The Fannie-Freddie bailout is a bad idea and won't work. But forsome, it's the only answer. Why?

Fannie and Freddie guarantee about half the U.S. mortgagemarket. If they simply go away, so does the conduit for some $5trillion in home loans. The implications are dire: mortgage ratesrise because lenders would have to hold mortgages on their books,and they'll want to get paid for that. Homeownership falls.

So, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson believed a bailout was theanswer. The objectives: "Providing stability to financial markets."Fine. But I'd rather see short-term instability that leads tolong-term stability, than vice versa.