BobS
This is a really good question, because the politicians pushing bailouts are all claiming they won’t help “speculators”. But that is a very squishy and ambiguous term, and defining it in any law will be tricky.
What about the homeowner who bought at the peak and put nothing down, stretched himself financially to the limit, and who bought largely for appreciation and also to live in the house? I’d call him a speculator who simply bet wrong. How can a law be written which will exclude him? Yet his neighbor who rents may have the same financials but decided to save for a decent down payment and for the time when house prices would become affordable? The prudent neighbor gets screwed; the undeserving homeowner gets rewarded by our government (and his taxpaying neighbor).
