[quote=briansd1]
It’s PR to make the homeowners happy. And to make people believe they can buy safely because the government is there to help.[/quote]

I think you’re probably right. Politicians doing what politicians do. Shock! There’s politics in politics.

I think most bright observers never gave the program little chance of succeeding in the original stated goals. My presumption was that the intent was to slow down price declines and provide some limited stability to the market, by slowing down the sheer quantity of distressed inventory hitting the market. Much like what the lenders have done with their REO. I suspect that is still the motivation. Temporary mods that slow the foreclosure process, but ultimately do not succeed. They do, however, slow price declines. The merits of that plan, purely from a macro-economic viewpoint, are arguable. Not sure I’d agree, but at least there is some basis for it. And of course, it does have political value.

On the other hand, maybe they are that stupid and thought these programs would work. I hope not. But given the incompetence of most of the finance guys in charge over the last 25 years, I’m not sure.