# Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 15, 2008, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fannie-mae-freddie-mac-lehman-brothers-merrill-lynch/463650 "2008-09-15T02:29:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2008, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fannie-mae-freddie-mac-lehman-brothers-merrill-lynch/463650/141 "2008-09-19T08:46:05Z")
> [@DragonAsh](#): > > remember? This is a -housing market- problem Not any more it isn’t. Now it’s a money-markets and financing problem. If the liquidity problems spread further to the point where it affects general commercial paper, trade finance, leasing and the like it could get seriously nasty. If lots of businesses start to hoard cash and tighten payment terms that will kick the economy in balls hard enough to make things so far look like nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fannie-mae-freddie-mac-lehman-brothers-merrill-lynch/463650/142 "2008-09-27T15:30:17Z")
> [@Digital\_Stimulus](#): > > OK, so I felt somewhat obligated to go dig up some information on the GDP adjustment for the 2nd quarter '08. I don’t think this thread qualifies as a zombie yet, and I just came across [another revision](http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/wireStory?id=5891720) this morning: > [@](#): > > The Commerce Department reported Friday that gross domestic product, or GDP, increased at a 2.8 percent annual rate in the April-June period. That wasn’t as strong as the 3.3 percent growth estimate made a month ago. So, according to the article, 4th q GDP was negative, 1st q GDP was 0.9%, and 2nd q GDP was 2.8%. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fannie-mae-freddie-mac-lehman-brothers-merrill-lynch/463650/143 "2008-09-27T15:53:34Z")
[This just in…](http://www.theonion.com/content/news/wealthy_teen_nearly_experiences) ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fannie-mae-freddie-mac-lehman-brothers-merrill-lynch/463650/144 "2008-09-29T01:20:43Z")
> [@erislover](#): > > It is an incentive to take risks. Risks are, well, risky, and don’t always pay off, but it is the only way to get stellar returns on investment capital. If your CEO has to worry about where his paycheck will come from tomorrow, he might not be the most objective person to deal with directing a company in ways that spurn growth an innovation. Whether this is what you want your CEO doing probably depends a lot on the company, and what dollar amount correlates well with healthy risk-taking is probably not something you just google to find out, but I think overall the idea makes a kind of sense. There is no incentive to have a long term successful company? No reason to build for the future? it’s all short term grab the money and run. ? Wonder why this shit happened. You have it there. We don’t manufacture . We just manipulate money. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fannie-mae-freddie-mac-lehman-brothers-merrill-lynch/463650.md?page=7)