today's papers
Rescue Dawn
By Ben WhitfordPosted Saturday, Sept. 6, 2008, at 5:23 AM ET
The Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times all lead on news that government officials are poised to rescue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by placing the flailing mortgage-finance giants under federal control. The plan would see the troubled companies lose their chief executives, but would allow them to continue functioning with the government guaranteeing their debts. It's unclear how much the bailout will cost taxpayers, but it's thought the final bill could run to tens of billions of dollars, making the deal one of the biggest corporate rescue operations in America's history.
There were bleak tidings, meanwhile, from the government's latest national unemployment report: the Los Angeles Times leads, and everyone fronts, news that joblessness hit a five-year high in August, shedding 84,000 jobs to reach 6.1 percent. The new figures, which brought total job losses for the year to more than 600,000, were markedly worse than had been anticipated, dashing hopes that the economy would recover in the second half of 2008 and confirming that the country's economic jitters have spread beyond the housing and financial sectors. "These are really ugly numbers," said one economist. "Th ings are going to get worse before they get better."
To continue reading, click here.Ben Whitford writes for the Guardian, Mother Jones and Newsweek.
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