ozzy43

Freddie and Fannie: Living in the Past

Nicely put, Lex.

I would add the following: the entire argument above is premised upon the notion that increasing the rate of home ownership is an unalloyed good in all ways and for all concerned - for the economy, for individuals, for families and communities, etc. I do not think things are anywhere near this simple, and I positively assert that that premise is debatable, and in my view wrongheaded. Not least because malinvestment and market/risk distortion - which is what Fannie and Freddie represent - always leads to pain in the end. And the longer we postpone this pain - Lex's apt the 'great unwind' - the more severe it will be. And we certainly seem determined to postpone it just as far and as hard as we possibly can, praying for a miracle to deliver us from the towering wall of pain that is headed straight for us. If the past is any guide, we will somehow figure out a way to make sure that most of the pain falls on our children and grandchildren, just like most of our debt will. That's what you get for trusting politicians.

The End of U.S. Financial Domination

dlaw you're on old fool, it seems. Suggest you pick up a copy of this book, which directly, compellingly and comprehensively refutes, well, pretty much everything you just said:

Fiat Paper Money, The History and Evolution of Our Currency
by Ralph T. Foster

I'd also suggest that, rather than reading mythology published by the Fed for its own benefit, you take a look at what independent analysts think about the subject. You could start with:

The Case Against the Fed
by Murray Rothbard

Finally, you are completely confused on one more point. You keep insisting that this was a 'market failure', which basically means the free market failed, and thus we need government to 'fix' it. But we do not have a free market. As a matter of fact, unbeknownst to 99% of Americans, America is not even a capitalist system - it's a corporatist system (i.e. a merging of govt and corporations which benefits both at citizen expense), and rather than a free market, we have a heavily subsidized and regulated MIXED market. So this has not been a free market failure - it's been, largely, a government failure and a Fed failure. If you cannot grasp this, despite the logic, fact and evidence in the resources to which I have pointed you, then you are a bigger fool than even your misguided post indicates.