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A permanent solution for beleaguered mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which the government took over in 2008, might not be achieved before Obama leaves office. Geithner said it could take three to five years to reduce the dominant role the two companies play in mortgage financing to the point where their role could be handled by some new enterprise Congress might decide to create. He said that time should be used for a debate over what Fannie's and Freddie's future should be. The Dodd-Frank Act, the sweeping financial overhaul Congress passed in 2010, won't be overturned, even though Republicans and many in the financial services industry want to weaken or kill it. Geithner said Dodd-Frank emerged from Congress "more messy and with more complexity than was necessary." But he added, "I don't think they will be able to undo the core reforms we put in place because they make a lot of economic sense for the country." He defended the actions he helped take to bail out large banks and stabilize the financial system but said he could probably never win over skeptics: "It is very hard to convince people or make credible to people the risks that we were living with at that time. That we could have had a much deeper collapse of not just the U.S. economy but the global economy." Geithner said he had no immediate plans other than to take a trip with his wife and to use the rod and reel given to him by Treasury colleagues as a parting gift. "I am definitely learning how to fly-fish," he said.
[Associated
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