Oh, this is
nice. Now the FDIC is getting into the mortgage business. This is a
serious departure from their past activities, skill sets, and possibly
charter. To date, we have the Federal Reserve accepting bad mortgages
in exchange for cash and Treasuries; the FHLB sporting a $1.5 trillion
mortgage portfolio, where it was barely half that a few years ago; and
Fannie and Freddie, with absolutely frightening growth in their own
guaranteed and retained mortgage portfolios. In short,
every possible government program is already neck-deep in this mess and
steadily getting in deeper.