One of my questions is how much pain did they prevent, or did they just prevent a perception of pain. Personally I'm not a fan of the takeover, but I wasn't a fan of the government mandate (and capital requirement exceptions) before then either. Neither company is very humble....looking at salaries, buildings, bloat, etc...yet they had great advantages such as lower requirements, exemptions from taxes, etc - but were a private company.

Now they have conflicting missions as a company with public stock they have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders, but as a government entity they have a fiduciary duty to taxpayers and their government mission. Have lots of comments on the above, but don't have time during the workday for these long online conversations.