So what do I "own"?
“So what do I “own”?”
Same thing you own in a B-2 bomber, if your question is, “as a taxpayer.”
If your question is “as the government” you would hold the mortgages for 1,000s of borrowers, 99% of which perform, the bad ones backed by some collateral, and all of them backed by the right to sue the heck out of whoever signed the note.
I own mortgages for properities I developed and “seller financed” in a lakefront property in Texas (NONE of which is remotely sub-prime). I have a lien on the houses, a note, and get a flow of principal/interest over 10 years.
The Treasury (which is a bank) would be in a similar situation, except instead of having fronted 100% of the principal, and just getting interest, it would be BUYING THE NOTES AT A DISCOUNT -— say 90 cents on the dollar -— effectively getting 14-15% return on the money (10%, plus interest)
For each 1,000,000,000 purchase, that would be $150,000,000 profit -— basically balancing the budget at these numbers.