Perhaps you should re-read your own words:

“The problem isn’t mortgage rates except for those who got tricked into rapacious ARMs.”

My comment on ARMs is directed at your claim that ARMs were foisted on poor little borrowers.

You didn’t say the bailout would? Let’s feed some more words back to you.

“The real problem is that housing values are less than what far too many people owe on current mortgages. The bailout deal was a way to try to keep these people from walking.”

Sounds like at least a weak endorsement to me. Perhaps you are unable to comprehend the meaning of your own words. If you did not want to give the impression that you were endorsing the bailout then perhaps you should have said that the “intent of the bailout…” and you thought that it was a bad deal. By contrasting the bailout to the 4% as written you gave impression of endorsing one over the other..

The purpose of the 4% deal is not to help people who can’t pay their mortgages and/or are underwater. It is designed to increase disposable income. If you read my comment closely you would see that I opposed having the Fed set artificially low interest rates.

Seems like you are projecting your own lifestyle on to others.

And let’s be honest, the prime motivation in any home purchase is how far one can afford to get from the ghetto/projects/slums/trailer parks.

Which leads me to recall the Housing voucher program of the early and mid-90′s.

I recall when the Dep’t of Slumlords decided to implode the high-rise “LBJ Vertical Memorial Ghettoes” in downtown Baltimore onthe I-83 corridor.

The Dep’t of Slumlords came in and gave every resident of those projects a housing voucher equal to what the working class could afford to spend on housing.

Result?
Many of the hoi-polloi moved out to Columbia, Maryland, (a late ’60′s-early ’70′s “planned community”)…and now “Old Town” Columbia is a less-than-desirable zip code in which to reside.

It bears thinking about…

Does anyone else have 4-1-1 about the effects of similar impacts of the Housing Voucher Programsin their own local metropolitan areas?

Reading comprehension isn’t your strong suit, is it, zippy? I’m typing this really s-l-o-w for you: Understanding the intent of a bailout isn’t endorsement.

What I said was that 4% loans don’t solve the problem. I didn’t say that a bailout would. I said that a 4% loan wouldn’t. Face it, third graders read better than you do.

“And G, nobody forced anybody to take out an ARM. ARM loans were used by greed consumrers who wanted to buy a big house that they couldn’t afford and by speculators hoping to flip the house.”

ARMs weren’t the big problem and never were. But you keep repeating that and maybe it will come true.

Does mommy know you’re on her laptop?

G. Alston is an ignoramous who wants to repeat the New Deal mistake of using government action to prevent the market from clearing. The problem with housing prices isn’t that they are falling but they were out-of-line with economic reality to begin with. Let the price fall so more people can afford to own a home without resorting to risky finance deals. And G, nobody forced anybody to take out an ARM. ARM loans were used by greed consumrers who wanted to buy a big house that they couldn’t afford and by speculators hoping to flip the house. Both were playing the lesser fool game where they would be able either sell or refinance on ever increasing prices.

The problem isn’t mortgage rates except for those who got tricked into rapacious ARMs. The real problem is that housing values are less than what far too many people owe on current mortgages. The bailout deal was a way to try to keep these people from walking.

#2 LwC is correct. Solve the housing value problem, not the symptom.

They are in full lock down America mode……..

Sounds good to me.

As to the ‘Pubs not marketing it – how do they do that in this hostile media environment?

That nails it. I knew I could not stand the repubs any longer – that’s why. They have an occasional good ideas, but no idea how let the American public know their ideas. Idiots all of them.