Got this from several readers and it clears all the smoke and mirrors Congress has put up to divert blame and responsibility for this mess from the real culprits - them.
“Mortgage backed securities are like boxes of chocolates. Crooks on Wall Street stole a few chocolates from the boxes and replaced them with turds. Their criminal buddies at Standard & Poor rated the boxes ‘AAA investment grade’ chocolates and they were sold to investors all over the world. Eventually, somebody bit into a turd and discovered the crime. Then nobody trusted American chocolates anymore.
Hank Paulson thought it would be good if American taxpayers bought up all the boxes of chocolate turds for $700 billion and held them until a market for turds developed. Meanwhile, Hank’s buddies, the Wall Street crooks who stole all the good chocolates, aren’t being investigated, arrested, or even indicted.
It’s like Mama always says: ‘Sniff the chocolates first, Forrest’”.
To add insult to injury, Fannie Mae has the cajones to be a double dipper. They asked for “expect” another $16 Billion to keep them afloat! (Freddie wants another $35 Billion!) Shouldn’t they both have already been flushed?