bottom line they were careless, wreckless and greedy!they did not follow strict lending guidlines it is thier own falt! WE SHOULD NOT BAIL THEM OUT. If they fail and the government does not tinker and prolong the agony thier would be an instant niche for the strong healthy banks. ECON 101
If they fail, this country will be in a world of hurt. There will be no secondary market for mortgage debt. We will go back to the pre WWII days when a consumer could only get a five year loan with a ballon payment. Homeownership in America has been the largest wealth creation mechanism in the history of the world.
Without the secondary market for securitized loans, no bank will lend for fear of repeating the S&L crisis during the last housing downturn. S&L made 30 year balance sheet loans with low interest rates. When rates went to the low teens in the 70's/early 80's, all the S&L's had low rate long term assets on their balance sheets. However, they paid high interest rates on their short term deposits they had to back the loans. There was a complete mismatch between assets and liabilities. For example, they loaned at 5%, but then borrowed at 7%. In traditional banking, the profits come from the spreads between borrowing and lending. With upside down spreads, major losses will occur.
In conclusion, without the secondary market, borrowing rates will go up significantly for the consumer significantly impacting homeownership in this country. Without this wealth creation mechanism, our economy will be affected for many generations.
hate2bl8, I am not trying to be flippant or disrespectful, but this crisis was caused by lax oversight by the govt. of the loan originators (NOT Fannie/Freddie), insatiable demand by the investment community (pension funds, investment companies, sovreign wealth funds, hedge funds, investment banks, etc) and the desire of many people to achieve the American dream. Fannie/Freddie were simply adhering to their government mandate to buy loans from the originators.