The two that needed multi-billion dollar guarantees to be purchased were were Washington Mutual and Wachovia(WB Quote), both because of horrendous and injudicious lending directly by Washington Mutual and indirectly via Golden West, a terrible acquisition by Wachovia. Of those two, only Washington Mutual needed real government help as Wells Fargo(WFC Quote) swept in and voided a government-guaranteed plan for Citigroup(C Quote) to buy Wachovia. Washington Mutual and Wachovia were mortgage lenders, not prop traders or private equity investors. Neither had hedge funds.