The federal government is quick to charge people with “securities fraud” for overstating the value of their stocks or other financial assets, or for not acting in a way that makes what the feds consider to be their “true value” known to the world.

Yet, we see in this $700 billion “bailout” plan an attempt to artificially prop up the value of mortgage securities and to push the mortgage industry to start making more loans. The entire fiasco will be financed ultimately by the Federal Reserve System monetizing the debt that will be floated to purchase these mortgage securities at a price that is well above their true market value.

My question is this: Are we not witnessing a huge act of securities fraud? It seems to me that this action is the very definition of what the feds use to charge others. Just wondering.