Fannie, Freddie may tap U.S. Treasury for $51 bln

[Joshua Dorkin]

http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE50P7EG20090126

And they'll ask for more again soon . . . slippery slope, people

[Richard Warren]

We’ve been throwing so many billions of dollars around that people are numb. It was hard to fathom the $168 billion stimulus package that was done last year, now they’re coming up with one for $850 billion, total insanity.

:cool:

[Amy L.]

Richard is right. We're all numb to these huge numbers. And since neither we nor anyone in the government actually has a grasp on these numbers it is just going to continue. When we look back at it all in 10-20-30 years, we're going to ask why we didn't stop the madness when it started.

Both Bush and Obama are going to go down in history for their spending, and I don't think it is going to be good for either.

[Mark N.A]

Well, I've actually bought a few shares of Fannie and Freddie in hopes of personally sharing in the bailout.

Because, after all, everyone knows they are TOO BIG TO FAIL.

[Jenny F.]

I want my government issued K-Y Jelly NOW! We are going to be needing it.

[Jon Holdman]

Any organization that get help because its "too big to fail" should be broken up.

[James Hiddle]

The porn industry wants a bailout, the car industry wants a bailout,the banks want a bailout what's next the girl scouts,the boy scouts how about Homer Simpson or Peter Griffen or better yet Jack Bauer :roll:

[Lee Common]

Jon,

You we are on the same page here.

I was researching the history of the stock market & at any other time in history these institutions would have been ousted.

So many other institutions throughout history that seemed to be permanent and there failing incomprehensible no longer even exist.

This is unprecedented!

At least it makes for good conversation here on BP

Best,

[Jon Holdman]

The people who run these giant institutions are just people. They may be smarter than the average bear, but recent evidence suggests that at least some of them are, at best, more devious than the average bear. To let these thieving sons of ***** take money out of your and my pockets is just plain wrong.

I wish we could figure out how to tax executives like Dick Fuld and John Thain into poverty without destroying the incentive to get ahead or chasing away the people who really might save these companies. Its just not right that you can run a company into the ground, take a bunch of public money, and still walk away with more money that any 10 of us will see in our entire lifetimes. Just as there are real rewards for building a big company and running it well, there should be pain for doing the opposite.

[Will Barnard]

Couldn't agree more Jon.

What do you all think of my re-decoration plans for my office? I just layed off two people and am planning on spending $200,000 on new furniture, a $2,000 waste basket (it is very nice looking), custom desk, etc. etc.

[Jon Holdman]

I think you're quite a cheap-skate. Don't you know you need to spread the wealth around? A multi-million dollar house is just not enough. You're not a real executive without a million dollar office!!

In case anyone's out of the loop, John Thain, the executive who ran Merrill Lynch into the ground, spent $1.2 million redecorating his office. Which he now says he'll repay. Be nice to be in a position to say "opps, sorry, here's a $1.2 million check".

[Will Barnard]

LOL Jon.
And here I thought I was being a "responsible" corporate officer!

I think Thain belongs behind bars! He and Madoff can share a 10'X10' cell! Good luck decorating that boys!

[Jon Holdman]

It just makes my blood boil. I've long ago learned life's not fair. But there's a difference between "not fair" and "wrong." And I realize things are generally much better than when the robber barons were in charge, and a lot better here than many other places in the world. These guys are just hogs!

To tie back to Josh's original post, the heads of FM & FM aren't one iota better than these other companies.

[James Hiddle]

Originally posted by nationwidepi:

Couldn't agree more Jon.

What do you all think of my re-decoration plans for my office? I just layed off two people and am planning on spending $200,000 on new furniture, a $2,000 waste basket (it is very nice looking), custom desk, etc. etc.

Geez Will you don't know how to spend tax payers money why not add a solid gold water fountain too :mrgreen:

[James Hiddle]

Originally posted by Jon Holdman:

It just makes my blood boil. I've long ago learned life's not fair. But there's a difference between "not fair" and "wrong." And I realize things are generally much better than when the robber barons were in charge, and a lot better here than many other places in the world. These guys are just hogs!

To tie back to Josh's original post, the heads of FM & FM aren't one iota better than these other companies.

You're right Jon they're not they fall in the same catagory of greedy selfish POS's as the morons at Enron.