“Americans came back from their Independence Day holiday … and found their Empire of Debt in worse shape than ever — $1.6 trillion in potential losses from the credit crunch!”
- Bill Bonner

Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) and Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) are to America’s great empire what the East India Company was to the British Empire in the 19th century … and the Louisiana Company [see John Law] was to France in the 18th. Huge, stupid, and probably fatal.

Freddie and Fannie are huge government-chartered mortgage lenders. In 18th century France, speculators bet on the riches of Louisiana, through the government-chartered Louisiana Company. In the 19th century, they wagered their money on the riches of India, through the government-chartered East India Company. And in the 20th century, they gambled on rising housing prices through Fannie and Freddie.

- Bill Bonner @ GoldSeek.com: Link.

What more fitting name for the man “said to be the father of finance, responsible for the adoption or use of paper money or bills in the world today” than … John Law??