No $ No Help For Housing

As the Obama administration and Congress continue to plays politics with the American economy it is apparent that there is no money for any new government program aimed at helping the millions of Americans now facing foreclosure or the millions owing more than their home are worth.



Recently during a Twitter town hall,the President acknowledged that the weak housing market was one of his administrations chief burdens.

According to many economists, the fact is that there isn't likely to be any money or political desire to consider any legislation to address the problem.

In my opinion housing remains one of the biggest drags on the American economic recovery. Solving the housing and employment crisis together could have gone a long way toward avoiding the current standoff in Washington over raising the debt ceiling.

Isn't the reason America is at risk of default on it's debt simply because the administration relies too heavily on borrowing. Haven't they borrowed us into a corner while bailing out large corporations that they've considered too big to fail.

How can our government do so much in so little time, sometimes overnight for others while they stand and watch the American consumer struggle daily with higher food prices, continued rising oil prices, foreclosure, unemployment, out of control health care costs.

Most foreclosure now are caused by economic conditions and not by sub prime mortgages. Unemployment may be the biggest contributor to the foreclosure rate and underwater loans may be the second factor. The foreclosure rate continues to climb nationwide with virtually no end in sight. In fact we may now be living our futures.

The only way that could change would be for lenders to reduce the principal owed on both first and second mortgages in order to coincide with current market values. Lowering the principal would give people a ray of hope that they may again someday have some equity in the homes that they've struggled to keep. It would allow others to sell at market prices avoiding any possibility of foreclosure and it would make the nightmares of short sales go away.

While the politicians posture over how much more to borrow and Americans wonder what will happen to us if Washington fails us again the problems facing the economy go unattended, ignored and left to work themselves out.

I have little faith that our government will do what's right for the us, I have great faith that if left to what once was middle class Americans we would find our own way and someday get our country back on track.