From a hefty lobbying budget to the use of free baseball tickets, Freddie Mac fended off any meaningful regulation in the years before the housing mortgage giant crashed.

Investors are showing renewed interest in mortgage-backed securities, Treasurys and corporate bonds now that some of the uncertainty about the security of the debt instruments has been removed.

Builders and realtors are divided over whether the government's intervention brings a bottom to the housing market.

Housing has to stabilize, banks need to get healthy, and the consumer has to escape the headwinds of rising unemployment and high energy prices before a full recovery is in the cards.

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson tells CNBC that the taxpayer cost of bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac won't be known until the housing market and the economy stabilize.

Mortgage rates may fall a bit initially but probably not enough to halt the decline in home prices anytime soon. Some delinquent borrowers may have a better shot at modifying their loans and ending up with lower fixed payments. And the rules on new mortgages could slightly change.

"I wouldn't change anything in the plan," says billionaire investor Warren Buffett. "It's the best deal and the most sensible deal available now."

The companies’ outgoing executives could see big paydays, while ordinary stockholders, rank-and-file exployees and probably the US taxpaper wind up on the losing end.

Rogers: 'More Communist Than China'

Investors dumped the stocks of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after Barron's reported the increasing likelihood of a U.S. Treasury bailout that would approach nationalization of the two housing finance titans.

The company reports a much larger-than-expected, second-quarter loss and cuts its dividend more than 85 percent to preserve capital as home-loan defaults accelerate.

Richard Syron defends his handling of the troubled mortgage giant, saying the housing market "deteriorated even more than we expected," following a report he ignored warning signs.

The company posts its fourth consecutive quarterly loss, set plans to slash its common stock dividend and doubled its reserves for losses on delinquent loans and home foreclosures.

Freddie, in the second quarter, wrote down the value of its subprime and Alt-A portfolio by $1 billion. Freddie is claiming that they can hold these securities to maturity and not have to take a loss, Freddie’s subprime and Alt-A portfolio is about $130 billion. Think of that, says Realty Check's Diane Olick.

A plan to rescue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could cost U.S. taxpayers $25 billion, congressional budget analysts said, as Congress worked to complete sweeping housing market legislation.

Hedge fund manager William Ackman says the companies are not as well capitalized as their executives claim and would reduce levearge to help improve their finances.

John Bogle, The Vanguard Group; Paul McCulley, Pimco; Abby Joseph Cohen, Goldman Sachs and Bob Doll, BlackRock, discuss what the mortgage mess means for the housing market.

With share prices tumbling again and speculation about a federal bailout growing Friday, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson issued a brief statement, saying the primary focus is to support the companies in their "current form" and "promote confidence in these companies."

James Lockhart, Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight director, says both companies are "adequately capitalized" and "managing through these issues."

Find out why the two financial giants are so important to both the mortgage market and the economy, why they were created in the first place and what their problems mean for borrowers.

When red runs on Wall Street, heads will roll. From AIG to Merril Lynch, quite a few top executives have lost their jobs since the financial crisis erupted in August 2007. Here's a casualty report.

As the credit crunch claims its corporate victims, it's worth remembering what high profile companies suffered stunning and sudden financial collapses. Click ahead for other companies on the losing end.