President Obama presented a plan to aid the housing market yesterday. It had some good points and some drawbacks. It will give money to some people who don’t deserve it and leave a lot of people who do deserve help still out in the cold. It was imperfect in a number of important respects.
And yet…
For the first time since the financial crisis began to make itself felt 18 months ago an official government plan to address at least part of this mammoth problem appears to be well thought out, aware of its own limitations, and actually targeted at one specific piece of an astonishing convoluted puzzle. This wasn’t just another Paulson and Bernanke shoot-from-the-hip spasm. It wasn’t a response to a stock plunge that occurred the day before. It wasn’t hatched over a weekend when sleepy and frightened little men wrestled haplessly with a monster they themselves had done so much to create.
This new housing plan is a professional effort. Whether it will have its intended effects will take months to evaluate. But at least finally, finally, finally, responsible parties seem to be in charge of our economy again.
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