Americans, we’re on the hook for $5.3 TRILLION in mortgages
September 7th, 2008 at 09:18pm Chuck Sweeny
Attention Mr. and Mrs. America: We are now responsible for $5.3 TRILLION in mortgages, courtesy of the U.S. Government’s nationalization of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Uncle Sam did this early on Sunday morning when many were still asleep. Hmmmmmm. What other sneak attack occurred early on a Sunday morning?
But cheer up, Americans, at least we don’t have socialized medicine. Whew, that’s a relief!
Entry Filed under: On the Hook
7 Comments Add your own
1. shirley parada | September 8th, 2008 at 12:39 am
Maybe they ought to privatize the oil, too. Maybe the great windfall profits could cover the mortgages. There\\\’s a silver lining!
2. biga | September 8th, 2008 at 3:18 am
So does this mean all of our homes qualify for “Section 8″ housing?
LOL
3. Curtis Newport | September 8th, 2008 at 5:41 am
Economic news is best covered by journalists who understand it.
The implications of this are profound and far-reaching. There is pro and con. There is cause for relief and cause for concern.
The federal takeover of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae has been, and will continue to be discussed in great depth by journalists and others in the financial markets.
Comparing it to Pearl Harbor is ridiculous, and does nothing to help your readers understand the larger picture.
4. hokumboy | September 8th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Once again The Onion has all the answers.
http://www.theonion.com/content/infograph/protecting_our_banks
5. Chuck Sweeny | September 8th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Mr. Newport:
I boiled this issue down to the essential issue at stake: We do not live in a free market economy. No matter how foolish our private institutions act, if they are big enough, the taxpayers will bail them out: the savings and loans, Chrysler, Penn Central, and now this.
Let’s just can all the rhetoric about free enterprise, we do not have a free enterprise system because no one wants to take that big a risk and provoke a revolution, which certainly would happen.
Free markets are, like communism, great in theory, not so much in practice.
6. John Biltmore | September 8th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Mr. Newport:
The mistake you and I both keep making is coming to sites like this one expecting (hoping?) to find help in understanding the big picture. What we’re treated to instead are journalists who — rather than actually digging into an issue and providing meaningful commentary and analysis - prefer to try to be “cute.” It is a sad state of affairs.
Chuck, sorry but even if there were a “single’ essential issue in this mess, I am not sure my first choice would be whether it exemplifies our lurch toward Karl Marx.
But you’re entitled to your opinion. And I suspect if you had made it that way the first time…
7. Chuck Sweeny | September 9th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Hey, maybe I’ll rename the blog, “Sweeny’s sad state of affairs.” Sounds kinda catchy, ya think?
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