Monday, September 08, 2008

"Economic Theory"

Uh, how about pressing high profile current events or, you know, the functioning of the political system you're tasked with covering?

“They’ve gotten too big and too expensive to taxpayers,” she said. “The McCain-Palin administration will make them smaller and smarter and more effective for homeowners who need help.”

Ms. Palin’s statement went largely unnoticed by political reporters, who are often more schooled in political rhetoric than economic theory. But left-leaning blogs and others have picked it up and are portraying it as a gaffe, noting that Fannie and Freddie are not government entities but instead are private-sector companies.



Economic theory looks a bit like this. Having basic understanding of the ownership of Fannie and Freddie 18 months or so into this housing/credit crisis and after a weekend of front page coverage of them... requires reading the damn newspaper.