Mortgage lenders made some very bad loans and then, compounded these bad decisions by stubbornly refusing to negotiate with homeowners.

Lenders continued to show arrogance by failing to negotiate with borrowers or prospective buyers and this greed has slowed the housing market to a crawl and pushed our nation's economy to the verge of collapse.

 Instead of a bailout where lenders are the primary beneficiaries let's reverse the role by bailing out homeowners; not that they deserve it but because it is necessary to keep our economy solvent.

 Of course, the lenders would be saved in the process, not that they deserve it either but because of the danger financial collapse would have on all Americans especially those in or near retirement.

 Instead of giving $700 billion to the banks and mortgage companies how about passing legislation as follows:

 Anyone who mortgaged a home purchased between January 1, 2003 and December 31, 2007 would receive from their lender 20 percent off of the purchase price to be credited towards their mortgage balance.

 This includes all homeowners who purchased during that period and have met their obligation. These responsible property owners need to be able to compete in the market place if they decide to sell their properties. Without this they would unfairly be burdened with mortgage balances above true value.

Their responsible handling of credit obligations would be rewarded not punished.  But, even more important they would have spendable cash to spend boosting the overall economy.

Additionally, mortgage holders would forgive all missed payments and late fees. This is one of the sacrifices to restart the cash flow to their institutions through mortgage payments.

Next, mortgage holders would receive a new 30 year fixed rate loan at six percent. No plan will work if payments are not affordable.

Mortgage holders would have 60 days to accept or decline the terms. If accepted they would be required to make all payments on time for the next three years or until they sold the property.

 These loans would also be assumable one time by buyers but any profit from the sale would be taxed at 100 percent.

 If a property owner did not apply and accept these terms, they could instead hand the deed over to the mortgage holder and walk away from the property without further obligation. The bank would then be free to sell the property on the open market.

 If the property owner failed to meet the new mortgage obligation the terms of the loan would revert to the original mortgage. A court order would be issued against the borrower for the entire amount of the debt. We are giving borrowers a second chance, not a third or fourth chance.

 This is only a short synopsis of this plan.

 Why is this plan better than the proposed $700 billion bailout?

 First, the greatest beneficiary is the homeowner.

 Second, banks benefit because they would begin receiving monthly payments or have a commodity to sell.

 And, finally nowhere in this proposal did the federal government need to give away $700 million dollars of taxpayers money.