To: Lazarus who wrote (270631 ) 8/23/2010 6:49:27 PM From: Broken_Clock Respond to CR addresses the ever increasing nationwide inventory numbers....last week's post i think. Headed for double digits, if not there already(10 months and rising while sales are slowing)....sweet!This was extend-and-don’t-even-bother-to-pretend. The program was successful in the sense that it kept the patient alive until it had begun to heal. And the patient of this metaphor was not a struggling homeowner, but the financial system, a.k.a. the banks. Policymakers openly judged HAMP to be a qualified success because it helped banks muddle through what might have been a fatal shock. I believe these policymakers conflate, in full sincerity, incumbent financial institutions with “the system”, “the economy”, and “ordinary Americans”. Treasury officials are not cruel people. I’m sure they would have preferred if the program had worked out better for homeowners as well. But they have larger concerns, and from their perspective, HAMP has helped to address those.
