US 2003 nonfinancial debt growth fastest since '88 - 2004-03-05
U.S. borrowing outside of the financial sector abated in the final quarter of 2003 but still managed to post its largest annual increase since the late 1980s, the Federal Reserve said on Thursday.

But Kasriel warned that household spending had been boosted by cash freed up from mortgage refinancings, a source that dwindled in the fourth quarter.
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MORTGAGES GIANTS FANNIE, FREDDIE & YOU - 2004-03-05
Congress is now debating one of the most significant corporate-responsibility issues of our time: the status and future of mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The most controversial question is whether to privatize these multibillion-dollar government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). But the argument in favor of privatizing is neither politically possible nor good public policy.
Read the full story at New York Post