The Congressional Budget Office has decreed: the liabilities of the two government-sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, put into "conservatorship" over the weekend, should be incorporated on to the US government's books. The CBO is right. But even the $5,400bn rise in measured gross liabilities - 40 per cent of gross domestic product - gives no cause for panic. Reality would merely be recognised. The US government is just as solvent as it was last week. Its real challenges are longer term.

Since US Treasury yields have hardly moved since the bail-out, the market is comfortable with the change in status. This is because the decision made explicit what had been implicit. The advantage is that the government can now manage risks it was already bearing.