Putting off Foreclosures or stimulating Sales

It seems the President and the Members of Congress are trying to do whatever they can to put off the large scale foreclosure crisis.  As many of us in the business know, the huge numbers of foreclosures are in and of itself a drag on the market.  They keep prices down which in turn prevents people from getting the value they need when they sell their home.

Shouldn't the focus be on stimulating the market for the sale of homes?  If this is where the focus was, the value of homes would increase, which in and of itself would reduce the number of short sales and foreclosures.  While some of the foreclosures would be put off because people would be allowed to refinance with value in their home, this would significantly reduce the number of short sales because people would have more value in their homes.