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I took the $804B figure from this quote: > It's worth noting that total GSE (MBS and debt) Securities ended Q3 2008 at $8.070 TN, having about doubled from yea

I took the $804B figure from this quote: > It's worth noting that total GSE (MBS and debt) Securities ended Q3 2008 at $8.070 TN, having about doubled from year 2000. The government agencies were integral to the mortgage finance Bubble - fundamental to liquidity excess, pricing distortions (finance and housing), general financial market misperceptions and the misallocation of resources. GSE Securities did contract post-crisis, reaching a low of $7.544 TN during Q1 2012. Since then, with crisis memories fading and new priorities appearing, GSE Securities expanded $1.341 TN to a record $8.874 TN. Of that growth, $970 billion has come during the past three years, as financial markets boomed and the economy gathered momentum. A lesson not learned.

jtbayly 8y ago
If you took it, can you please give it back?
hcknwscommenter 8y ago
The vast majority of bad mortgages from the "crisis" were not GSE conforming mortgages, they were "private label" mortgages by the big banks. Moreover, a huge number of the failed GSE mortages during that era were fraudulently underwritten. Hence the GSE lawsuits that the big banks uniformly lost (actually the banks settled for billions in fines). I really do not understand what "lesson" was not learned. People buy houses. It's silly to have a cash market for such a big asset. Home loans are a thing. Having a regulated entity that provides liquidity into this market and sets minimum standards has greatly reduced transaction costs.