Mark Knows It All

Please visit Mark Knows It All, the Web Site, by clicking on the link on top of the adjoining column. If any of you have been watching television these past few weeks, tucked in the coverage of the lipstick/pig wars, you may have noticed that the government has taken control of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. These quasi governmental corporations are set up to promote and help finance the nation’s mortgage markets. As in all things governmental, things have gone south, and the United States is now guaranteeing about ½ of all US mortgages that have been packaged by Freddie and Fannie in the form of bonds and sold to, I don’t know, pension funds, foreign governments, other financial institutions, and you. The Department of Treasury and The Federal Reserve have spent a lot of time plugging up the holes in the dikes to prevent a financial meltdown. They have done a good job in difficult circumstances. But many of their efforts have been for naught as they have lost control of the economy. The