The past two years have seen an enormous issuance of new government liabilities. During the two years ended September 30, 2009, the amount of U.S Treasury debt held by the public (outside of agencies such as the Social Security Administration and the Federal Reserve) surged by more than 50%, from $5.05 trillion to $7.55 trillion. During that time, the Fed’s holdings of U.S. Treasuries actually shrank by about $10 billion, yet the Fed has explosively increased U.S. monetary base from $850 billion to $2.02 trillion, fueled by massive purchases of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s mortgage-backed securities. On Christmas eve, the Treasury quietly announced that it would be providing unlimited bailout funding for Fannie and Freddie over the next three years, since the underlying cash flows received by Fannie and Freddie on these mortgages are not sufficient to keep the agencies solvent.

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