WASHINGTON — By making it easier for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to raise funds and back nearly $2 trillion in home loans this year, the government is making its role in steadying the economy decidedly more hands-on.
That strategy is moving the Bush administration toward activist government solutions and away from its traditional free-market leanings. Behind the push: a housing crisis and credit-market calamity that have spread fear through global financial markets.
Analysts worry that the opening for Fannie and Freddie could put too much financial risk on the backs of the mortgage-finance companies, which have taken multibillion-dollar hits from the foreclosure wave and have been hungry for capital.
Until a few months ago, administration officials voiced similar concern. They said that allowing the companies to take on more debt could threaten the global financial system, citing the pair’s recent massive accounting scandals.
