FLASH: When you're the US and you find yourself in a massive mortgage hole, why of course, you keep digging. And digging. And digging.

To watch the government stupidly, wrongly and feebly attempt to prop up home prices for housing gamblers in an election year is just plain sick. Sick, sick, sick.

The latest stupidity from DC is to force the regulator to drop Fannie and Freddie's reserve requirement drastically, from 30% down to a shocking 20%, so when the fail, and yes, they will fail, the US taxpayer will be even deeper in the hole. So now Fannie and Freddie can buy up an addition $200 billion in sh*t loans this year.

We are so f*cked HP'ers. Our government is making a bad situation even worse. The taxpayer will be on the hook for trillions. Fannie and Freddie will fail. The lenders will fail. The investment banks will fail. The banks will fail. The FHLB will fail. The Fed may even fail. And nobody cares. What's on Idol?

You know what's coming. Somehow, get yourself and your family to safe shores.

Mortgage lenders to pump $200 billion into markets

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The two largest U.S. mortgage finance companies on Wednesday won approval to pump up to $200 billion into the distressed U.S. mortgage market, the latest step in government efforts to stabilize credit markets and save the economy from recession.

Policy-makers at the Federal Reserve, regulatory agencies and the Treasury Department have let loose a flood of measures to battle rising home foreclosures and stabilize shaky markets, but some still see the need for a more direct government hand.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said it was immediately easing restrictions on Fannie Mae (FNM.N) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N) to give them a bigger role in settling queasy mortgage markets. It said they should be able to buy or guarantee about $2 trillion total in mortgages this year.

"All hands are on deck to try and prevent this U.S. situation from becoming a dire crisis," said David Watt, a currency strategist with RBC Capital Markets in Toronto. "They're doing everything they can, making policy on the fly."

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day

It's a week until the next Fed meeting where Ben can cut rates to destroy the dollar while bailing out the mortgage gambler hedge funds and banks.

So shouldn't we be seeing some more blatantly wrong government data coming out to support a rate cut (that will later be revised)?

Will the Fed:

1) Cut
2) Hold
3) Raise

FLASH: Nah, there was no housing bubble. Yeah, HP'ers are Chicken Littles. Oh, crap, what did Treasury Secretary Paulson just say?

It's now officially HousingPANIC Time (HPT), as the US Treasury Secretary admits that a significant real estate crash is underway and will not be going away soon.

But if one f*cking taxpayer dollar is spent bailing out housing gamblers and failed flippers, or the reckless lenders who made the stupid loans, then the government of the United States will no longer have the moral authority to govern.

Here's Paulson's housing mea culpa today, with some confused language regarding a bailout. "We should help" combined with "I have no interest in bailing out lenders or property speculators".

Walter - you can't have it both ways. Pull your head out of your ass and stay away from this mess.

Paulson: Aggressive Action Needed for Housing Crisis, Which Is 'Significant Risk' to Economy

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson called Tuesday for an aggressive response to deal with an unfolding housing crisis that he said presents a significant risk to the economy.

In the administration's most detailed reaction to the steepest housing slump in 16 years, Paulson said that government and the financial industry should provide immediate help for homeowners trying to refinance current mortgages before they reset at much higher rates.

"Let me be clear, despite strong economic fundamentals, the housing decline is still unfolding and I view it as the most significant current risk to our economy," Paulson said in a speech delivered at Georgetown University's law school. "The longer housing prices remain stagnant or fall, the greater the penalty to our future economic growth."

"We must help as many able homeowners as possible stay in their homes," Paulson said. "Foreclosures are costly and painful for homeowners."

But Paulson also stated, "When investors are relieved of the cost of bad decisions, they are more likely to repeat their mistakes. I have no interest in bailing out lenders or property speculators."

HousingPANIC is going to take George W. Bush and Ben Bernanke at their word - NO FUC*ING HOUSING GAMBLER BAILOUT!!!!!!

"It is not the responsibility of the Federal Reserve -- nor would it be appropriate -- to protect lenders and investors from the consequences of their financial decisions."

- Ben Bernanke, August 31, 2007


"It's not the government's job to bail out speculators or those who made the decision to buy a home they knew they could never afford."

- George W. Bush, August 31, 2007


"If you spend one f*cking American taxpayer dollar bailing out failed flippers, mortgage fraudsters and housing gamblers, the legitimacy of the United States Government will have been forfeited, and the time will be at hand to dissolve the political bands which connect us."

- HousingPANIC, August 31, 2007

Ron Paul. Kudlow. Housing Crash. Subprime Disaster. Mortgage Meltdown. Government Bailout. Fed Policy.

Nice to see it all come together.

Ron Paul - the ONLY HousingPANIC candidate. Damn, this guy gets it.

George W. Bush, The Worst President Ever, and misguided promoter of "the ownership society" (aka "buy at the peak!") makes matters ever worse today

That's it HP'ers, today's the day. The Worst President Ever steps straight into the subprime disaster wad of dung that he helped create today.

Are you a housing gambler in need of a government bailout? You've come to the right place.

Casey Serin - today's your lucky day

Failed flippers - here comes George, with loads of taxpayer money to the rescue

Housing gamblers - why stop now! Go double down, because if things don't work out, the taxpayers who didn't gamble will bail you out.

Bush Banker Buddies - don't worry, you may own crap loans, but Georgie will do his best to make sure the sheeple don't just turn in the keys and walk away

HP'ers, IF (big IF) one dollar of your taxpayer money goes toward bailing out failed flippers and housing gamblers, the level of rage and distrust for this government should go off the charts.

George W. Bush - The Worst President Ever - and our Nero. We are indeed run by monkeys.

Bush Moves to Aid Homeowners

WASHINGTON -- President Bush, looking for ways to respond to the subprime-mortgage crisis, will outline a series of policy changes and recommendations today to help borrowers avoid default, senior administration officials said.

Among the moves will be an administrative change to allow the Federal Housing Administration, which insures mortgages for low- and middle-income borrowers, to guarantee loans for delinquent borrowers. The change is intended to help borrowers who are at least 90 days behind in payments but still living in their homes avoid foreclosure; the guarantees help homeowners by allowing them to refinance at more favorable rates.

Mr. Bush also will ask Congress to suspend, for a limited period, an Internal Revenue Service provision that penalizes borrowers who refinance the terms of their mortgage to reduce the size of the loan or who lose their homes to foreclosure. And he will announce an initiative, to be led jointly by the Treasury and Housing and Urban Development departments, to identify people who are in danger of defaulting over the next two years and work with lenders, insurers and others to develop more favorable loan products for those borrowers.

I spent too much this weekend in Prague, even lost $60 at roulette. Can I get a federal government bailout too?

Hey, that $60 meant a lot to me. I was taken advantage of. I didn't read the fine print. And I was led to believe that roulette spins were all winners.

And I didn't mean to spend that much going out to dinners, and shopping. And those Czech bartenders sure took advantage of us.

I want my taxpayer money! I want my bailout too!

Folks, if the US government spends one f*cking taxpayer dollar bailing out failed flippers and housing gamblers, I'll call for the overthrow of the government (peacefully, and at the ballot box of course). And I won't be alone. If the Federal Government gets into the subprime mortgage business, and then the loans don't get paid back, guess who ends up footing the bill? You got it. You do.

Housing Bailout Chatter Gets Louder

Add another surprising name to the housing-bailout chorus.

Punk Ziegel analyst Richard Bove became the latest high-profile market observer Wednesday to predict that the feds will take action to forestall the collapse of the U.S. housing market.

Bad mortgages "have become a major problem," Bove says in a research note Wednesday. He suggests that the government may end up proposing to ease the pressure on the sagging mortgage market by offering low-cost federally backed loans to homeowners whose adjustable-rate mortgages are about to reset to much-higher rates.