The Endless SIV

"The first step in treating Washington's spending addiction is for the political class to admit is has a problem. This means being honest with taxpayers about the debts politicians are racking up. ... The Obama Administration has refused to provide such an accounting in its official budget, which is indefensible under the traditonal rules to government-sponsored entites. ... Taxpayers have been rightly appalled at the $111 billion they've been forced to contribute to these failed housing projects since the takeover, but that figure doesn't begin to describe the taxpayer obligations. ... [The CBO] estimates suggest that the toxic twins will consume almost $380 billion from the 2008 takeover through 2020. ... What is clear is that no one in official Washington is counting the $1.6 trillion in corporate debt issued by Fan and Fred as taxpayer debt, even though we all know who's on the hook for it. Not even Citigroup maintained and off-balance-sheet SIV as big as this one", WSJ Editorial, 23 February 2010, link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704259304575043573979877134.html.

$380 billion? Sounds good to me. Government accounting stinks.