The Candidates Speak

Opining on the news of the Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac seizures by the Treasury Department, both Presidential candidates, as well as President Bush have released their position statements. From the Seattle Times:

In a statement, President Bush said: “Americans should be confident that the actions taken today will strengthen our ability to weather the housing correction and are critical to returning the economy to stronger sustained growth.”

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama agreed some intervention was needed. “I will be reviewing the details of the Treasury plan and monitoring its impact to determine whether it achieves the key benchmarks I believe are necessary to address this crisis.”

Republican presidential nominee John McCain also voiced support, while his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, said Fannie and Freddie “have gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers. The McCain-Palin administration will make them smaller and smarter and more effective for homeowners who need help.”

Bush spews the usual FUD, but what could we expect him to say? “As President, I’ve presided over the largest federal bailout in American history, and possibly initiated a chain of events that will end in a financial crisis for the federal government”.

I was hoping for a more concrete rebuttal from the fiscally pruduent Obama camp, and will be keeping my ear to the ground for one, but at least we didn’t get a knee-jerk thumbs up like we did from the McCain camp.

Reminding us once again that style trumps substance, the statement attributed to republican Vice-Presidential candidate Palin, “[FNM / FRE] have gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers..” is a curious one, considering that until yesterday these were private corporations not funded by public tax dollars. Hoocoodanode?

Meanwhile, a must-read interview with economist Michael Hudson presents the macro view on the Treasury’s actions, The Worsening Debt Crisis: Who Got Us into This Mess and What are the Real Political Options?