Bailout of Fannie and Freddie- new meaning to the song "What a Wonderful World"

As expected and widely reported, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson announced the 'bailout' of F&F. In the government's code language, as reported in NYT, "The Treasury Department on Sunday seized control of the quasi-public mortgage finance giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and announced a four-part rescue plan that included an open-ended guarantee to provide as much capital as they need to stave off insolvency. At a news conference on Sunday morning, the Treasury secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. also announced that he had dismissed the chief executives of both companies and replaced them with two long-time financial executives. Herbert M. Allison, the former chairman of TIAA-CREF, the huge pension fund for teachers, will take over Fannie Mae and succeed Daniel H. Mudd. At Freddie Mac, David M. Moffett, currently a senior adviser at the Carlyle Group, the large private equity firm, will succeed Richard F. Syron. Mr. Mudd and Mr. Syron, however, will stay on temporarily to help with the transition. "

What should make any intelligent person's blood boil is the reasoning put forth by Mr. Paulson. “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are so large and so interwoven in our financial system that a failure of either of them would cause great turmoil in our financial markets here at home and around the globe,” Mr. Paulson said. “This turmoil would directly and negatively impact household wealth: from family budgets, to home values, to savings for college and retirement. A failure would affect the ability of Americans to get home loans, auto loans and other consumer credit and business finance. And a failure would be harmful to economic growth and job creation.” (NYT).

There is no accountability in the system. Paulson never addressed the issue of culpability. Who is being held accountable for allowing these institutions to get so large without any oversight? Why isn't the President taken to task for promoting an "ownership society" without any responsibilities? Why aren't the heads of SEC and the Fed not being charged for dereliction of their duties? And Paulson's assertion that F&F need to taken care of because "this turmoil..." is blatantly inconsistent and irresponsible. Hundreds of thousands of people suffered from the evil actions of the leaders of firms like Enron and MCI Worldcom. The government never stepped in to bail out the employees and shareholders who suffered.

Hank Paulson helping his buddies, Bush helping his buddies, Cheney helping his buddies....and the foreign governments parking their dollars in Treasuries. It is becoming more and more difficult to teach ethics.