Fannie Mae is supposed to be prime, but it turns out that much of its loan book is made up of less than perfect credit.

Forbes reports that yesterday “Fannie Mae executives told analysts that 43.0%, or $946 million, of the $2.2 billion in losses incurred during the first quarter involved Alt-A loans. They also said that the company’s ‘Alt-A book will continue to drive an outsize portion of our overall credit losses.’

Reading this Bloomberg story about the increasing demands being made on the Fed, I couldn’t help but think of the theme song to the vintage TV series “Car 54, Where are You?”

Do the world’s top finance ministers happen to be closet Taipan Daily readers? If your response to that question is “yeah right,” then don’t worry. That’s our response, too. And yet, the movers and shakers appear to have taken a cue from these pages.

“We’re beginning to see the whole world financial situation as a U.S. problem. There is a lot going on…but the big story seems to be about America and Britain, to the extent it shared the Anglo-Saxon economic model…its money, its wealth and its place in the world…” says Bill Bonner.

“America’s triple-A credit rating may be in danger”, says Standard and Poor’s.

If you’re game for a laugh, I’d like you – in reading the following quotes – to imagine the words “tax-payers’ cash” wherever you see the words “government” or “central bank”.  Better still, imagine they spell out the words “your savings” instead. Here’s goes…

U.S. markets surge… The 5 reviews the winners and losers of the best start to Q2 in 70 years. M&A activity falls dramatically… Chris Mayer on how to alter your investment strategy. Gas prices still at record highs… striking truckers threaten to grind highways to a halt. IMF says 25% odds of a global recession, calls current U.S. crisis worst since Great Depression. Plus, the coming China boom that’s escaped the mainstream.