Originally Posted by jumbopackage 
Interest rates are a tricky thing. The government should REALLY raise them right now to help curb inflation. The downside to that is that raising them also slows down the economy, and when you're teetering on recession, that's a tough call. Fortunately there hasn't been a wage-price spiral that is the really bad news when it comes to inflation. If that happens, then you end up where we were in the late 70s through the 80s.
Fannie and Freddie are in trouble, and their collapse would be devastating to the economy. I think it was inevitable that the government step in at some point. They both need to go away, IMO.
The fed's interest rates will not change until after the election - whether they need to or not.
Fannie and Freddie are in trouble of their own making. These entities have their debt backed by the faith and credit of the federal government - meaning that they could borrow at a lower rate than they otherwise might have been able - and their "regulator" really didn't regulate them to keep their capital levels up high enough to weather a downturn.
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