OpenCongress Blog
Ultra-Bailout
September 5, 2008 - by Donny ShawH.R.3221 in action:
Senior officials from the Bush administration and the Federal Reserve on Friday called in top executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance giants, and told them that the government was preparing to place the two companies under federal control, officials and company executives briefed on the discussions said.
The plan, which would place the companies into a conservatorship, was outlined in separate meetings with the chief executives at the office of the companies’ new regulator. The executives were told that, under the plan, they and their boards would be replaced and shareholders would be virtually wiped out, but that the companies would be able to continue functioning with the government generally standing behind their debt, people briefed on the discussions said.
It is not possible to calculate the cost of any government bailout, but the huge potential liabilities of the companies could cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars and make any rescue among the largest in the nation’s history.
UPDATE: More detail on the bailout plan here.
UPDATE 2: OpenSecrets on the campaign contributions behind the bailout.
Also, Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) is still pushing legislation banning Fannie Mae and Freddie Macfrom lobbying Congress.
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Comments
"tens of billions"? Like, how about 100 tens of billions? This just makes a mockery of even the *idea* of what money is. To think that this bailout could somehow ultimately "cost" as much as the entire Iraq war? What does that even mean? The mind boggles.
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