Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Notes on the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Bailout (Robert Higgs)

Robert Higgs has some great commentary on the latest bailout:

The following text is drawn from the Associated Press report by Jeannine Aversa, “Fed to Rescue Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac.”
The plan, unveiled Sunday, is intended to signal the government is prepared to take all necessary steps to prevent the credit market troubles that erupted last year with losses from subprime mortgages from engulfing financial markets.

Yes, what is a government for, if not to save us from the impending disaster that its own policies have produced? Thank heavens for the government!
The Fed said it granted the Federal Reserve Bank of New York authority to lend to the two companies “should such lending prove necessary.” They would pay 2.25 percent for any borrowed funds—the same rate given to commercial banks and big Wall Street firms.

We may take it as a given that “such lending [will] prove necessary”; otherwise, these frantically fashioned keystone-cops high jinks will serve no purpose.

Read the rest

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