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These are the personal views of Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission:

For Democrats, the chickens are coming home to roost. Badly conceived efforts to rescue homeowners facing foreclosure, regional banks and the unemployed are failing.

Bureaucracy and corruption are to blame.

The president’s program to restructure mortgages for homeowners facing payments too large for their incomes or who owe more money than houses are worth has only helped several thousand, not millions as expected.

The Treasury now proposes to shame some banks and invasively monitor, nag and cajole mortgage servicing companies–much like autocratic Beijing abuses Chinese financial institutions.

Continue reading…

The $8,000 new-homeowner tax credit is the culprit, fueled by inexperienced homeowners and easy credit.

It’s deja vu all over again.

This is how the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) poses it to prospective home borrowers:

There are lots of good reasons to choose an FHA-insured loan, especially if one or more of the following apply to you:

You’re a first-time homebuyer.

You don’t have a lot of money to put down on a house.

You want to keep your monthly payments as low as possible.

You’re worried about your monthly payments going up. You’re worried about qualifying for a loan.

You don’t have perfect credit. Continue reading…

Jim Murphy’s column “MARK TO MARKET: Once Again, A Verbal Abomination Prevails,” which, among other topics, discusses President Barack Obama’s plan to help homeowners.

The Obama administration pledges billions of dollars in new programs to help seven million to nine million borrowers. Is the plan the best way to help homeowners?