Yes, I think your presumption is accurate. The 2008 conservatorship was never intended as a takeover or nationalization. The content of the Bush e-mail corroborates the rationale for a recent court ruling that the GSEs are not government agencies but private companies operating under conservatorship.
Reading this actually gave me an added measure of respect for President Bush. That said, Wikileaks really is a total piece of shit for clandestinely pirating other people's property and releasing it as some self-appointed moral arbiter of all things governmental. Things were bad enough with the New York Times presumptively filling that arrogant space for many decades.
From the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac litigation observation deck, Bush's confirmation of private status intent for the Twins only makes it harder for any court to rule in favor of government owing restitution to shareholders. They could rule that the government owes restitution to the GSEs, however. Then stockholder suits could be refiled against Fannie and Freddie, themselves, although the statute of limitations starts to run into problems. Plus, the net effect of such actions from basically suing your own company for damages could really bust both GSEs and send the S/P into a tailspin from which any recovery is impossible.
The other notable thing from the Bush e-mail is that it totally debunks the multitude of conspiracy theories about manipulated numbers, risk and reserve subterfuge (the forensic accounting rubbish) and secret cabals between Hank Paulson, UST and either Goldman Sachs or TBTF banks because no takeover was EVER intended. It was a Red Cross rescue operation, not some conspiracy to seize shareholder property.
I find this e-mail release as very significant. Wonder what else is out there on any of the GSEs from this source? Could effectively neutralize documents from the Sweeneython release upcoming.
JMHO.
