talked with anchor hala gorani. this is the moment where the crowd, where the street, where the people had maximum leverage. they ve used it. they ve got something. but what they ve got to hope is that this doesn t end up being a symbolic victory. they need it to be a substantive victory. the symbolic victory was mubarak leaving. the substantive victory is that the regime is transformed from what is still a military dictatorship into a liberal, secular democracy. now the military in egypt is a trusted institution, it s not a democratic engine for change in egypt. is there confidence out there among observers that the military has not just the will but the ability to usher true change in egypt? it s a fantastic question, hala, because the reality is the military is deeply entrenched in
among observers that the military has not just the will, but the ability to usher true change in egypt? it s a fantastic question because the reality is the military is deeply entrenched in the structure. it is the structure. it has enormous benefits that come from being the structure. the military owns hundreds of factories. retired generals have lavish lifestyles. are they going to give it up easily? no. how do you make it happen? you have to give the people, give civil society a platform of power. now, they have none. they are in tahrir square and it s great. they don t have platforms or instruments of power. if they get the presidency and the constitution, that gives them platforms of power. that will erode the militaries
into a liberal secular dem i now the military in egypt is a trusted institution. it s not a democratic engine for change in egypt. is there a confidence out there among observers that the military has not just the wilbur the ability to usher true change in egypt? reporter: it s a fantastic question, hala, because the reality is the military is deeply entrenched in the power structure. it is the power structure. it has enormous economic benefits that come from being the power structure. the military owns hundreds of factors, military generals live lavish lifestyles. will they give that up easily? no. what you have to do is give the people, civil society, some platforms of power. right now they have none. they are out there in tahrir square and that s great but they don t have any platforms or
talking about before we see true change? i think the fundamental change that the president and that tim quiter talked about this morning has to do with avoiding this foot in both camps status. that is to say they have been operating as private companies. so there are two things you ve got to accomplish, one if you have social goals you want to accomplish, the government s going to have to take those on. and secondly find someone else who s willing to step in and backstop these mortgages. i think what you re going to see is a lot of talk about this heading into 2011 and a solution, perhaps being voted on and implemented. but whenever it s implemented, it s going to be faced in over a number of years to avoid too much disruption to that housing market. john, nice to visit, thanks for your time. that is going to do it for me this hour, i m peter al kpoonder, chris jansing is picking up things next. chris, what s coming up in the
treasury secretary geithner calls the fannie freddie issue one of the most concentrated and consequence shall problems. what is the latest on the effort to fix it? think about it peter, you re talking about $150 billion so far. it s up to $400 billion taxers will be on the hook. the question is with fannie and freddie, involved in 95% of the mortgages in this country, who is going to step in if you privatize them? people in both parties think that at the end of the day, they re likely to be private advertised. but if you don t have a private company willing to step in, there s no mortgage money, but the housing market takes a hit. you ve been reporting that the administration wants a slow walk the solution to fannie and freddy as you can. give us a sense that president obama himself calling for what he calls fundamental change at fanny may and freddie mac and what sort of time frame are we