Read it and weep. It's hard to believe we're this deep in and have yet to have serious discussions about this massive failure by banks/financial organizations, regulators or politicians. Again, where the hell are all of the cheerleaders like Phil Gramm and the rest of the GOP who sold this load of manure?
With Congress on the eve of passing a historic bill that would give the Treasury a blank check to lend money to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it’s worth looking at how much money the government has already pumped into the system during the housing crisis.
The numbers are staggering and likely to get much larger. What we have here is, through a variety of programs, a stealth bailout where more than a trillion dollars of taxpayer guarantees have been extended to the housing market, both to keep it going and to clean up the mess from the past.
I looked at the changes over the past year to the balance sheets of four governmental and quasi-governmental agencies—the Federal Reserve, the Federal Home Loan Banks, the Federal Housing Administration and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The objective was to see how much additional financing they have provided to the housing market. The total: $1.43 trillion.[My emphasis added.]
Main & gay blog