While glancing through today's REALTOR(R) Magazine Daily News Brief, there were two stories that jumped out at me.  One was a call to action, and the other looked like the groundwork for a call to action later...

The first was:  Withholding Mortgage Help Could Hurt Everybody.  Among other things, it said:

The Center for Responsible Lending, a consumer group, found that an increase of 1.1 million foreclosures would lower the prices of as many as 44.5 million homes by a collective $223 billion. "If we don't help homeowners having problems paying their mortgage, everyone's net worth is going to go down," says Zandi.

There is also mention of crime increasing with the foreclosure rate, and a mention of a CNN poll that showed 51% of respondents feel that those facing foreclosure need to butch up and deal with their problems.  

The second was:  Latest Re-Fi Boom Leaves Many Out in the Cold.  And, it had a few choice quotes like:

At 6 percent about 37 percent of homeowners could refinance their mortgages and save money on monthly payments, estimates Bear Stearns Co., but many of them can’t refinance because in the current environment their mortgage is too big or their credit score is too low.

It goes on to say that those that will be able to take advantage of the low rates are those that have 30% equity or a credit score above 679.   

So Lane... I see dots.  Are you going to connect them?

Sure.  A few months ago everyone figure out that people that had gotten the "too good to be true" loans were going to have to pay the piper before much longer.  We started hearing how many people (that had chosen these loan products) were going to be damaged and/or lose their homes.  A call to action was initiated, and our glorious legislators, seeing votes, responded.  Forget the Constitution.  People are looking for the government to help them out of their mistakes. 

Now, we are seeing rates that hearken back to 2005... and nobody (except me... [sidebar]ok, I really wasn't alone, and I blew the timeline.  I thought it would take more than a year to sort out, but it only took a few months) saw that coming.  But, there are millions of families that can't get those rates because their credit scores aren't good enough. 

Basically, they aren't going to have the same advantages as their more responsible neighbors.  That's gotta suck.  Before, millions of families were going to be displacedby those evil banks, because of their poor decisions.  Now, millions of families will be paying more to those evil banks, because of their poor decisions. 

How long before a bunch of our "esteemed" legislators start looking at the numbers and notice that there are WAY more people with sucky credit than there are bankers?  And how long after that until they figure out that more votes are to be had attacking the evil banks than in allowing the greedy corporations to continue to stick it to people that have enough money for a new bass boat, a Tahoe and a flat screen TV, but not enough to pay their mortgage? (where is an eye rolling smiley when I need it?)

My final thought... and it is a doozy... Maybe we need to let values drop.  Maybe values HAVE gotten out of line, and that paper wealth needs to evaporate.  Easy for me to say... didn't happen here in Atlanta.  We didn't have that kind of boom.  But, look at the Dutch Tulip bubble in the 17th Century.  Did anyone suggest that those that lost money or wealth should have recourse for their voluntary actions?  What about the tech boom of the 1990s?  I lost money.  Wealth evaporated.  Did the government bail us all out?  Did the markets correct?