http://www.bloomberg.com/…

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rose in Frankfurt after U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said he will seek approval from Congress to shore up the mortgage finance companies by buying equity stakes and increasing lines of credit.

Fannie Mae gained 31 percent in German trading and Freddie Mac advanced 33 percent after Paulson said he would seek authority to buy unlimited amounts of equity. The Federal Reserve also agreed to lend directly to the two companies to help provide interim financing.

Paulson’s plan may put a floor under the shares, which dropped by about 50 percent last week on concern that shareholders would be wiped out if the companies collapsed or were taken over by the government. Concern that Washington-based Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac of McLean, Virginia, may collapse escalated last week, prompting Treasury, Federal Reserve and White House officials to forge a plan to rescue the companies should they be unable to fund themselves.

“Paulson said he would seek authority to buy unlimited amounts of equity.”

Hyperinflation, here we come?!

No wonder the stocks are up. Paulson is talking about turning all the cotton on the planet into FRNs.

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