Considering that Fannie and Freddie were intially created by the US government in order to foster a liquid mortgage market and enable average Joe to buy a home, it would be ridiculous for the same government to stand by and do nothing while these companies faltered and became impaired to continue to issue mortgage backed notes.
Fannie and Freddie were initially created to enable average Joe to reach the All American dream of home ownership. Here lies the problem. Many of the people who obtained home financing over the past few years were far from being average Joe's. How can one justify placing someone in a $600,000 McMansion with a zero down payment on "stated income." Today the federal government is asking the taxpayers to pick up the tab for what initially started as a noble system to enable the average Joe to become a homeowner, but later included people with bad credit, no savings, poor w*rk history, who probably could not have even afford to rent the house they were encouraged to purchase.