With conservatives wondering about the Bush administration's decision to bail out mortgage companies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, White House press secretary Dana Perino shifted blame on Congress, "President Bush initiated a call years ago to try to reform this system because he did not want the status quo to continue. Unfortunately, Congress didn't act on that." She added that Bush decided to act now because of Fannie and Freddie's impact on the economy. The......

Photograph of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Jr., left, and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart, right, discussing the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailout by Susan Walsh/AP After the U.S. federal government moved to take over mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this past weekend, stock markets around the world rallied--trading in Tokyo ending 3.4% higher and in Hong Kong, it ended 4.3% higher. And in Europe, stocks also rose 3-4%. While......

Sources say that the federal government may take over mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as soon as this weekend. The Wall Street Journal says this "would represent perhaps the most significant intervention by the government in the financial industry since the housing bust touched off turmoil in the credit markets a little more than a year ago." The NY Times adds the move, which includes the feds standing behind Freddie's and Fannie's debt,......

Today, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is making remarks at the New York Public Library about the economy, and, according to text of the speech, he'll say he believes Congress will pass a bill to "boost confidence" in failing government-sponsored Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which, as Bloomber News puts it, "account for almost half of the $12 trillion mortgage market." Paulson has also been making a number of public appearances recently--Face the Nation, CNBC, various......