Digging Deeper Graves

I wrote to my senators asking them not to use taxpayer money to bail out homeowners that took on more debt than they could afford. There are plenty of ways to correct incentives and rewarding bad behavior is not one of them. Senator Murray's form letter of course did not nothing to address my concerns, but I was suprised to read that he actually told me he's doing his best to make things worse:

For example:

To help educate borrowers of their options to avoid foreclosure, I secured $180 million in the Fiscal Year 2008 Consolidated Appropriations bill to provide housing counseling services across the country. Housing counseling programs assist borrowers with mortgage modification and restructuring so they can avoid or mitigate the losses associated with foreclosure.

What exactly is the impact of this other than putting us another $180 million in debt and driving down the dollar further? I could support this if Senator Murray would offer to give me a portion of these funds in return for "counseling" borrowers, but I don't see this as part of the deal.

In addition:

In addition, I was a key leader in pushing S. 2338, the FHA Modernization Act of 2007, sponsored by Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), through the Senate. The FHA Modernization legislation provides the FHA new flexibility to tailor products to customers based on their credit rating, income, and relative risk. FHA modernization is a key component in addressing the subprime crisis because it will enable the FHA to offer safe, alternative mortgage options - as opposed to adjustable rate mortgages - to borrowers.

Why is the government still in the mortage business at all? You're going to take my tax money and use it to subsidize borrowers so a sane consumer like myself remains priced out of the market indefinatly? Jee, thanks! I feel much better now after reading how you are busy in Washington D.C. helping me out!