Freedie Mac and Fannie Mae needed to be bailed out or else our economy would crash, completely. They are massive companies with trillions of dollars in assets. People like to trash big business and criticize their lending practices, which do deserve criticism, but I doubt that anyone wants to see what would happen to the economy if companies like this start going under. There are inherent risks in a capitalist economy but when it comes to things like mortgages that make up such a huge part of the economy, there has to be some type of government assistance in emergency situations. I definitely agree that the government should regulate the practices of these companies that they're bailing out but just letting them fail is not a good idea. I bet that if your mortgage company went under, then another company bought the rights to it and jacked your interest rate up 5% you'd be wishing that the government would have done something.