Michael Gracie 

They just never learn…via the WSJ: General Motors Co. said Thursday it will acquire auto-finance company AmeriCredit Corp. in a $3.5 billion deal aimed at increasing availability of vehicle loans and leases. Good idea! GM sees the acquisition as a way to drive up sales, which is critical as the company plans a return to [...]

Technology How Difficult Is It To Post A Bill On The White House Website For Five Days? [Techdirt] – Watch for a new government job listing for, uh, White House Blogger. Primary responsibility: cut and paste. Great Wall of Facebook: The Social Network’s Plan to Dominate the Internet — and Keep Google Out [Wired] – [...]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, those institutions of ‘higher standards’, are preparing to pay up to $210 million in retention bonuses: In a compensation program that has drawn angry protests from politicians, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac expect to pay about $210 million in retention bonuses to 7,600 employees over 18 months, according to a [...]

“Screw you, AARP” – Ben Bernanke and Tim Geithner, March 18, 2009 The AP wind up: With the country sinking deeper into recession, the Federal Reserve launched a bold $1.2 trillion effort Wednesday to lower rates on mortgages and other consumer debt, spur spending and revive the economy. To do so, the Fed will spend [...]

President Barack Obama on fixing the home mortgage crisis (emphasis mine): Right now, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — the institutions that guarantee home loans for millions of middle-class families — are generally not permitted to guarantee refinancing for mortgages valued at more than 80 percent of the home’s worth. So families who are underwater [...]

At least that’s what Paul K. and Company surmise regarding the recent announcement of mass mortgage modification by the dynamic duo Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Only one segment of commentary in the otherwise fine discussion struck me as odd (emphasis mine)… “Heidi” – Lowering the principal amount is unethical. If they lower the principal [...]

You lost me at hello R. Glenn Hubbard and Chris Mayer, via WSJ (emphasis mine): We propose that the Bush administration and Congress allow all residential mortgages on primary residences to be refinanced into 30-year fixed-rate mortgages at 5.25% (matching the lowest mortgage rate in the past 30 years), and place those mortgages with Fannie [...]

A comprehensive look at coverage of the weekend’s Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac story, compliments of The Big Picture.

According to The Wall Street Journal the winners are homeowners, Hank Paulson, short-sellers, Bill Gross, and the Republican Party, and the losers are lobbyists, Congress, management, and value investors. The short-sellers bit is indisputable, and I think the WSJ missed one loser, taxpayers.

Can’t bear to watch, but you do get some choice quotes… The understatement of the day, from The Independent: The US Treasury is close to a deal to prop up the mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose crumbling finances have put the US housing market in jeopardy and threatened to turn an [...]