On Thursday, the Obama Administration promised to provide unlimited supply of financial assistance to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the giant mortgage lenders, with the aim to allow the Government to take further the current cap of $400 Billion on emergency aid without looking for permission from a Congress which is currently very bailout-weary.

On the back of the Christmas Eve announcement by the Treasury Department, the firms can now continue to run all the companies that were seized over the past year, as units of the Government for the remainder of President Obama's current term.

While the Government was making this generous announcement, the lenders revealed that they had managed to gain approval from the federal regulator to pay a whopping $42 Million in "Wall Street-style compensation packages" to 12 of their top executives for the year 2009.

Government officials, while taking about the unlimited funds supply, said that the announcement "should leave no uncertainty about the Treasury's commitment to support these firms as they continue to play a vital role in the housing market during this current crisis", while stressing that it did not necessarily mean that they will actually end up receiving over $400 Billion.