Two Items From the Department of DON'T SPEND A DIME ON THIS!!!

1. Government-owned mortgage underwriter Freddie Mac is asking for another $10.6 billion, after losing $8 billion.

2. Newsweek is for sale.

At this point, you may be putting your ear trumpet in, leaning forward, and saying "Heh? What's that you say, young fella? How can Freddie Mac be losing money again, when Newsweek's been saying for a year that the recession's over?

Consider this: The U.S. government is now guaranteeing 96.5 percent of the mortgage market. The Mortgage Bankers Association reports that new applications for mortgages are finally increasing. We've been following for almost two years as the government has pushed lending standards down even further. And here's the highly respected Meredith Whitney Advisory Group founder Meredith Whitney discussing the coming "double dip" in house prices. (Has the first dip even ended?) That means we'll all be on the hook for a new wave of defaults. So cough up, ya stingy bastitch, it's your patriotic duty.

You may also be typing lots of "OMG"s with your thumbs and saying, "How can somebody be selling Newsweek when it's so awesome?"

That one's even simpler. Check out editor Jon Meacham's year-ago editor's note "A New Magazine for a Changing World," and weep for the brave new world that has such weeklies in it.