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Friday, September 12, 2008

Bailing Out Statism


A NEW article by Sheldon Richman

The key to understanding the saga of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — the newly nationalized twin government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) that dominate home financing — is this: They were created — intentionally — to distort the housing and mortgage markets. That is, government planners were not content to let voluntary exchange and spontaneous market forces configure those industries unmolested. So — holding the taxpayers hostage — they intervened. Make no mistake: the collapse of Fannie and Freddie is government social engineering predictably gone bad. More . . .

A NEW article by Sheldon Richman