Buypartisan

Dear Dr. Bones,

You can see, sir, that they do not put out _The Boston Humbug_ for overeducateds like us. The nameless an’ faceless Voice of the Corporation does not trouble to suppy a link to the alleged _Wall Street Jingo_ article, doubtless figurin’ that their own kiddies would find too many hard words in somethin’ that far up the market.

Oh, well, "Purcell's difficulty is Google's opportunity":

The legislation is reportedly to be introduced today [Friday 13 May] by Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.) and Rep. Gary Peters (D-Mich.). (...) The new agencies, of which there would be five or more, would act to boost mortgage lending and keep home loans affordable by supporting a secondary market for mortgages. Much like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, they would buy mortgages made by lenders and repackage them as guaranteed mortgage securities for investors. Though privately owned, the agencies would operate under the supervision and authority of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which presently oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Unlike Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the securities would come with an explicit, rather than implied, government guarantee for mortgages that meet certain underwriting standards. Those standards would be stricter than those required by Fannie and Freddie, however, and the government guarantee would apply only to the securities and not to propping up the agencies themselves in the event of failure.

And here here is a slice of the real McJingo:

Like Fannie and Freddie, the new entities would be restricted to buying loans that meet certain standards, including size caps. But the firms would have to hold much more capital than Fannie and Freddie. And only the mortgage-backed securities that they issue—not the companies themselves—would enjoy [F]ederal guarantees. The companies would operate more as public utilities and likely wouldn't have exchange-listed shares. The approach signals policy makers' desire to usher more private capital into the mortgage market, where the government currently backs more than nine in 10 new loans. But the measure also reflects an unwillingness to cut the federal cords entirely.

Probably the "public utilities" crack means that the Banî Murdoch an’ the B'nôt Gigot do not much care for the scheme. Which is maybe a little ungrateful of them, because I can't imagine anybody else the gruesome twosome could have been aiming at with "the government guarantee would apply only to the securities." Anybody, that is, other than our good Specuvestment Class.

On the other hand, full compliance with the AEIdeology would consign it straight to the shredder: ¿What kind of Freedumb of Enterprise is it, -- I ask you --when Uncle Sam starts setting up nominally secret-sector business corporations as if they were toy soldiers? Once start down *that* road to serfdom, sir, and you'll soon sink to the level of the Tennessee Valley. Or lower.

Happy days.
--JHM