Mike,
>
http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=11980have only scanned the abstract, but am not sure everything is as rosy.
I have also not closely followed the current exposure to Fredie and Fannie,
but have my doubts that in that are all is (s)well.
I do remember some stink about GM paying back tarp from another gov credit
and some banks probably have used low fed rates to exchange credit:
no more rules attached and less stigma.
I have not followed closely enough to cite numbers, but my gut tells me things are still screwy.
But I doubt that Fannie and Freddy will cost the taxpayer so little in total.
The repo shuffle Dragan wrote about IMHO is mostly a way to get clear numbers on the losses
- at the current interest rate a way not to show too high profits by realizing those losses,
which can be partly by devaluating the property when taken over and on selling again
with a loss. But I'm no bookkeeping expert ;-)
regards
thomas