No, they passed off most of their losses onto the Wall Street banks when they sold them overrated MBSs.

Wall Street banks ARE highly regulated by the SEC.

Fannie and Freddie buy AND SELL mortgage backed securities. Many of the losses the Wall Street banks took were on MBSs they bought from Fannie and Freddie.

My point about the $150 billion is to show that the implicit backing by the federal government was in fact real. And most estimates are that the total bill will be around $400 billion. If you're going to strictly compare numbers TARP added up to $700 billion most of which has already been paid back. Fannie and Freddie are never going to pay back their bailout.

I never said that Fannie and Freddie were the sole causes of the crash, but they were major players not minor ones. If you're looking for a fall guy I'd look to Angelo Mozilo (Countrywide CEO) and his buddy Frank Dodd, and Barney Frank. Had Frank and Dodd not blocked George W Bush's attempts to force Fannie and Freddie to open their books back in 2003 the whole meltdown would have never happened. Because Fannie and Freddie didn't do their due diligence it empowered guys like Mozilo to make a killing passing off liar loans.

Where Wall Street got mucked up was in the creation of credit default swaps. They weren't regulated for the same reason there weren't speed limits before there were cars. Nobody knew what they were until the AIG and Lehman Bros. collapses in September 2008.

There's plenty of blame to go around, but you asserted that the federal government was blameless when in fact they should bear at least half the blame. If Wall Street should be selected for punishment then so should the federal government.

First, private lenders are NOT unregulated, they're the most regulated industry in the US. The immediate cause of the financial crises was the collapse of "mortgage backed securities". These securities were the mission of Fannie and Freddie (who have no SEC oversight). In a nutshell, Countrywide would issue mortgages and bundle them off within a week and sell the bundle to Fannie or Freddie who would then sell them off to private investors. Since they had the implicit backing of the federal government they were perceived as a safer investment, as proven by the $150 billion so far bailout.

Fannie and Freddie did not do their due diligence in vetting the loans, and there was no incentive for Countrywide to vet them since they couldn't default in less than a week. The Wall Street banks were the ones left holding the bag after they passed through Fannie and Freddie.

Funny but Wall Street is regulated by the SEC, Fannie and Freddie are not.

How many of those 84% were GUARANTEED by Fannie and Freddie? Must have been a bunch because the taxpayers have already ponied up $150 billion and it's expect they'll have to pay another $250 billion before they're done.

Well in all fairness this is a PROPOSED budget. No budget will get through congress until the senate flips Republican.

The Federal Reserve's overproduction of dollars fueled the housing bubble, as well as the tech bubble before it. The Fed lends money to large banks at extremely low interest, they lend the money to others who invest the money. Right now the big banks borrow at 1/4% and can turn around and buy US treasuries at 2.5% - or invest in higher yielding riskier investments. This also fuels inflation so everyone ends up chasing the big winners, pushing up bubbles.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were set up by the government with the implicit financial backing of the federal government to guarantee mortgages with no oversight from the SEC. So far they have taken $150 billion in bail outs and estimates are that the final taxpayer bill will be around $400 billion. Unlike TARP the taxpayers won't get one red cent of that back.

The Community Reinvestment Act forced banks to approve more mortgages to minorities. Since minorities have a lower average income the standards had to be lowered to accommodate them. This greatly increased the number of sub-prime mortgages. This is what happens when you lend money based on a political agenda as opposed to sound financial practices (see Solyndra).

Haven't you heard? BO has decreed congress unnecessary.

Do you propose the federal government also pay a stiff fine for their role in the financial crisis?

By the time BO is done the federal government won't be able to give money away, when everyone finally realizes the Faustian nature of the deal.

Personally I'd like to see colleges and universities stand on their own without taxpayer support. I didn't go to college. I went out and started a semi-successful small business. Why should I pay taxes to provide others with opportunities I was denied?

The system is what it is and a congressman (especially a Democrat) is expected to bring home money for the local university. If in fact she never tried to secure federal money for the other colleges that would constitute corruption, but I doubt that's the case. I can think of a thousand things to criticize her for, but this is a systemic fault not a personal one.