get a closer look at how newt gingrich's moon shot fizzled with the republican candidates. gloria borger and ron brownseen a . >>> serious plans to take back what they say is realistic, full control of congress. ♪ we are young ♪ ♪ so let's set the world on fire ♪ ♪ we can burn brighter ♪ than the sun ♪ carry me [ male announcer ] the all-new chevy sonic. from your first time... to the time of your life. chevy runs deep. ♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like

mae and freddie mac. >> they both made money from fanny and freddie.hould they return that money? >> that subject doesn't interest me a whole lot. >> the bigger issue here is these two gentlemen who are out distracting by the most important issues we have by playing petty politics. can we set aside that newt was a member of congress and used the skills he developed as a member of congress to advise company, and mitt romney is a guy who is wealthy because he worked hard. you need to loov that alone and focus on the issues. >> how about if the four of us agree for the rest of the evening to talk about issues that relate to america. >> you said he lives in a world of swiss bank and cayman island bank accounts. i didn't say that, you did. >> let's put behind this idea of attacking me because of my investments or my money and say what you accomplished in your lifetient be seen as a detriment but an asset. >> i'll challenge any of these guys to a 25-mile bike ride in the heat of texas. >> i don't want to be the country that got to the moon first, turn around

how would you phase out fannie mae and freddie mac.need additional regulation? >> well, i think you know that fannie mae and freddie mac were a big part of why we have the housing crisis and the nation we have. and we have had this discussion before. speaker gingrich was hired by freddie mac to promote them. to influence other people throughout washington, encouraging them to not dismantle these two entities, i think it was an enormous mistake. we should have had a whistle blower and not a horn tooter. these things are a disaster, a crisis. he should have been telling the american people that these entities were causing a housing bubble that would cause a collapse that we have seen in florida and around the country. are they a problem today? absolutely. they're offering mortgages again to people who can't create them, who are creating another housing bubble. the right course for our housing industry is to get people back to work so they can buy homes again. we have 9.9% unemployment in florida. it's unthinkable. 18% real unemployment h

you have investments from mutual funds that invest in fannie may and freddie mac. >> the candidate have a lot riding on florida. the winner of tuesday's primary takes all 50 of the delegates. giving that person a big boost. >> the bigger issue here is these two gentlemen who are out distracting from the most important issues by playing petty personal politics. >> rick santorum urged the frontrunners to focus on the issues, but the bickering continued when it came to gingrich's idea of setting up a permanent base on the moon. >> if i had a business executive and wanted to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, i'd say you're fired. >> you don't have to be cheap everywhere. you can have priorities to get things done. >> i don't think we should go to the moon. we should maybe send politicians up there. >> the jabs are expected to continue through the weekend as the candidates make their final push to win over voters. rick santorum and ron paul put in strong performances last night and betty, there was a moment of lefty. ron paul was asked if he would release medic

. >> well, i think you know that fannie mae and freddie mac were a big part of why we have the housing crisis in the nation that we have. we've had this discussion before. speaker gingrich was hired by freddie mac to promote them, to influence other people throughout washington, encouraging them to -- not to dismantle these two entities. i think that was an enormous mistake. we should have had a whistle-blower and not a horn tooter. he should have stood up, saying this is a disaster, a crisis. he should have been telling the american people that these entities were creating a housing bubble that would have caused a collapse. >> he's been attacking me inaccurately and he knows it. the contract released from freddie mac said i would do no lobbying, none. we began digging in because i had enough of this. we discovered to our shock, governor romney made $1 million off of selling some of the freddie mac and fannie mae stocks. he has an investment in goldman sachs which is today foreclosing on floridaens. maybe his fear of openness should tell us how much money he's made off of households th

we discovered to our shock that governor romney owns shares of fannie mae and freddie mac. he made a million dollars off selling some of that. >> first of all, my investments are not made by me. my investments have been in a blind trust managed by a trustee. there are bonds that they have held through mutual funds. and mr. speaker, i know that sounds like an enormous revolution, but have you checked your own investments? you also have investments in fannie mae and freddie mac. >> right. >> susan, that was one of the great, i assume, a lot of this stuff is set up ahead of time. but what a resounding punch that was to the jaw. >> it showed how well prepared mitt romney was in terms of opposition research and how newt gingrich was not prepared. his own campaign -- as soon as the line came out, we were getting e-mails from the gingrich campaign pointing out that during the 1994 senate race in massachusetts, mitt romney had derited the idea that a blind trust ab solved responsibility for the trustee would do. that was a point newt gingrich could have made in response to the atta

fannie mae and freddie mac. >> i know fannie mae and freddie mac were a big part that we have the housing crisis that we have. we had this discussion before. speaker gingrich was hired by freddie mac to promote them. to influence other people throughout washington wash, encouraging them not to dismantle these two entities. that was an enormous mistake. instead, we should have had a whistle blower and not a horn tooter. >> is he calling newter a tooter? horn tooter? he is. >> i don't know. at some point, you got to wonder if the people are tired of going over these same topics over and over again. >> i blame the moderator. these are the questions that were brought up. this is two days after the state of the union. it should have been about the economy. it should have been about the future. but instead it was like your ad was this and your ad was that. we heard newt gingrich and both mitt romney saying hey, listen, i thought it was really, you know, we had heard from newt the other day on this program about, you know what, mitt romney? you've been making money off of freddie and fannie and

it includes fanny making money and a perversion of the free market.erverts should pay a fee. >> how about google. >> rick go ahead. >> let's obey the law even if they take united states over the cliff. but steve said that he questioned why obama is not giving steve jobs a problem for taking those jobs over sees. read the book. the president gave steve jobs a hard time taking those jobs over seas and called him out in a speech. he doesn't discuss it in the state of the union. i don't understand the comment. >> the fact of the matter is he praises steve jobs and he brings his widow in there to leach off that politicalally. steve jobs was appalled by the policies and the fact of the matter today, it would be hard for a new apple to rise up because of the taxation regulation that he want to put in. we need a reagan and not a obama . how much tax does google pay. why do you think that that is true. because google is friendly with the administration. how about general electric? i mean look at crony capitalism that is appalling and driven by this president.

blue the question is what are we going to do about fannie and freddie. it should have been auctioned off right after the crash came. the bigger issue is that these two gentlemen are playing petty personal politics. can we set aside that newt was a member of congress and used the skills that he developed as a member of congress to advise companies and that's not the worst thing in the world and that mitt romney is a wealthy guy because he worked hard and he's working hard and you see guys, leave that alone and focus on the issues! [cheers and applause] >>r. >> greta: where do the candidates stand now? dick morris is here. tuesday is just around the corner. they just have the final debate. any huge political developments? did any of them really advance or hurt their cause tonight in the debate? >> well, romney had a lead going into the debate, one poll has him 7 ahead, and the other has him 8 ahead. romney loses by 5 points and wins women by 19. so i think that mary an gingrich had an impact. this is newt's chance to take away the lead and i think that rom

and there's a similar investment in fnma, that's fannie mae.hat's money outside of romney's blind trust. he spoke of the blind trust almost as a virtue saying it allowed him to avoid any conflicts of interest. keep in mind, when he was campaigning against ted ken dirk he didn't really trust blind trusts. >> the blind trust is an age old ruse if you will, which is to say, you can always tell a blind trust what it can and cannot do. you give a blind trust rules. >> getting back to today, speaker gingrich also has some consistency problems. before last night, he was turning to boycott any debate that didn't allow audience members to cheer or boo or applause. >> i wish in retrospect i would protested when brian williams took them out of it because it was wrong. because the media is terrified that the audience is going to side with the candidate against the media. and we're going to serve notice on future debates, we're not going to allow that to happen. that's wrong, the media doesn't control free speech people ought to be able to applaud if they w

the question is, what are we going to do about fanny may and freddie mac? >> with romney and gingrich blast each other, he calls for calm. >> a wall street journal poll released today says nationwide, likely republican voters give gingrich a comfortable lead over romney. 37% to 28% and it is matched against president obama. all of the gop candidates would fall behind, but romney would do the best, gingrich the worst. >> thank you for that. >>> the former gop nominee has endorsed mitt romney and blasting newt gingrich. >> he's very bright, very articulate. he's a good debater. but i found it very difficult to work. >> do you think he h's a chance to be president? >> i hope not. >> dole of support for romney included this stinging critique of gingrich. quote, he was one man band who rarely took advice. it was his way or the highway. >> president obama is on a campaign swing through five states, but it started off bumpy when he and arizona's republican governor had a testy exchange next to air force one. brewer was photographed yesterday pointing her finger at

i don't own stock in either fannie mae or freddie mac. there are bonds that they've held through mutual funds. i know that sounds like an enormous revelation. but have you checked your own investments? you also have investments from mutual funds that invest in fannie mae and freddie mac. >> joining me now are john heilman from the debate location in florida. he's the national affairs editor for "new york" magazine. tom brokaw, nbc news special correspondent and author of "the time of our lives," a conversation about america, who we are, where we've been and where we need to go now to recapture the american dream. and chris hayes, host of msnbc's "up with chris hayes." tom, how do you score it? >> well, i always let the voters decide how they want to score it. i really just try to call strikes here. who scores the most runs tonight, we'll know when the florida voters go to the polls. i think objectively, however, there was a different mitt romney on the stage tonight. i think in the last ten days or so, the questions have been both, can he

"how would you phase out fannie mae and freddie mac? does the private mortgage industry need additional regulation?" -- that from william schmidt. let me start with governor romney. romney: well, i think you know that fannie mae and freddie mac were a big part of why we have the housing crisis in the nation that we have. and we've had this discussion before. speaker gingrich was hired by freddie mac to promote them, to -- to influence other people throughout washington, encouraging them to -- not to dismantle these two entities. i think that was an enormous mistake. i think, instead, we should have had a whistle-blower and not horn-tooter. he should have stood up and said, look, these things are a disaster; this is a crisis. he should have been anxiously telling the american people that these entities were causing a housing bubble that would cause a collapse that we've seen here in florida and around the country. and are they a problem today? absolutely. they're offering mortgages, again to people who can't possibly repay them. we're cr

." >> tom: it's been more than three years since the federal government took control of fannie mae and freddie mac. the u.s. federal reserve thinks using the mortgage giants may help repair and stabilize the broken housing market, even if those actions cause fannie and freddie to lose more money in the short term. since falling into government conservatorship, the companies have cost taxpayers $151 billion. the federal reserve report to congress released today stopped short of making specific recommendations to fix fannie and freddie. modifications and money are two big forces shaping housing market. tonight, we look at money-- specifically cash. even though mortgage rates are near record-low levels, some buyers with the means, including those from overseas, prefer to pay in cash. after several years of decline, 2011 was a big year for home sales in miami. existing-home sales surged 52% in the first 11 months of the year, according to the national association of realtors. nationwide, home sales were up only 2% during the same time period. the nice weather helps, but so does cash-- espe

it was during that period when no bill regulating fannie and freddie became law. they had the senate -- it wasn't -- i was originally wrong on that but changed my opinion on the facts. in 2007 when the democrats took over, that is when fannie an freddie got regulated. if you look at that contract i bet they stopped paying him when the democrats came in power and paid him while the republicans were in power, let's look at the facts. he is getting paid by freddie mac, zero happens that fannie and freddie don't want. >> this contract started on the first day of january, 2006. it was the year that mid-terms obviously before the democrats took over the house in the mid-terms. whether that means anything or not, i don't know. >> when did they stop paying him? i thought they only paid him for brief period. >> the commercial that romney has taken out right now is saying it paid him $1.7 million, so if you go 25 grand a month, my math is telling me a little over six years. isn't it? >> that couldn't work because -- i think that goes -- i think the contract was before that.