That's right, it's another bailout. Another month, another couple hundred billion, another free market that squirms at the sight of all this government intervention. Blue America, did you know you were voting for all these handouts? Did you know you were voting for policies wherein a full 50% of Americans may no longer pay income tax? I can't figure out if people were aware of this and embraced it, or if they were just so enamoured with celebrity that they overlooked some tricky little details like creating a welfare state. Anyway, this isn't about Obama, it's about the bailout, and here's why it's another bad idea. Oh, I'm not the only one who doesn't like these bailouts. Just consult your portfolio balances to see what the market thinks of all this.

I've written previously about these bailouts, and I've been mostly against them from the start. The primary weapons in this current housing bailout measure are more loan modification entitlements. Yes, that's what they are, government entitlements. The amazing thing about this is that loan modifications have already proven to do very little in terms of stemming the tide of foreclosures. Loans that have received loan modifications are just as likely to default as those loans that received no modification. Read that sentence again. Loan modifications don't work, and it's already been proven, yet the government keeps trying to throw this out there as a viable option.

"After three months, nearly 36 percent of the borrowers had re-defaulted by being more than 30 days
past due. After six months, the rate was nearly 53 percent, and after eight months, 58 percent,” `

The other reasons this bill is garbage and is solely intended as a vote garnering entitlement program are plain to see when you look a little further into who qualifies for this goverment intervention. Let's see... who qualifies? Spec home owners? Nope. Multi-family owners? No. Investment properties including second homes and rental homes? Not a chance. Jumbo loan holders? Ha! See how this nonense just doesn't ad up? If we're going to be straight up socialists, let's at least get socialism right.

This bill will probably help some homeowners, so even though I'm against the principal of the matter, keeping homes out of foreclosure for the long term is good. Note I said for the long term. If this loan modification program only keeps homeowners above water for a few more months, what good is it? The Obama administration is throwing as much as they can against the wall to see what sticks, but as is the case when this happens, some of what is thrown is bound to also hit the fan.