I might appoint John Stossel as Minister of Common Sense were I Barack.John examines the on and off again TARP plan. He is certainly right that injecting uncertainty caused the Depression to be ongoing right to WW II. And we can see that now. One day Paulson is going to buy mortgages, the next inject capital, and the next wait for the next administration. As noted in the Depression, the government spends lots of money and nothing gets better.
Housing prices will have to go to the point that people are buying and selling hosues of their own volition. If the govt is promising to 'guarantee' something to someone who cannot pay their mortgage
the house does not get its payments re adjusted
the occupant does not change his or her behavior
the mortgage holder does not know what to expect
no one wants to buy a house not having an idea what the real or artificial value might be.
And so we sit waiting for some clarity.
Professor Elam 
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