Fannie & Freddie @ No. 10

"Hey, what do you think of Fannie & Freddie coming to Downing Street?" Arturo asked me.

Now, I'm not as daft as some may think I look! I knew full well that Fannie and Freddie weren't the cats from the Treasury kitchen, no siree! Them moggies is called Fenella and Frankie and they earn their keep by catching the vermin that crawl in through the Treasury door! I knew that Arturo meant Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Furthermore, not being dumb, I also knew that Fannie Mae is the 'Federal National Mortgage Association'. I also knew that Freddie Mac is the 'Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation'. See! I'm not just a cuddly toy!

However, though I wouldn't admit it to Arturo, I hadn't a clue what he was on about them "coming to Downing Street". I decided to investigate.

I looked up all the stories I could think of that might have inspired Arturo's cryptic comment. I discovered :

George Osborne's Help to Buy scheme 'a moronic policy': Leading analyst says chancellor's flagship scheme artificially inflates prices and drives the young into 'indentured servitude'

That was the headline in the Guardian on 4 June 2013. The article was written by the Economics Editor, Larry Elliott. The article stated:

George Osborne's scheme to boost the housing market through state mortgage subsidies has been dubbed one of the "most stupid economic ideas" of the past 30 years by a leading City commentator.

Now he ain't mincing his words! I was enthralled and continued reading:

Albert Edwards, who heads the global strategy team at Société Générale said the chancellor's flagship Help to Buy programme was artificially inflating property prices and driving young people deeper into "indentured servitude".

See what Arturo meant by the Fannie and Freddie allusion? Some wise cat, eh?? I went on reading Elliott's article:

... "Why are houses too expensive in the UK? Too much debt. So what is George Osborne's solution for first-time buyers unable to afford housing? Why, arrange for a government-guaranteed scheme to burden our young people with even more debt! Why don't we call this policy by the name it really is, namely the indentured servitude of our young people.

"I believe it truly is a moronic policy that stands head and shoulders above most of the stupid economic policies I have seen implemented during my 30 years in this business. It ranks above some of Alan Greenspan's very worst blunders.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jun/04/george-osborne-help-to-buy-moronic

If you think that the opinion expressed by the 'leading City commentator', Albert Edwards, was a trifle harsh when he called 'Georgy' Osborne's policy 'moronic' - then take a look at the 'Comments' section below the article!

It seems that 'Georgy' has been more than a little head-strong in putting forward the 'Help to Buy' policy. It has even caught the eye of The International Monetary Fund. In their 'United Kingdom—2013 Article IV Consultation Concluding Statement of the Mission May 22, 2013', the IMF made the following comment:

"This measure may temporarily help boost confidence in the housing market, but there is a risk that, in the absence of an adequate supply response, the result would ultimately be mostly house price increases that would work against the aim of boosting access to housing."

http://www.imf.org/external/np/ms/2013/052213.htm

Oh dear, 'Georgy'!! You've gone and put your big foot right in it, again!! Don't you ever learn nothin'?? Didn't you learn that sub prime means just what it says sub ---- prime!! That ain't no way to run a business, let alone a country's finances!!

Just to let you know a little secret - another disaster befell the Osborne household. This time of the feline kind!! Know what I mean?? The Metro reported:

George Osborne’s missing cat accused of being a Chinese spy after returning

It stated:

George Osborne’s cat, which went missing for two years, has been accused of being a foreign spy after suddenly returning.

Inquisitive Freya is under suspicion after she showed up last year at Downing Street to the surprise of the chancellor and his family. ...The cat has apparently been spotted in secure areas of the Foreign Office, inside Number 10′s cabinet room and even allegedly tried to access the Treasury.

‘Some of us think the Chinese got her,’ said a Conservative source.

‘She can get everywhere. You’d only have to bug her and you could find out half the government’s secrets.’

If Freya did turn out to be a spy then it would have been the purrrfect deception.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/06/10/george-osbornes-missing-cat-accused-of-being-a-chinese-spy-after-returning-3835335/

So - you see what Arturo and me put up with! Tonight, we're off to the Italian Deli - lookin for a nice bit of salami - know what I mean??

Bye