Here's the deal. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bought mortgages they never should have bought because they lowered lending guidelines to levels unreasonable by any normal lending standard, they are now taking a bath on those mortgages and hoping for a government bailout. In the meantime, because of their huge mistakes in judgement, you, the person who wants to take out a mortgage gets the privilege of paying higher fees and higher rates (even in a low rate environment) in order to help Fannie and Freddie out of the hole they've dug themselves out of.
I've never been a fan of either organization - any entity designed so that the profits go to shareholders while the losses go to taxpayers is destined for a crack up and is not in the best interest of taxpayers, turned out to not be a great deal for shareholders either (though management and politicians walked away with an enormous amount of money).
Fannie and Freddie are the biggest scandal in Washington and nobody is talking about it. I've supported a bailout only because the government for years has implied that they stood behind these organizations. My thoughts are that these institutions need to be cleaned up and either abolished or privatized.
ScottyD
