I agree with peterb, that the bailout is an exercise in containment, but I disagree with patientrenter that Bernanke et al won’t be satisfied until it stops prices falling. I don’t think anyone expects that to happen. They may attribute foreclosures and subsequent problems within the banking sector to declining prices, but the root cause is over-pricing, and affordability, and as others have mentioned the momentum downwards is being intensified by the flailing economy. I don’t think that means the bailout has no effect, but it’s not clear (to me at least) how its going to impact the housing market directly.
