The market rallied strongly into the close on news that the Administration was planning to offer financial help to deserving homeowners who are falling behind on their mortgages.

According to Reuters, “The Obama administration is hammering out a program to subsidize mortgage payments for troubled homeowners who have gone through a standardized re-appraisal and affordability test.”

That means some taxpayers will be helping cover the mortgage of the person who lives next door to them. In a perverse way that works out.  A foreclosure hurts the value of every home in its neighborhood.

Douglas A. McIntyre