Well, speaking of surveys: the Wall Street Journal just asked a gaggle of economists where they think the U.S. economy is headed and particularly what should be done about the floundering GSEs Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. This article by Phil Izzo summarizing their findings is definitely worth a read, but I'll give you the skinny right here: nobody knows about either. 59% of economists surveyed think that the government will end up stepping in or bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, bolster Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's recent proposal to Congress - although it's telling that 68% of economists surveyed thought the best course of action was for "lenders [to] be pushed to raise capital privately and hope a recovering housing market will keep the [GSEs] from needing government money".

As usual, the economic forecast is cloudy and divided between serious naysayers and neutral-to-mutely-optimistic. One bright spot that respondents seemed to agree about was the U.S.'s relative invulnerability to a wage-price spiral, where pressure from labor costs and high prices push one another higher. 94% of respondents said such a development is unlikely in the U.S. but 34% think it's very likely in the Eurozone - in fact, 9% think it's already started in Europe. Maybe your U.S. greenbacks will strengthen enough against the euro that we can all hit Europe more affordably this winter!

Oh, and by the way: I dug this WallStrip video on the plight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - you might, too.

[image: Fannie Mae by Matti Mattila on flickr]

----------------------------------------------------

Follow the markets at the TradeKing Blog, learn options strategies from the Options Guy, or check out expert commentary on real client trades at TK All-Stars.