by Nicholas Beaudrot of electoral Math
The WSJ's political news blog has Chris Dodd (D-CT) criticizing the Bush administration for not letting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the entities responsible for loan guarantees on a large number of mortgages, expand their portfolios to take on more mortgage debt to help provide some liquidity in the markets during the credit crunch. I saw Chuck Schumer (D-NY) make a similar complaint.
I really have no clue who's looking out for whom. Which side is doing the work of Big Finance? Is letting Fannie and Freddie take on more (riskier) debt a good idea? Help me, oh Lazyweb!
elsewhere, I note an analyst with Inside Mortgage Finance suggests that Countrywide is "too large to fail" and that our nominally pro-free market Republican administration would have to intervene to keep from failing due to its willingness to take on high risk mortgages. Market hysteria makes people say crazy things.
