Bear-ly Kept Alive

I want to know how many free-market "conservatives" - who would quickly denounce any sort of welfare to the working-poor or universal healthcare - reproached Bear Stearns for its incredible failing. How many more criticized the Fed for guaranteeing the loans that were going to be provided by JP Morgan (prior to the latter's announcement that it was going to acquire the distressed bank)?

The argument is that if Bear Stearns defaulted, it would surely cause the economic picture in America to instantaneously become bleak. As such, it was necessary for the Fed to step in and make sure that didn't happen. I don't remember any mention of the thousands of people who these banks had provided low-interest loans to. How when those low rates were raised, these people were forced out of their homes. We know that there were bad lending practices taking place but it is becoming more clear that only the individuals who were preyed upon were the sole ones left in misery. Why wouldn't a bank ... bet the bank when it knows that it will surely be thrown a lifesaver or be engulfed as part of a corporate consolidation?