Mailbag: Friedman, Naked Swaps and Madoff | Rolling Stone Politics | Taibblog | Matt Taibbi on Politics and the Economy:
"'Here are some numbers for you. There were approximtely $1.4 trillion worth of subprime loans outstanding in the United States by the end of 2007. By the first quarter of 2009, there were forclosure filings against approximately 4.4 million properties. If it was only the subprime market's fault, $1.4 trillion would have covered the entire problem, right?
Yet the Federal Reserve, the treasury, and the FDIC forked out $13 trillion to fix the housing “correction”… With all that money, the government could have bought up every residential mortgage in the country – there were about $11.9 trillion worth at the end of December 2008 – and still have had about a trillion left over to buy homes for every American who couldn’t afford them.'"
It wasn't the bad mortgages. It was the bets on the bad mortgages. And the bets on the bets on the bad mortgages.
2 comments:
Thanks for the straight shootin reminder, Buck. Numbers like these come in real handy when I find myself with a poor, deluded neighbor or a rabid, Fox fed fanatic. You nail it once again.
Jeem
Unfortunately Jeem, actual numbers and actual facts don't get you very far with those of which you speak. "If only gubmint would get out the way..."
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