Heard on the radio last night that Fannie and Freddy gave $20m per year as campaign donations to Washington politicians, particularly in Congress. Can there be a better example of corruption?

Peter, Liverpool, UK

Bill in Iowa city says "Let foreigners take a bath.". Foreigners own the US through stocks, government and mortgage bond purchases, If you tell them they aren't going to get paid, then you'll never get any money from them to fund the Iraq War, earmarks, new investments. Asia owns the US, get real.

John Small, Faversham, UK

At least the US takes bold actions and doesn't wait for reports before doing anything.

Regulators now need to force the banks to reveal all their losses and recapitalise. Then we can end the crunch and move on (with massive changes to the regulatory framework, including accounting standards).

Alistair Nicholls, Manchester, UK

Neither the British government nor the BoE should follow this lead. If I were a US taxpayer, like Bill in Iowa, I would be furious as he and all US taxpayers have every right to be.

Paul, Coventry,

Just papering over the cracks again!
Won't help in the long run, mark my words!

Graham, Littlehampton,

Its enough to turn your hair grey. This is evolution, just leave it alone to market forces.

Gary Heron, London, England

Dar Bill of Iowa, leaving freddie and fannie to fail would have hit foreigners hard, but would have killed America. You would have a depression on the scale of the 1930. You are caught between a rock and a hard place on this.

Neil Murphy, Cromer,

For 'bankers' to be telling anyone what to do given their total incompetance to manage save collecting bonuses that have cost everyone dear, is a total joke. Until there is a clear out at the top of literally every bank and a fresh start this will be a load of good money chasing bad.

Robert Marshall, LONDON, UK

Fannier and Freddie bonds were already trading at around par, reflecting the implicit guarantee already provided by the institutions' quasi-governmental status. How will making that guarantee explicit mark a major change?

Ian Stuart, Frederick, USA

Could the reason there has been no clear out of 'senior bankers' be simply because they are all in the same masonic lodge? Our country has become a joke and the behaviour of our banks an outrage to economics and prudent management . Nice one GB what one will you be joining?

Robert Marshall, LONDON, UK

I suppose, since you made no mention of them, that American taxpayers will not have to foot the bill for this bail out of the overpaid cockroaches of the banking world. That being the case, perhaps you would like to tell us who IS going to pay for it all.

Steve, Sutton,

Is this the end of capitalism as we know it?
Seems that way to me when America chooses to chase bad money with good. I expect nothing different from the lunatics who run the British economy but, America...........I though I had seen it all at my age.

Victor M, Cricklewood, England

Well, ordinary american citizen have been dommed by insane credit and now , ordinary citizen have to pay to save the ones who doomed them : that's quite funny.

gustavo, paris, france

I simply do not understand this. As an American taxpayer why should I bail out companies I never invested in in the first place. You wrote: "Because the debt that Fannie and Freddie that they guarantee are so widely held around the world, their failure would"--would what? Let foreigners take a bath.

Bill, Iowa City, USA

Why will this see the end of the credit crunch, its easy credit that has led to the US TAX PAYERs having to pay nearly $200000000000 to bail out poor judgement, ultimately the only answer to stop it happening againg is to tighten credit requirements - Thats what the credit crunch is surely?

Peter, Aldershot, UK