By Edith Orenstein, FEI Financial Reporting Blog -The New York Times is reporting today “U.S. Weighs Takeover Plan for Two Mortgage Giants.” Citing “people briefed about the plan on Thursday,” authors Stephen Labaton and Steven R. Weisman say “Bush administration officials are considering a plan to have the government take over one or both” of the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) in the housing loan business, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Further, they say, the government may “place them in a conservatorship if their problems persist.”

The possible role of accounting standards with respect to changes in the position of the GSEs has been bantered about in the press this past week, and difficulties in applying fair value measurement generally in illiquid markets was a topic focused on at an SEC roundtable earlier this week. Read more here.