Comments on: Banks Slammed By Treasury's Bailout

By: RS

RS — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 21:08:10 +0000

This whole mess has been in the making for some time now. What better way than to gain trust by encouraging retirement savings then talk those people into investing in 401K’s that could be divested by group holdings and then strip the wealth from them. Everyone needs to be a bit more realistic and look at the history of finance markets. Pretty obvious when Futures marketers bid Oil out of site everyone little investor is going to take a hit. For expert paper makers that can cook books and sell the bad paper to the FM’s it is a win, win situation. If Donald Trump does not goes for Wall Street what would make one think they can and actually make good on it?

By: jl

jl — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:54:09 +0000

preferred stock is a popular investment for retirees to get a boost on income with relatively low risk (apparently not).FANNIE AND FREDDIE preferred were rated AA- less than 2 months ago, anyone can see this is terrible news for many retirees, people who worked their whole lives and built this country! anyone who looks closely at this bailout can see that foreign investors and big business have been protected while the little guy has been left out in the cold. btw, the reason 4-5% losses are hard on fannie and freddie is that they have $5+ trillon with a t loans outstanding, 5% of that is $250 billon. 4.5-5%default rate is probably a bit high for fannie and freddie because they do have better loans than most.

By: B Scott

B Scott — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:50:55 +0000

As an outsider(Canadian) I can see from the current comments that many Americans are confused about the US banking/economic situation.May I suggest that they turn to CNN, the unbiased,best economical/political team in the universe for answers.These guys are legends in their own minds.

By: Dana Swan

Dana Swan — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:26:40 +0000

The Whole Housing Bubble was caused by the elimination of the 28% rule.

No home loan payment was supposed to cost more that 28% (historically) of the before tax income of the borrower, this left about 50% of their income to live on.

Some how, in the last few years that grew to mortgage payments that were as high as 68% and more.

This left as little as 5% of the borrower’s income for them to live on after the mortqage was paid.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were the entities responsible for this to occur. The USA Government and the Citizens need to find out the people in those (once) private corporations and hold them accoutable for damage to the USA’s economy.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:40:34 +0000

Don’t worry “taxpayers” you own ALL the mortgages now. And you didn’t have to pay the shareholders ANYTHING to have TOTAL control of FNM and FRE.
This wasn’t a takeover. In a takeover, one organization PAYS another for ownership.
This wasn’t a bailout. In a bailout, immediate funding is necessary to cover operations. FRE didn’t need a bailout, NOW.
This WAS a NATIONALIZATION. It is called SOCIALISM when the GOVERNMENT
TAKES ASSETS FOR NOTHING.