Well, it looks as if we're going to bail out Wall Street — again.  And, again it will be at the expense of the every day working stiffs.  Also, Congress is treating the symptoms, not the problems.    The problem is (we have been told) that there are alot of  bad mortgages out there.  That's probably true, I represent some of them.  The Banks want to get the loans off their books and on the government's books.  Essentially that means on your books.  However, if the loans are bad, they are still bad.  It seems that a better way would be to be able to rework the loans so that they are performing loans that can and probably will be paid.

There had been a provision in the bill that would allow Bankruptcy Judges to adjust the mortgages on the debtor's principal residence.  Currently that is prohibited although almost all other debts can be readjusted.  The argument from the banking industry (the folks that got us to this problem) is that such a "drastic" change would decrease the availability of mortgages and drive up interest rates on them.  Hmmmmm.  Remember Economics 101?  Price is a function of Supply and Demand.  When money is pleantiful, interest rates are down.  That's been the problem.  Maybe fewer "goofy" mortgages would not be such a bad thing.

As I understand it, the current proposed bill "encourages" the lenders to renegotiate the debts of the "troubled" loans.  It ain't gonna happen folks.  Under the current structure, the mortgage servicer does not own the mortgage.  The mortgage is owned by something else or a group of "something elses."  The mortgage servicer is under a duty to collect the debt.  It risks being sued by the "something else"  if it is wrong in readjusting the mortgage.

That's why it is in everybody's interest to permit the Bankruptcy Judges to readjust mortgages.  Then everyone can blame the Bankruptcy Judge.  In the time honored tradition of passing the buck, everyone can say, it's not my fault —  "The Judge made me do it."

Thanks for reading.  I'm through ranting for now.