Fresh from passing their version of expensive socialized medicine, the Democrat majority Senate joined their brethren in the Democrat dominated House to spend the day before Christmas socking their constituents with still yet another expense - raising the debt ceiling by another $290 billion to $12.4 trillion.

To put it in context this comes to over $39,000 per citizen; over $111,000 per taxpayer. Or to put it another way interest rates on credit cards, mortgages and other borrowing will increase. Well, someone has to pay for this.

Some people won't have trouble paying off their share of the national debt - the top executives of the quasi government mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which helped blow up the housing bubble til it burst. According to Jody Shenn of Bloomberg

Pay at the mortgage-finance companies, which were seized by the U.S. in September 2008, added to debate over salaries for executives at companies dependent on government bailouts. Compensation must be sufficiently high to "attract and retain" top talent, their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said in a statement.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have tapped $111.6 billion in aid from the government, as the Obama administration made them the centerpiece of its efforts to revive the housing markets.

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Washington-based Fannie Mae, which has lost $120.5 billion over the last nine quarters, has requested $60.9 billion from the Treasury Department this year. McLean, Virginia-based Freddie Mac has tapped $50.7 billion in government capital since November 2008 and recorded $67.9 billion in cumulative losses over the last nine quarters amid a three-year housing slump.

The government "salary czar," whose job description consists of regulating salaries for companies receiving government funds, gave the agency "guidance" on their pay package.

It's not clear to me what justifies the high salaries of the CEOs, but also the commensurately higher salaries for the lower-level folks" at the companies, Ely, a banking consultant in Alexandria, Virginia, said today in an interview.

In addition to the CEO pay, 10 additional executives at the two companies are eligible collectively for $30.1 million in compensation for this year.

Meanwhile, the nation's debt grows and grows and ...