As one of the last generation that hasn't been "dumbed down" by the public education system in our country, I was taught that Congress had specific enumerated powers, which are clearly spelled out in our Constitution.

Nowhere in that section can I find any mentioned of a government backed bailout for a quasi-governmental entity?

Why was this not mentioned when this came up for a vote?

but the deck is stacked against consumers as a whole when it comes to relentless advertising and persuasive appeals used by corporations. that doesn't make such appeals evil, but most citizens are oblivious to the depth and nature of messages aimed at getting them to part with their money--in whatever form it takes: snack food you don't need, more car than you need, more home than you need. nor am i suggesting there needs to be any crimping of free choices and free speech. simply pointing out a reality.

while there needs to be personal accountability, because of human nature you will see what's happening here in this situation just about each and every time the business world is allowed to run amok or oversight that's supposed to be there is lax.

Tim thanks for the info. Keep up the good work.  Appreciated your pioneering work with the drilling thing.  Blogged about you from the get go and your late nite House floor speech with Tom Price and Dan Burton.

In a free market, lenders would only loan to those who have a decent possibility of repayment. Lenders don't like waking up one day holding onto a piece of real estate where there is no market to sell it. IOW, it is not in lenders' best interest to repossess properties - especially in high numbers.

The manipulation of the money supply (by setting prime lending rates) by the Fed is a huge part of the problem. If lenders truly set their own interest rates, they could set rates at such a level to enable more people to borrow (that makes them more money), but they will keep it high enough to keep the bad risks out of the market. This weeds out most of the potential failures.

The government doesn't allow this, however. They, as mentioned before, manipulate the interest rates; and then put certain requirements on lenders to provide mortgages to a certain percentage of low-income borrowers. These government mandates cause the mortgage lenders to find new products - high risk products - to provide for those low-income borrowers: ARMs, Interest-only, no money down, etc. The government then does their FHA, VA, and in the case of Michigan, MSHDA, to further pollute the market.

Mandate quotas, high risk government mandated loans, and Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae are the biggest causes of the mortgage crisis. Demos try to blame the free market. Conservatives rightly blame the government - that's what's so damn frustrating about the mortgage bailout. The government caused the problem, and now they are making it worse by this unconstitutional bailout.