Seriously, at this rate, they'll be bailing out the investors in the next dot com bubble...

Does this whole government bailing out everything and everyone deal seem a little like someone paying their bills with a credit card to delay the inevitable? I mean eventually it has to catch up to us right?

Is it January yet?

@Puck: He was against it initially, but changed his mind after people got angry.

He just wants to do something "decent" to remembered for since the war was a failure, our economy in ruins and gas prices sky high.

someone once said that you can push your veggies all around your plate all you like but, sooner or later you are going to have to eat them.

i think this applies to this scenario

Thanks to the someone who made that quote...

@icust298: +1

And who will end up with the bill?

Maybe the industry should be allowed to self regulate and self insure to prevent this in the future... Oh, Sorry... that's pretty much what caused this house of cards to fall... OK let's write some new legislation... Oh, Sorry... We have some old legislation that covers this? From the Depression era!... Well lets dust off that old legislation, ensure it has modern teeth, ensure it holds Banks (and the other lending institutions) in general and Bank Officers specifically responsible for their actions, and re-enact it. While we are at it why not look to other industries that could be prone to this sort of abuses and put appropriate laws in place to protect all of us.

@Puck: Both (the democrati) congress and the president get the blame for this one.

This is complete bullshit, people who cant afford their mortgages need to move people who gave them the loans need to suffer the consequences.

This bill is going to make it even harder for a first time buyer to get a house, they're resolution: A $7,500 tax credit for first time buyers...oh, but it has to be paid back over 15 years. This whole bailing out people and companies is exactly what America should be doing, it's not what we stand for.

Most importantly, I'm paying the mortage of some dickwad who shouldnt have had a house to begin with, that burns me so much that I'm shaking.

@dahlberg123: "Decent"? Decent would have been telling congress to go fuck themselves he's not bailing out anyone.

It's "reins," not "reigns," and anybody who believes that this restricts Fannie and Freddie in any significant way is kidding themselves. First step should have been for Fannie and Freddie to go through what Bear Stearns did - wipe out the shareholders and fire all senior management.

This also means that the people getting shafted the most are the ones who are actually financially responsible. So this means that housing prices are going to stay inflated when its time for my generation to start buying our own houses. I'm in my Junior year of college and this just makes me frustrated that people are being saved despite their stupidity! Common sense is a rare commodity these days.

@trogam:

Oh i'm aware that he was against it. It's just time to get rid of this miserable failure and the rest of his ilk.

How about rather than being faced with bailing homeowners out after the fact, they do something before hand to prevent the degree of abuse that occurred?

Epic fail. This is the one he actually SHOULD have vetoed. Let the market sort itself out, don't waste my tax dollars bailing out the greedy/stupid. I don't think any company is too big to fail. If any ever were, they shouldn't be allowed to be that big. Pure and simple.

This is going to bailout the banks and not the average homeowner.

Just the way to destroy capitalism. The sheeples and banks are learning that they can take big risks and potentially see big rewards without any risk because the politicians have created a safety net to catch anyone who loses.

Sadly, the irresponsible lenders, borrowers and bailouters have artificially inflated home prices to such a level that the responsible people have to rent.

Or should my wife and I just go out and buy something we know we can't afford and wait for the next bailout?

Awesome, my tax dollars at work. Hey, Bush I've got some college loans I'd love paid off... any help there?!

For those who are clever enough to note that this just delays what will happen later, thank you. This helps nobody, but it screws those of us responsible. Thanks Congress, Thanks Bush, Thanks stupid, lazy, fraudster home buyers.

Doesn't this bill include a provision about credit card companies having to report customer spending data to the IRS? How come nobody is talking about that?

@Puck: Ok. Just makign sure!

@Will_ND: "Or should my wife and I just go out and buy something we know we can't afford and wait for the next bailout? "

That's the new American way, sadly.

The stupid FAAAAARRR outnumber the smart in this world. Anything a smart person does is negated seventy-fold by idiots.

Ugh. Just prolongs the process...

Great... On one hand it is a relief bill. On the other, it'll screw even more people of the chance of getting a home.
Why couldn't Bush procrastinate until January, so we can blame it on the next president?

@dripdrop: Are you f*cking serious!?

Please, for love of god, tell me your joking. That's none of there damned buisness!

You know shit is bad when republicans (ie me) start talking about moving to canada!

@Puck: So you admit you've lost all objectivity?

It's a pity that the Americans who are benefiting from this mortgage relief bill are probably to busy trying to save the lives of their families, and protect their assets to be commenting on consumerist of defending this bill.

@Wormfather is Wormfather: I couldn't have said it any better myself.

Congress needs to go fuck itself indeed, and all of these people who are supposedly looking out for us should actually start doing it rather than shilling for the banks and corporations who are bribing them.

Seriously, anyone who didn't have a house before 2000 is fucked unless prices come down another 25% or they have a family member willing to give them land. Even construction costs are WAY WAY WAY out of whack due to this crap.

I have hated bush since before he was elected, but I'll be the first to admit that this particular abortion isn't his fault. It's the fault of the hundreds of stupid fucks in congress who passed it.

I'm trying to think back to the last time they did something good for ME, the normal middle class working American, and it's been a pretty goddamn long time.

What do the responsible folks who saved money for a downpayment and carefully considered the loans before they bought get?

Oh yeah, nothin'. Their taxes get to help bail out the people who weren't responsible. Thanks!

Bush had originally threatened to veto the bill over the inclusion of $3.9 billion in "neighborhood grants" which he claimed would benefit the lenders who caused the mortgage meltdown, but relented as the credit crisis deepened.

There's our 9% approval rating congress working hard! Lets delay helping people to sneak some pork into the bill. Laughable.

Bush, you stuck to your guns for 7 years. Always doing what you thought was best, never giving in to the polls, congress, or the media. Why now? You were right. You shouldn't have changed your mind.

@Puck: You better stop wishing for January. You have two senators running for president. 1 has been a senator for 143 working days, 1 admits he doesn't understand economics. Bush may have a problem saying the word 'nuclear', but he understand economics, and he was right on the war.

I don't care what side you are on, nothing positive is going to happen in January. The Bush policies you don't like will be replaced with new, different, policies you wont like.

@Wormfather is Wormfather:

I completely agree. I don't want to pay for some ass to keep his enormous house with a swimming pool while I consistantly make the payments on a house I can actually afford.

Oh, and I also agree that things are really getting bad because my right-of-center ass has contemplated Canada as well.

Where can I find more details on this bill as well as the voting record? I would like to see who opposed this bill.

This is ridiculous, these people get a 10% discount on their homes AND saved from foreclosure for something that was their own fault.

CNN's article mentioned other things that were included in the bill.[money.cnn.com]

Why in the world was this stuff included?

A new home-buyer credit. The new law includes a tax refund for first-time home buyers worth up to 10% of a home's purchase price but no more than $7,500.
The refund, however, serves more as an interest-free loan, since it would have to be paid back over 15 years in equal installments.

A ban on down-payment assistance from sellers. The new law eliminates a program that has allowed sellers to provide down payment assistance for FHA loans.
The law would also increase to 3.5% from 3% the down payment requirement for borrowers getting FHA loans.

I don't see how a tax credit really helps first time homebuyers, ESPECIALLY since you now have to have more down payment and can't get sellers assistance. Was there an abnormally high number of people defaulting that were first time home buyers? Somehow I doubt it, maybe someone can come up with some kind of reasoning for those.

Well I guess that I had better thank each and every one of you for personally bailing my piece of garbage family out of the mess we have created in life!

This bill gives us old folks some help and hope.

Get back to me in twenty years after life has taken a stab or three at you. Show me then that you have made all of the right decisions and taken all the precautions you should have so that your future family never ends up in need of anything from anybody.

Life happens. Apparently in this case it has happened to quite a few families.

The comments on here are arrogant and rude.

So, I made it a point to buy a property I could actually afford, I got a fixed-rate mortgage that I could make the monthly payments on... and now I have to subsidize (through taxation) all the irresponsible idiots who didn't do those things? How is this fair? I should have gotten myself a mansion with a low introductory interest rate & let taxpayers buy my house for me. Oh well, next time I'll know.

Who has read the rules of a homeowner getting a bailout?

90% of the appreciation when the home is sold is paid to the government if the home is sold in the first year (to avoid flippers). The amount goes down, but after 5 years it is fixed at 50% of the appreciation.

The homeowners also must pay insurance, the homeowners cannot take out a home equity loan for 5 years, unless required to maintain the property.

The lender must give a fixed rate loan.

The government is preventing people from losing homes, but is getting a huge fat IOU that could easily equal the cost of the bailout.

I despise our current administration with a seething passion, but considering the mess we're in, this is NOT a terrible bill.

Yes, I'm a responsible homeowner, and it pisses me off to see irresponsible people get bailed out, but with these strings attached, its not a bad compromise.

I would rather not have MY home continue to decline in value because of a huge number of vacant and foreclosed homes nearby, so yes, the bailout helps me by potentially slowing the decline in home values.

Critics - what is a better proposal?

@Wormfather is Wormfather: Relax. This is going to be 90 people attacking Bush vs me and you. Puck is an extremist.

Bush did what the liberals want. Republicans/Conservatives didn't want the bailout. So they got what they want. How do they respond? Ignore it. It's not big in the media, its barely talked about, and everyone is going to attack him on other issues. They can't be happy. They don't want to be happy. Happy is boring.

@SkokieGuy: I am a responsible home owner as well. But the market will make your home worth more then the government. This bail out is a message to the market. There is no risk. Be ready to see a very volatile housing market in the future.

@SkokieGuy: I think the taxes that will go towards bailing people out would end up costing more in the long run than house deprecation. (Is that the right word?)

@SkokieGuy: Maybe your home value isn't supposed to be as high as you feel it is. Sorry, but those inflated prices pushed your house value up. Now you want those same artificial prices to keep your home value high? Can't have it both ways buddy.

I scratch my head when I see the average income in a city vs the average home price. Housing prices have to come WAAAY down or salaries have to go WAAAAY up. Which is more likely?

@Wormfather is Wormfather: He is serious, there was a bunch of talk about this a week or so ago. [www.freedomworks.org] Not just credit cards, but PayPal et al also. Me thinks the IRS is setting up a tax structure for internet transactions.

@BowlingForDollars:

Actually,they do get something. By propping up the market, these people's home values won't decline as much as they would have, and they won't lose as much money in the long run.

@trogam: Right word. But taxes wont go up (under this administration). It'll be borrowed money that will have to be payed back in the future.

If you're contemplating coming to Canada, make sure you visit in the dead of winter, first. Just to be sure you understand exactly what "martian-like daytime highs" really feels like.

I can't compain, though. My mortgage interest rate is nice and low and I just sold my house (in Canada) for full asking within a week. No APRs here, thankfully.

Bailing these people out is a heinous missuse of public funds. You have to face reality, folks.

This shit pisses me off. As a new homeowner, my husband and I made sure that we were purchasing a home we could afford, did our homework about mortgages to avoid getting sucked into something "too good to be true," and saved some money for a down payment. Where's my reward for being responsible? Oh wait...that's never coming, is it? Sigh... Some days I wish I could just float through the world without thinking about my actions or their consequences.

I am sure that there are some people out there (albeit very very few) who are in trouble with their mortgages for very legitimate reasons (i.e. serious illness, loss of job/wages, disability, etc.), and who will benefit from this most recent bailout. Largely, though, it's stupidity and greed that are being rewarded here, and this will only increase the chance that this same problem repeats itself in the future. The people being bailed out, for the most part, will never learn from their mistakes, because they will not have had to address any consequences or repercussions.

This is the large-scale, financially/economically irresponsible equivalent of watching that parent in the grocery store check out line give into their screaming 5 year old because the kid wants candy. Give that kid the candy to shut them up, and they'll learn fast enough that the way to get the candy next time is to throw a fit again. Even though the problem went away for the moment, all you've done is ensure, slam-dunk, that it will occur again. Way to go...

@Bladefist: An even more volatile housing market? Please don't say that...I want to be able to buy a house that isn't outrageously priced...I can already (Sort of) come to terms with paying taxes on certain things, but to then pay taxes in order to keep people in houses they can't afford when I would be able to afford if it was more realistically priced?

Everyone's home has declined in value over the past few years, and even with this bill, it will continue to decline (hopefully the decline will slow). Yes, it could be called a 'correction' to inflated prices.

Without a bailout, we will have hundreds of thousands of additional homes on the market which will increase the rate of housing value decline.

So who has a realistic alternative?

@TecmoTech: Voting record can be found here. [www.iht.com]

Oh cool!

Now with the help of this bill, housing costs will essentially be propped up at their artificially-high prices that no one can afford that's partly the problem with the whole mess in the first pla....

oh wait! THIS ROYALLY SUCKS!

Good job politicians. Way to "look" like you're for the people. "We're SAVING FAMILIES!" Yeah, sure you are... Let's now continue to look passed the rest of America THAT CAN'T AFFORD A ROOF OVER THEIR HEADS! Yay America!

@crabbyman6:

I am a girl, but thanks :) I was having trouble finding an article that talked about it.