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	altoidsaddict 2008-09-08 01:54 am UTC (link)
	Meet the old boss, same as the new boss, really. It's not good for anyone to have a near-monopoly on this stuff, but hey, at least the government's responsibility is to care for its citizens - Fannie and Freddie's only responsibility was to make money as fast as possible, and that's how they got into this mess. (Reply to this)

	mmanurere 2008-09-08 02:20 am UTC (link)
	I still giggle like a little kid at the thought of "Government Seizes Fannie" as a serious headline. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	sparkysrevenge 2008-09-08 02:54 am UTC (link)
	...I kind of love your icon. And by "kind of," I mean "really." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	mmanurere 2008-09-08 03:40 am UTC (link)
	It's by spawn_of_kong from a comment in a recent Dark Knight wank where the example of the Joker was being claimed by "social experiment" trolls. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	also_not_a_pipe 2008-09-08 03:07 am UTC (link)
	I'm the sort of hippie who thinks that unrestrained free market capitalism is just as evil as Communism ever was, only in different ways. And even I am sort of looking askance at and sidling away from the idea of the government taking a privately held business and saying "It's ours now, bitches!" That's just... not really the way it's supposed to work here. (Reply to this)(Thread)

altoidsaddict
2008-09-08 03:36 am UTC (link)

For me, it depends. If the government deems a company or even an industry to be conducting business in a way that could substantially hurt the country or even undermine it, the country has to come first in my view. It's not exactly unprecedented - from encouraging railroad monopolies to providing billions in subsidies, bailouts, and grants to the airlines/corporate farms/oil companies, the government's always provided substantial input into the way business is conducted. We've never been a truly free market by a long shot.

To me, this is very comparable to the way the banking industry was overhauled in the New Deal, starting with shutting them all down. Except now, instead of thousands of mom-and-pop banks across the country, we have a small handful of companies determining the economic health of the country and of millions of Americans - and doing such a poor job that the US has the potential right now to trigger a worldwide depression. I'm happy that they're taking steps right now to try to fix it, hopefully, rather than sitting back a la Hoover.

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	mer1973 2008-09-08 03:07 am UTC (link)
	I'm not too freaked, yet. They were already quasi-governmental companies who forgot the 'governmental' part. I just can't believe that it got that bad that fast. Their troubles had dropped off the front pages for a couple of weeks, so I thought that they were riding out the storm. (Reply to this)

	aerobot 2008-09-08 06:06 am UTC (link)
	It's kind of disconcerting how often nowadays that I worry about Australia's problems, then look over to how America's doing and say, "Oh, well, it's not so bad, it could be worse." (Reply to this)(Thread)

	indis_earfalas 2008-09-08 09:07 am UTC (link)
	This! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	judyhazeleyes 2008-09-08 03:33 pm UTC (link)
	That's all that keeps me from fleeing Canada, honestly. Things are going to hell in a handcart here, but we're still slightly better off than our neighbors to the south in a lot of ways. (Reply to this)(Parent)

darksumomo
2008-09-08 06:24 am UTC (link)

Daily Kos has been melting down over this all day.

Game Over: How Bush Bankrupted Fannie and Freddie
The Treasury's Bail-Out Plan: An Overview And Why Now?
Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae bailout: guess who wins

The Automatic Earth, the definitive financial doom blog, headlined the story for several days running. They knew it was coming.

Debt Rattle, September 7 2008: To Infinity and Beyond
Debt Rattle, September 6 2008: Put the load right on me
Debt Rattle, September 5 2008: Cement Feet
Debt Rattle, September 4 2008: Slaughterhouse Stats

Finally, the Bank Implode-O-Meter lists both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as "general implodes"--right up there with Bear Stearns.

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	darksumomo 2008-09-08 07:23 am UTC (link)
	If all the above is too depressing for you, try this blog. Culture of Life News It has a more breezy approach to the whole thing. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	drhenryjekyll 2008-09-09 03:15 am UTC (link)
	I'm so glad my mom works for Fannie Mae right now. No, really. (cue major, major panic. I really hope she has a job tomorrow!) (Reply to this)

curiously_sane
2008-09-09 06:32 am UTC (link)

Accountants in denial land, saying that there is no recession...? Well, my father is definitely not one of them. He at least knows that his situation isn't reflected in the market. Sure the amount owed is pretty damn good but that doesn't imply that clients will be able to pay their accountants back. This is going to drive me crazy. The people in denial land need to pay more attention to reality and their clients.

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	platedlizard 2008-09-10 04:17 am UTC (link)
	I am kinda laughing at your post because Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac were originally US Government owned and run. Then they got privatized and now look at where they're at. (Reply to this)

	pyratejenni 2008-09-11 06:40 pm UTC (link)
	Accountants and whoever have said America's not in a recession because they desperately want it to be true. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	warrioreowyn 2008-09-12 04:42 am UTC (link)
	They've said it because there haven't been two consecutive quarters of negative growth, which is how they define a recession. In terms of how it affects most people's lives, rather than the technical definition, it's a recession. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	pyratejenni 2008-09-14 08:00 pm UTC (link)
	Like I said, they desperately want it to be true. (Reply to this)(Parent)