Fannie and Freddie Bailout!!!

In the words of Senator Jim Bunning(R. Kentucky) "When i picked up my newspaper yesterday, I thought i woke up in France!"  He recently was quoted as saying that after waking up monday morning and seeing that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson ordered the government take over of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  Our housing system has now been nationalized.  The saddest part is that the majority of Americans believe its a good thing.  In fact most americans were calling for government intervention without understanding the consequences involved.  They don't see past the initial effect on the economy or their own situation.  The government will now control over 50% of american houses.  Slowly but surely big government is taking over and their power is increasing. 

I know that Henry Paulson is a self-proclaimed capitalist and lover of free market enterprise.  So why would he order such a socialistic takeover.  I don't think Henry Paulson wanted to order this take over, in fact it he has been patronized by some for waiting too long to order and direct the take over of Fannie and Freddie.  I believe he was put in such an overwhelming position being pushed by both republicans, democrats, President Bush, and Presidential Candidates i believe he felt compelled to step in.  

Why is it that private companies are repeatedly being bailed out by the government.  It happened to Bear Stearns, Fannie and Freddie, and quite possibly Lehman Brothers Holding Inc.  The free market system should allow such companies to fail, why are these companies more important than others?   These companies have obviously made poor investment decisions that made them and their shareholders billions of dollars.  Why can't they fail?  It's thier decision making and greed that led to purchasing the mortgage backed assets.  These companies profited billions for years off of these securities and now that those securities are causing them major losses they get bailed out and the tax payer end up paying for it.  

Americans need to wake up and start educating themselves about our world and our governments role.  We can no longer sit back and claim naivety because we aren't willing to understand the world outside of our 9-5 jobs.  Their is a bigger picture that needs to be understood or we will continue to pay for these large government bailouts.  

The effects of this bailout will be felt more in the long term but may have devastating consequences far worse than the economy is experiencing now.