This holiday season, Americans can be grateful for a government huge enough to work against itself. As cornucopian benefits flow from Washington, Uncle Sam turns out to suffer from Bipolar Bailout Disorder. Like a taxpayer-funded Push Me-Pull You, he goes both ways while consuming enormous resources on the road to nowhere.

Today’s gargantuan mess started largely because Washington used Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to promote affordable housing. “The more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing,” Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said in 2003. He described Fannie and Freddie as “fundamentally sound” adding, “I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation toward subsidized housing.”