Sometimes watching the government is liking watching a really bad movie. You basically know the plot, and it's best just to follow along and make fun of things rather than to try too take it to seriously.
News from the
Department of Really Easy Things to Foresee
Quote:
Homeowners who modified loans are in trouble again
Dec 8 02:14 PM US/Eastern
By ALAN ZIBEL
WASHINGTON (AP) - More than half of all homeowners who had their loans modified to make the payments more affordable in the first half of the year are already in default again, banking regulators said Monday.
The new data raise questions about whether government money may be better spent on creating jobs, rather than averting foreclosures, said John Reich, director of the federal Office of Thrift Supervision office at a housing industry forum sponsored by his agency.
"I do have concerns about allocating federal resources" Reich said.
However, many experts claim the bulk of loan modifications don't actually provide much financial relief for borrowers.
The government's data don't include enough detail about the types of the loan modifications that were made, said Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. "The quality of the (modifications) are not what they should be," she said.
The U.S. economic picture has darkened over the past month. One in 10 Americans with a mortgage is either behind or in foreclosure, and more than 500,000 jobs were lost in November.
Unemployment stands at 6.7 percent, and the worldwide credit markets have only improved modestly from the freeze that led Congress to approve a $700 billion bailout before the election.
Discussion on Monday's focused on how broad the government's intervention should be, rather than whether the government should play any role at all. The U.S. is on track for 2.25 million foreclosures this year.
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So....
a) A bunch of people who weren't capable of managing their financial affairs in January of '08 are likewise incapable of managing their financial affairs in December of '08. No kidding. This is the sum and substance of all of these bailouts -- give our money to people who have already proven an ability to squander their own money.
b) Government discussions always focus on what more the government should do, never on whether the government should do anything in the first place. Always, always, always the debate is between the party that thinks the government should do a helluva lot more (ie, Republicans) and the party that thinks that a helluva lot more isn't nearly enough (Democrats and Commies, but I repeat myself).