Djyrn, I agree. Any and all mortgages written since 2003 are in the same shape. While I think 4-5% would be great, I'm guessing that would be too great a stretch financially and would meet with much opposition, perhaps rightfully. There is a fine line between rewarding bad or ingnorant behavior, and extending a life line to those in need which in turn would help stabilize the economy. In the end, any move by our government, that our tax dollars will pay for, should benefit all equally, and I just don't see how the current "bail-out" does that.

The reality is that the money that was put into the housing market for the past 5 years was money wasted. More homes were built than could be occupied by people. A significant % of homes for sale were bought by investors who never lived in them. These are now in the impound lots for banks after foreclosure. This has had a huge ripple effect across the financial system as well as the real communities where it is happening. On top of that, the people on Wall Street and at the banks that collected all these fees for generating all of these mortgages and derivatives of those mortgages which they prompyly wasted on Taj Mahals, Ferraris and $10K hand bags.

The reality is that a big part of the wealth created by the improved productivity of the 145M American workers has been squandered by Wall Street, the bankers and some really stupid speculators. $700B is the price - basically a loan from future generations to make up for the money that has been squandered and fix the mess created by 20 years of de-regulation. If we operated banks, Fannie Mae and the investment firms like we did before they came up with all of these "innovations", we would not be here arguing about this. Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you.

I really hope that I dont see 1 penny of the $700Bil go directly to the home owner that cant pay his mortgage because they bought a home they couldnt afford in the first place. People and banks alike look at a snapshot of the here and now of everyone applying for a mortgage, here I am now this is what I earn and this is my past credit history. Thats great if the mortgage can be paid off in the near future, but not planning out the future for 30 years on a mortgage isnt the banks fault, its the homeowners fault. I have served in the United States Army for 22 years and have decided to wait untill military retirement to buy a home because military families move every 3-5 years. Over the last 8 years I have seen our tax dollars going to rebuild other countries. I have saved enough money to put a good size down payment on a home of my own and now that I am in my last 6 months of service and looking for a home, it is imposible to get a mortgage. Maybe one of you that make 40-80k a year and bought that nice 250k house can rent me, my wife, and my 5 kids your basement, I'll help you pay your mortgage. And thanks for eating my peice of the apple pie and not paying for it!

I'm certainly not in favor of raising taxes to help the financially irresponsible.  There are undoubtedly many hard-working homeowners in legitimate trouble, but I've seen too many that over-borrowed or used equity to purchase luxury automobiles or take lavish vacations.  Working in the consumer credit industry, it is statistically alarming that people manage their montly income without considering net worth.  Consequently, a financial setback causes the house of cards to collapse.  I've made every attempt to make fiscally sound decisions -- sorry, I didn't cash out to buy a new Mercedes and don't feel like paying for others' either.