New Proposed Bill For Fannie And Freddie Only A Start – by Daniel Indiviglio – … Garrett appeared on CNBC this morning to explain his bill, called the Accurate Accounting for Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac Act (clip at end of the post). The idea is simply to have the cost of the GSEs included as a part of the President’s budget. Then, they’ll be impossible to ignore. … And since the U.S. now fully owns and explicitly guarantees these companies, I don’t see how you could dispute the sense in doing exactly what this bill would dictate. The GSEs impose a very real cost on taxpayers. Of course, this would also require Congress to raise the U.S. debt ceiling by a whopping $1.6 trillion. … – The Atlantic
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Guest Post: The Helicopter Departs – Submitted by TimmyM – … There exist many harmful side effects of an emergency rate policy. … The populist movement can be viewed as providing the Fed political cover for the removal of emergency measures. … The political cover of the populist movement as well as the Fed’s need to retain their regulatory authority has aligned these various interests for us to now expect the appearance of a more hawkish institution. The implications of this will be seen in the probability of a flatter curve and the risk of deflation. … – Zero Hedge
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How Obama Screwed Volcker – by Charlie Gasparino - The president needed the gravitas of the former Fed chairman to sell his bank reform to Wall Street. But when the big banks didn’t buy it, Obama sold him out. – The Daily Beast
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Freddie Mac losses ease but warns on future – Freddie Mac posted a smaller loss last year than in 2008 and said for the third consecutive quarter that it won’t need to ask the government for additional bailout funds. But the company says conditions could worsen as foreclosures pick up later this year. The mortgage company posted a net loss of $6.5bn in the fourth quarter of 2009 and $21.6bn for the full … – PropertyWeek.com
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Sovereign Debt to Collapse En Masse as Recession Deepens – Paco Ahlgren – Here’s one Ivy League professor who’s not adhering to the typical academic/governmental propaganda. So what happens when most of the major world governments simply refuse to pay their debts? Answer: absolute chaos. Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) — Ballooning debt is likely to force several countries to default and the U.S. to cut spending, according to Harvard University Professor Kenneth Rogoff, who in 2008 predicted the failure of big American banks. … – The Bottom Violation
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Fed chief: We’re looking into firms betting on Greek default – By Jeannine Aversa, Economics Writer – USA Today