S&P says GSEs pose risk to U.S. government rating (FNM; FRE)

This post and the one to follow are "I told you so's". If that is a turn-off, I am considering an attempt to buy your love with a hot stock tip at the close.

Earlier today in response to the MarketBeat post, "Yet Another Dividend Reduction", I commented:

Smart.

OFHEO should publicly demand the same of Fannie and Freddie.
Maybe it’s time that an explicit cost be charged for the implicit call that the Agencies enjoy.

Comment by Climateer - April 14, 2008 at 10:16 am

And what should appear in the Reuters feed?

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said on Monday that the U.S. government may need to provide financial support to government-sponsored enterprises, or GSEs, and that this poses a fiscal risk to the government's triple-A rating.

The maximum potential cost of assisting the broker-dealer sector remains small, compared with the size of the economy, at below 3 percent of GDP.

An equivalent measure for GSEs, however, together with loans and guarantees extended by explicitly guaranteed U.S. government agencies, yields a potential fiscal cost to the government of up to 10 percent of GDP, S&P said in a statement. (Reporting by Julie Haviv, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Reuters

Wachovia will retain $2 billion per year with the divi. cut (check the timestamp on this analyst call: Oppenheimer sees dividend cuts at Citi, Wachovia Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:26am EDT)

It's about time the GSE's did the same.
Three weeks ago we asked, in "Dear Senator Dodd":

...For example, what the hell is the mis-(mal) capitalized Fannie Mae doing paying out One Billion Four Hundred Million dollars in dividends on common stock?...