$80 to Mow a Lawn. In Phoenix

Green Gold?

Interesting article in the Sunday NYT about the spiraling cost of bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The article profiles one Phoenix-area Realtor in particular, who sold homes at the peak, and now sells them for Fannie and Freddie after they've repossessed them (albeit at dramatically lower prices).

But here's the line that caught my eye:

Fannie asks contractors to mow lawns twice a month during the summer, and pays them $80 each time. That’s a monthly grass bill of more than $10 million.

--"Cost of Seizing Fannie and Freddie Surges for Taxpayers"; The NYT (6/19/2010)

Nice gig, especially in Phoenix in the summer!

P.S.: the above recalls a favorite cartoon from the last baseball strike. It shows a striking (and overweight) ballplayer -- in uniform with his gut hanging out -- knocking on a random house doorbell with the caption, "mow your lawn for $20,000, Ma'am?"