Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac got rescued!  And although different people will respond to that statement in different ways, it does deserve the exclamation mark, as the effects of the development look to be huge.

We can start with the most easy-to-measure thing: the Dow, which began this morning about 320 points above where it closed on Friday.  Not all of the gains have stuck, but the Dow remains up around 289 points at this moment.

Then there’s what the takeover might do to the national debt.  Richard Cowan reports, “While there are no firm estimates of how much the rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could end up costing, the Treasury Department is committing to provide up to $200 billion to buy shares in the two companies.  This huge new exposure comes as taxpayers are being asked to shoulder other new burdens that will be debated in Congress as it begins a three-week work session.”

Finally, there are the credit crunch and real estate markets to consider.  The rescue may help the former, while experts say the latter is still in a lot of trouble.

So approve or disapprove of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rescue, but it’s undoubtedly momentous.