Obama Continues to Struggle With Underwater Homeowners
Posted at 2:15 p.m. on Nov. 26, 2012
The Washington Post looks at a pre-election meeting between President Obama and seven prominent economists that highlighted a key debate in Obama’s economic recovery efforts: “Nearly all said Obama should introduce a much bigger plan to forgive part of the mortgage debt owed by millions of homeowners who are underwater on their properties.”
“Nearly 11 million Americans, or more than a fifth of homeowners, are buried in debt, owing more than their properties are worth after piling their life savings into their properties — a persistent and largely unaddressed problem that represents the missing link in what many economists consider the administration’s overall strong response to the recession.”
“Obama’s economic advisers dispute that notion… They argue that the course they pursued — spending more than $1 trillion on tax cuts and employment programs — helped all Americans and sped up the recovery, and that alternatives that dealt with housing debt directly were never viable.”
