Benjamin Franklin is often credited with saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Whether it was Franklin, or Albert Einstein, or Homer Simpson, it applies to the federal government. Giving mortgages for people who couldn’t pay them back is what helped fuel the credit meltdown last fall, but, guess what, the Obama administration wants to try it again (emphasis added):
The Obama administration is close to rolling out two initiatives aimed at addressing lingering problems from the financial crisis: A long-delayed effort to cleanse financial firms of their toxic assets, and a $35 billion plan to prop up state programs that help lower-income borrowers get affordable mortgages.
Talk about throwing gasoline on a fire.
