Friday Night News Dump Highlight - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac To Be Seized By Feds; Conservatorship Eyed

A very late report in the form of a "breaking news alert" appeared in an email I just received from the New York Times. Contrary to earlier published reports from the Administration that Fed Chairman Henry Paulson had merely discussed a government capital infusion to shore up Fannie and Freddiehttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB122064650145404781.html?mod=hpp_us_pageone , this report mentioned that the government would put those two institutions in conservatorship.

Freddie and Fannie cannot be allowed to fail, but Freddie and Fannie's private shareholders should participate in the losses while US taxpayers bail them out. That's fair, right? Isn't it? Or do all large companies get bailed out when they grow to be too big to fail? It's a tricky question that our next President is going to have to deal with in a fair and equitable manner.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Randy Shiner