Relief for House Flippers?

[JStruds]

Obama bails out irresponsible housing speculators
Why has the Obama administration decided to bail out the speculators in his latest iteration of a housing policy?
By The Fiscal Times Fri 2:28 PM


By Edward MorrisseyThe Fiscal Times

At the peak of the housing bubble, a number of reality shows appeared on cable television that featured real-estate speculators who bought distressed properties and made enough improvements to sell them quickly at a sharp profit.

Called “flipping,” the entertainment industry glamorized the quick-profit practice that helped fuel a spectacular rise in housing values – and made the crash worse than it otherwise might have been. Flipping has since become a reviled practice, a symptom of an irrational and irresponsible market, not to mention the negative political connotations of speculators in general as gas prices rise rapidly yet again.

So why has the Obama administration decided to bail out the speculators in his latest iteration of a housing policy? Bloomberg reports that the White House, obviously frustrated with the lack of success from their Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), has expanded the latter to include real estate consortiums for the first time.


http://money.msn.com/politics/post.a...4-7402f27b9092

This article was obviously written with a Republican slant, but if the basic facts are true, it is disturbing. Many of the people who caused the banking industry to collapse were rewarded with bonuses, and now speculators who fueled the housing bubble (along with their banking and real estate buddies) are apparently also going to be rewarded for destroying our economy.

Meanwhile those of us who just keep plugging along working and buying what we can afford continue to support - through taxes - the rescues of the ones who put us in this mess. I do not understand.

[jonboy79]

Those still paying their mortgages are the losers, as opposed the the entire history of the American housing market...
I'm not sure it will ever be the same... We have seen a major shift towards rental, and that will liekly continue, IMO. Measures liek this seem to increase that lieklyhood. It makes the rich, richer a tthe expense of the middle class, just lk the Dems like it...