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Government debt and MBS are loans that are continuously being paid back.

• koheripbal 6y ago
  Yep - and the US government actually MADE money on the MBS it bought. People who are angry seldom take the time to understand how finance works.
  • gregwebs 6y ago
    That's 1.9 trillion in MBS on the balance sheet now. It seems like you have counted those eggs before they have hatched! If we could really make money on these we would get them off the balance sheet, but that is proving to be impossible to do. I guess you could argue that we're making money, but that's only because we get to print money to buy these for free and de-value everyone else's dollars.
    • jessaustin 6y ago
      It's not really surprising, that the same dumb accounting mistakes that got all these "2B2F" banks in trouble in the first place, are also made by their ardent fans on HN. GP is the same joker who dismisses people as "angry" and "uneducated" elsewhere ITT, but doesn't actually have any idea what happened. Reading Timmy Geithner's book doesn't help... https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/2008-financial-bailout-809731/ https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/2008...