Housing: America still has far too many underwater debtors labeled as "homeowners," but Washington can't bear to let them liquidate. Instead, it saddles taxpayers with ever-costlier bailouts.
The federal government has tried just about every trick in the book to revive the nation's housing market and forestall a feared tsunami of foreclosures. How well have they worked?
The answer depends on how you judge success. If the object is to keep "owners" - really, maxed-out debtors - in their homes, the results have been so-so. But there's another way of framing the issue.
What if it would have been better all along to let the chips fall where they may and not try to stop the liquidation of all that housing debt? Then the answer would be that the government has tried too hard, and has racked up far too much debt for the taxpayers, in a futile effort to delay the inevitable.
We lean toward the latter view. And who knows? Even Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, in his private moments, may be inclined to agree. Geithner made an interesting admission last month to a Congressional oversight panel examining the Obama administration's mortgage modification plan. The program's performance looks spotty at best.
More than a third of the 1.24 million people who initially signed up for it dropped out, many of them because they could not verify their income and ability to pay. That in itself is a revealing story.
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Just read on other sites that the banks are hiding how many houses they own. The number could be around 19 million vacant homes. That number is staggering. Plus, the foreclosures are continuing. Now about 25% of higher priced homes owned by supposedly wealthier people are underwater. Soon only the top 1% of the country will have the money to buy anything at all.
ReplyDeleteHome prices are going to go through the roof soon because Obama will fix it all. Hope...change...I hope we still have our change! You took our dollars!
ReplyDelete19 million homes that will require constant upkeep. Who will maintain them-ghosts? Will the banks shell out billions of dollars to keep them from decay? Jeezuz, has anybody ever really sat down and thought how absolutely absurd this whole thing is? The whole world is truly insane!
ReplyDeleteThe empty homes are not being maintained. One here in Ann Arbor has all kinds of tickets and letters form the city on the door. Home owner ship is a joke now like the rest of the economy. Every day a banker or investment firm is caught breaking the law and it is just swept under the rug. I am sick of it and now since no one in any official position has one ounce of credibility I am out of the game officially. No more cooperation of any kind. No more worrying about bills, to hell with them I can get food stamps!!! Welcome to Amerexico.
ReplyDeleteyour wrong comrade, in rich Amerixo you can still get food stamps .
ReplyDeleteIn the real Third world these are hard to find.
But, your fellow americans ,those still with a job or property incomes, are starting to whine about the cost of these food stamp 'charities" and the need for "tough love".
So eat fast while you can ,as you are likely to be swept under the rug too soon.