McCain to Buy Up Mortgages

This past Tuesday, during the Presidential debate, John McCain proposed buying up mortgages around the nation in order to help the economy. In particular, he would have the government buy up loans in cases where the value of the home had fallen significantly below the face value of the mortgage, then they would remortgage the house back to the owners with the new mortgage at the face value of the new, lower value of the home.

I wonder what would happen if housing prices continued to fall. Would we go back and buy the mortgage again?

I didn't give this much thought when I first heard it, but over the last day or so, it suddenly struck me - John McCain is a Republican. No surprise there, right? But - let's piece these two bits of information together.

Republicans buying mortgages - do you suppose this plan will be aimed at the middle-class homeowner whose home is valued at $75,000 or $125,000? Nah - they're Republicans. Who is McCain going to help? Folks with homes valued at $500, 000 and up - or wealthy speculators who bought a dozen homes or more hoping to score a huge profit when house prices continued to climb. He's going to help John McCain's friends. On the taxpayer's dime.

On second thought, having the government buy up bad mortgages might not be such a good idea. But that's just my opinion.