"More Harm Than Good"

So says this article the New York Times about Obama's mortgage modification program (via Don Surber):

"The Obama administration’s $75 billion program to protect homeowners from foreclosure has been widely pronounced a disappointment, and some economists and real estate experts now contend it has done more harm than good . . .

Some experts argue the program has impeded economic recovery by delaying a wrenching yet cleansing process through which borrowers give up unaffordable homes and banks fully reckon with their disastrous bets on real estate, enabling money to flow more freely through the financial system."

Hmm.  You mean government intervention not only didn't work, but may have actually caused more problems?  Who would have figured that?  Only most economics and anyone who took Economics 101, that's who.  Will the administration ever learn?  Does it care?

Here's Surber:

"The Obama administration was not protecting homeowners.

In was rewarding cheats — people who got loans they did not deserve (under the Bush administration) and who were now welshing on those loans — the Obama administration undermined the Rule of law which holds that a lender can collect collateral if the borrower does not repay the loan.

Let us review the damage done by these deadbeats. 1. They ran up the prices of houses. 2. They diverted capital to pay for their “loans.” 3. They didn’t repay their loans.

This was kindness.

And not only is it cruel to be kind (Nick Lowe nailed it) but it hurt everyone."