To The Rescue

Hank Paulson's announced some dramatic measures to prevent a Fannie/Freddie collapse where, among other things, he's going to ask congress to approve an increase in the debt ceiling so that the government can buy up a lot of their stock. Basically, it seems like a quasi-nationalization to me though I'll be interested to see what more serious econ types think in the morning. Meanwhile -- the shocking true tale of how these companies managed to evade oversight is worth a read. Chuck Schumer done bad.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2008/07/to-the-rescue/49263/