THAT’S DEBATABLE:

Do you think the federal government did the right thing taking over ailing mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

It’s not about whether the government should have taken over; it’s about how extensive the restructuring should be.

Clearly, the status quo is unacceptable and there should be a major restructuring of the entire system to protect taxpayers from further paying the price for bad policy.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher

(R-Huntington Beach)

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac never operated as stand-alone businesses — they were always subject to political sandbagging.

In 2005 the U.S. Government Accountability Office warned that their unique status (neither private nor nonprofit) allowed them to expand into activities that increased their risk and reduced transparency.

At this point, there is no alternative to bailing them out. If they were to default, they could bring down the entire system. Any bailout should include a plan for selling off of the assets in pieces so that we don’t continue with entities too big to fail. They should eventually be private instead of having a government monopoly channeling funds at subsidized rates to single family homes in the suburbs thus starving other parts of the housing market.

Debbie Cook

Democratic candidate, 46th Congressional District