I don't get it. Freddie and Fannie have made billions. Why do they need the crutch of Federal support. Just privatize them. And let them fail if they continue to be incompetent.

Fannie had Frank Raines, a well connected guy who was driven out because he ignored Federal regulation and cooked the books. Yet the company has had little to pay for the errors of its way.

Let them fail and perhaps the developers will stop turning farms into little boxes, making folks drive too far, using up too much gas that we inport from thugs and dictatiors.

Let them fail like other incompetent businesses.

The US is, at least in theory, a capitalistic society.

OK, what happens if they do fail? If maximizing the rate of homeownership is such a desirable social goal, there must be other tools besides tinkering in the mortgage market-- Fannie & Freddie, and the home mortgage interest deduction. These tools result in higher home and raw land prices and induces home buyers to buy "more" house than they really need.