Is Obama about to bail out underwater home owners (and their banks, of course?)

[MannyGoldstein]

I heard today that Obama was working on a plan to pay off the under water portion of all mortgages. Of course that also bails out the banks who no longer hold questionable paper, but at least this would be better than the other banker bailouts that did jack for the non-elites.

[NNN0LHI]

1. Who did you hear that from?

[MannyGoldstein]

3. Right-wing nut radio host (while channel-surfing)

Probably unreliable - wanted to check.

[jtuck004]

2. Federal Officials: No Plans for Expanding Refinance Programs

More here...

Doesn't sound like it. And even with homes underwater, unemployment is a much more pressing issue for a lot of homeowners.

[MannyGoldstein]

4. Perfect, thanks! nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Let's assume for a second your source was onto something

what was the last president to essentially do that?

FDR.

Why the Right is actually screaming.

[MannyGoldstein]

6. Did FDR do that?

I didn't know that!

Do you have a link, by any chance?

Thanks!

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. The wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal

And yes his interventions of the housing sector allowed people to afford homes by extending the mortgages to 30 years.

(And no, the wiki is not the best of sources, but he was brought down the coals for encouraging home ownership... sound familiar)

[MannyGoldstein]

8. Sounds like a very good solution!

I heard that Obama was just going to pay the banks the part that was underwater.

Extending mortgages to 30 years sounds like a very good solution - in fact, it worked, so it was!

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Well we made money the last time around

I mean the state... why not this time?

Keeps people at home... and that alone helps.