Support for Those Facing Foreclosure

How could this happen - legislation that can benefit ordinary Americans.

Ah yes in the final moments of Bush's scorched earth presidency, he agrees to one piece of legislation that helps the non elite people of America AKA the rest of us.

I believe the answer lies less in the intention to benefit and much more in the final highlighted section below.

Politico: Landmark mortgage bill clears Congress

Treasury will gain unprecedented power to lend money to and even purchase an equity interest in the two mortgage finance giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, over the next 17 months. At the same time, the Federal Housing Administration is granted $300 billion in new loan guarantee authority in hopes that the FHA can help establish a new floor for home prices and be a source of refinancing for households at risk of foreclosure.

The very scope of the bill — the largest of its kind in at least a generation— underscores the huge importance of the housing crisis in today’s fragile economy. But the legislation remains very much a roll of the dice, and even supporters are uncertain how the markets will respond to the greatly expanded government role.

The answer is the markets. The markets are tanking. Small, medium, large, grand, teentsy, and giddy investors are losing value in their portfolios. The markets have reacted positively to every single piece of good news in the face of staggering bad economic news over the past 7 months.

As much as this legislation costs, the profits from an improved market will offset it.

I believe the core of this legislation is an intention to significantly slow the decline of the market - simple as that. The vote is cast on Saturday because it is the closest they could come to enacting legislation for this coming Monday's opening of the exchange.

The people who are facing foreclosure are vehicles for a practically unanimous plea to the markets to turn around and start a new growth trend.