[applause] next on booktv beth mclean discusses her book shaky ground which looks at the stability of the u.s. mortgage finance system. she's interviewed by joe white and reporter at "the wall street journal". >> host: we are here with bethany mclean to talk about her new book called shaky ground at the strange saga of the work which finance. thanks for being here. >> guest: thanks for >> guest: thanks for having me. >> host: this is something i spend a lot of time thinking about and i know why fannie mae and freddie mac which are the dissenters of the book are important companies. why don't you start by telling us a little bit about why you wrote the book and about why they are so important for the broad popular. >> i started covering it back in 2004 when i was still a fortune and in the way of the accounting scandal. at the time i think i was shocked to find out that companies like this existed. what is a government-sponsored enterprise? but a government-sponsored enterprise in this case 80s was created in the wake of depression to become more widely available and the idea was that