51�Թ�

“There was a lot of speculation that the bill would reprivatize some or all of Fannie and Freddie, not just liquidate them,” said Karen Petrou, managing partner at Federal Financial Analytics.

Mr. Gemba spoke not long after the country’s largest newspaper, The Yomiuri, cited unidentified sources as saying the government was considering a plan to temporarily acquire a majority stake in the company, help it shoulder the liabilities that are likely to be incurred from the nuclear accident, and reprivatize it.

Government life support has boosted the economy, but "the issue is what happens when you reprivatize the market," he says.

In West Germany, the Adenauer government is plowing ahead with its plan to "reprivatize" a $1 billion industrial empire inherited from the Nazis.