While intoning somberly about how the global financial markets would collapse absent its wipe out of Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) common and preferred shareholders, the Treasury has gotten a very slim payoff from its latest weekend bailout plan. To be sure, mortgage rates have fallen almost four-tenths of a percent and the value of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) may rise.

But is it worth all the pain? Investors in their 1.6 billion common shares have lost tens of billions of dollars in shareholder wealth ($139 billion off their peak prices), preferred shareholders will take $30 billion worth of write-offs, and the taxpayer will be on the hook for somewhere between $200 billion and $800 billion. BusinessWeek reports that "the banking industry [is expected] to collectively write down $25 billion to $30 billion on their balance sheets for losses on the preferred shares they are holding."

These banks will experience a decline in their capital ratios which could put some in peril. "There are 12 banks and thrifts that would lose 5% or more of tangible capital were they to take a 100% aftertax, mark-to-market adjustment on their GSE preferreds," writes BusinessWeek. It reports that three banks in particular will fall below minimum "well capitalized" levels -- Gateway Financial Holdings (NASDAQ: GBTS), Midwest Banc Holdings (NASDAQ: MBHI), and Cascade Financial (NASDAQ: CASB).

Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) has had a rough time lately, but the automaker is making several changes under new leader Alan Mulally to ensure that it doesn't lose a few billion again in any quarter. While both General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM) and Ford have been under assault in recent times for not reacting soon enough to rising gas prices and the slowdown in SUV sales, GM has weathered the storm a little better than Ford, which has gotten slapped hard in recent times and had one of its worst quarterly performances ever in its last reporting period.

But maybe the sunlight is starting to shine a tad on Ford's fortunes. Credit Suisse Group upgraded its rating on Ford late last week and even forecast that its loss would narrow. No profit is on the horizon yet for Ford (maybe in 2009), but at least "narrowing your loss" gives us some good news out of Detroit, yes?

Instead of losing over $2 billion per quarter, the automaker is expected to report a pretax loss of $1.4 billion to $1.5 billion for the first quarter of its new fiscal year, according to Credit Suisse analyst Christopher Ceraso -- who, incidentally, estimated a loss of $1.7 billion previously. He raised his rating to "neutral" from "underperform." It was at least the fourth analyst upgrade of Ford since December.