Get Smaller! No Wait, Get Bigger.

Is now a good time to buy fannie mae or freddie mac STOCK ??

Brian, I am glad you brought up this point. The government is expanding its power by leaps and bounds with every bit of "private" property it gets its hands on. Remember, if a big controlling government was ever the solution, our country would have never needed to declare its independence! Freedom is the solution. Put faith back into the American people! The federal government needs to STAY AWAY and shrink back to its Constitutional responsibilities and nothing else. Only then will we be able to recover from ALL of our messes-- messes that the government made that we will have to clean-up because we didn't stop it.

Scott, No, I found out I'm not on the title or the morgage...and, I will not be held responsible for the 1st or 2nd mortgages, but since the bank wrote the veicle loans as a 3rd mortgage, my attorney has already recommended filing bankruptcy. The bank has already reposesed my only vehicle that was 9 yrs. old...Thanks Lori

If this is so (the inferior mortgage purchase), then they are obviously pursuing a similar strategy to that which got them in the mess, and for presumably which the previous management was sacked. Not that I have any sympathy for the overpaid glorified clerks and paper-shufflers, but it appears to show double standards. All of this financial mess results from Greenspan propping up an overpriced stock market in 2001. Stocks had risen around 800% in 10 years and Greenspan wanted them to stay there - hence the 1% Fed Funds Rate. The housing bubble was an obvious result of this strategy. I fail to understand why and what the motive was for Greenspan's policy. Sure stocks would have fallen, but in a more orderly way than the current mess that we have. Same very rich people got much, much richer in the 10 years up to 2000. Greenspan's policies kept their inflated riches intact and prevented market forces adjusting stock prices to reflect more normal PE Ratios.

Buying at risk mortgage backed securities may be a way of avoiding a financial meltdown through the credit default swap market. For example, if banks have committed themselves to ten times the value of the underlying securities the cheapest bailout is to directly support the value of the relevant securities.

My homepage has a video from 60 Minutes on the credit default swaps, it's about 15 mins long. Click on my name to see my homepage. I also have a link to a New York Times audio/ slide show on a meeting the SEC had in 2004 that really started this problem.

With all that is happening in the market and the economy I'm telling people to get ready just in case the system does break down. I'm NOT saying to build a shelter and hide or buy 5 tons of rice! You can do your grocery shopping 3 to 4 months or more in advance. Buy ONLY what you use anyway, so you don't waste money. Pasta, rice and canned goods can last 2 years on your shelf. If the economy gets really bad, you won't be wondering where your next meal will be coming from. I'm not saying to panic, just be prepared. If the market does correct itself, you haven't lost anything, no need to do grocery shopping for awhile. It's a win / win. It doesn't hurt to have extra food at home and it can buy you some time IF things get bad. Buy what you normally use, buy a few extra boxes of pasta or rice, (maybe 5, and don't forget the sauce :) ,keep them on the shelf. No need to do it all at once, just keep adding to what you already have. This is just common sense, don't let anyone tell you you're just panicking and nothing is going to happen, you're being prepared! No one knows what the future will bring.

Are you guys ready for the Saudis to rush into stocks to buy our companies at a 50% discount? Fan and Fred are going to try and establish a "false"-bottom on housing and Alt-A/Sub-prime mortgages. The credit-default swaps, ha ha ha! they never talk or do anything about the REAL issues, cause that'd prob just cause more panic. the politicians and the media also do their best to turn all of these passive consumers into "victims of wall st". go ahead an call them greedy, you all bought the houses, TVs, and cars you didn't deserve and couldn't afford. I live below my means, work hard, save, and don't live in excess and i'm supposed to pay for everyone else's mistakes? I hope the mom and her kids from above are out on the street along with all of the other "responsible" adults. "It's not my fault, the bankers!!" boo hoo! the amount of $ we're spending on this would prob be enough to fund alt energy for us. oh well! hope you enjoy your empty foreclosed condo!

Bush took us into Iraq for the oil. There were no WMDs there. Right now oil is back to the same price that it sold for in October 2007, but gasoline is 50 cents a gallon more. When the airlines called for help (taxpayer dollar help) after 9/11 Bush rushed to their aid with $7,000,000,000 of your money. We'll never see that money again. When Enron, Dynergy and several other energy companies/brokerages were illegally manipulating the energy market to cause/force the taxpayers to pay two, three, four, or more times the going price for electricity, the people and politicians of the west coast states went to Bush for help. His response was "The White House must not interfere with the free market economy." Now, due to lack of regulation or oversight by the federal government, and either stupid or corrupt management by the people who get paid tens (and in some cases hundreds) of millions of dollars to rationally and responsibly run these companies, the banks are in trouble again. But, don't worry George Bush isn't going to let big business suffer. He's going to give them your money. So, we need to keep working hard so that the government can keep stealing from the poor and giving it to the rich. When the taxpayer is in trouble the government can't interfere with the free market economy. When big business is in trouble the government wastes no time handing over your money, your children's money and their children's money. As long as the government is made up of nothing but the upper socio-economic class, the middle-class will never have a government that is "by the people and for the people".

1. If the feds are going to bail out the bad mortgages, they could at least demand repayment of the taxpayers' cost when the property is sold. 2. No one seems to be addressing the fact that housing prices could continue to fall and the recast mortgages could go underwater again. Taxpayers could be left with a lot of worthless houses or be forced to swallow more bailouts. What's stopping the owner from defaulting and recasting until he has a free house?

A key question is how much are Fan and Fred paying for those toxic mortgage bonds. If Fan and Fred are paying more than market value for the bonds, that amounts to a capital injection into the banks that are dumping the mortgage bonds. Paulson may be funneling taxpayer money via Fran and Fred into banks without taxpayers getting a compensating equity interest in the banks as taxpayers would under the $700 billion bailout. Buying the bonds may be necessary to save the financial system, but failing to inform taxpayers about the terms of this bailout via Fan and Fred is disturbing and certainly doesn't build the trust necessary to restore order in the financial markets.

So, the $700 billion that they had to have right now to give away to banks wasn't such a good idea? Are we going to get the money back? Is Paulson still planning on passing out another $900 billion to the banks by the end of the year? Are the Congress members and Senators who voted for the bailout sorry? Were they mislead again, this time by terrorists who actually have WMD? Now that you know the truth, with the election less than a month away. you have the power to begin to fix the problem. Do not think for one moment that you know less than the people who have caused this problem. http://ewebsmith.com/self/StandUp.html

Lori, You don't say if you are on the title or mortgage of the house. Have you considered bankruptcy? it might be a way to keep it all and work it all out. Scott

We are in such a mess it doesn't matter who is elected, they will not be able to fit our problem. $45.5 trillion in Credit Default Swaps and you don't even hear anyone of the TV News HEADS mention that number. $45.5 trillion is three time more than the stock market's value and four and one half time our total national debt. They didn't start using the Credit Default Swap until 1999 and in less than ten years they have bankrupted the whole world. Times as we know them will be changed for ever and we will not be able to go back. I am very satisfied with my choice for President of the United States and nothing will change my position. I agree with a lot of what you are saying. The country is going down the tube and congress is useless. Senator Harry Reid and Nancy Polsoi the leadership of the U.S Congress along with "W" Bush should be in prison for betraying the people of this country. They were warned years ago that this would happened and did nothing except push for their own dirt selfish agenda. I made my mind up a long time ago about my vote and the two political parties don't deserve my support. I plan to vote for Bob Barr for President. No congress member should every be re elected period. No congress member should be able to be a lobbyist for at least 10 years after they serve in Congress. They learn how thing work and when they are lobbyist they use that knowledge against the best interest of the people. I will hush now.

What they are doing will improve the overall performance of the outstanding bonds, which should help improve the market for such securities. What happens to these poor performing bonds will also guide the future of our housing market. If the government takes a huge step and gets these people into loans they can afford and keeps the house from going into foreclosure or takes the home owner out of foreclosure and back into making payments, the neighbors will also benefit. Yes this will cost taxpayers money but doing nothing already is costing taxpayers. How about requiring these bailed out homeowners to remain in that home for the next 5 or 10 years as well? This will add additional stability to the housing market, keep some houses off of the market, add a familiar neighbor to the neighborhood, and give them some additional responsibility for getting us into this mess.

America is going to be the first real communist country on the earth.

America is going to the first real communist country on the earth.

Going through a divorce, I found out the hard way, our home was going to be foreclosed on. 1st Bankers Trust not only had a 1st and 2nd mortgage on our home...that they sold to you, they also allowed a 3rd mortgage on the home which had a 5,0000 prev. loan from a leak in our basement, that was never fixed properly, and 2 vehicle loans, a total of 26,570.61 @ 10% interest rate. My children and I are soon to be with out a home because my husband told the bank to let the home go...nobody ever contacted me about keeping the house that my children and I reside in, even though the bankers knew we were living here. No, we didn't want something for nothing, yes...we would have liked to know our home was being taken out from under us before it was close to 5,000 behind. And, I'm still not sure how the bank got did all of this legally. Oh, I hope they enjoy taking the only vehicle my children and I had. They should be very proud of themselves. I will never recommend doing business with this bank in Quincy, IL. 62301. Where is all the "Bailout" $ really going??? To the same bankers who steal from the customers??? Lori Hultz 2703 Cedar View Fowler, IL. 62338

Brian, hate to tell you this but this was the Paulson/Bush plan all along. Expect a different world in the near (perhaps very near) future. You, me, and the rest of the US citizenship will be a Socialist community very soon. This country took a wrong turn when patriotism started being measured in dollars. Now, we can see that the "unpatriotic" poor will be greatly punished for the continued mistakes of the "patriotic" rich. How pathetic, but not to worry, we're going to get what is deserved with what is coming next. I can't wait for all the buffoon's to try and tell me I'm not supporting the "troops". They will have nothing to return to.

Here's your answers. You won't like it. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=vn20081012083703515C643309