What We're Hearing

Those wild and whacky Republicans! They want Uncle Sam to make (legally) explicit its guarantee of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's debt obligations and put in the budget. If they're successful that would add $5 trillion to the current debt load of $12 trillion, giving our great nation a total "bill" of $17 trillion. Does it really matter if it's on or off balance sheet? Well, you can argue this: a home owner calls up his mortgage company and says, "I know I owe you $300,000 on my loan but I just want you to know I owe another guy $150,000 but it's okay because the debt is backed by a house that's worth at least the same amount. Trust me." Maybe if I had more time I could come up with a better analogy. Sorry about that. And as most you know by now: the White House won't be unveiling its master plan for Fannie and Freddie until next year. I've written in past columns that it wasn't going to happen and now I've been proved right. But I'm not boasting. I don't know of anyone in the Washington (or the industry) who thought that Obama would have a plan this year...