Lets have REAL CHANGE, Instead of the Government Saving the Bankers, how about the Consumer Saving the Economy.

Because the consumer continues to be under represented in important, national issues, the government makes knee jerk decision based on input from the actual kneejerkers that caused the problem in the first place. Fixing the economy is easy. Empower the consumer by waiving all interest charges on old debt.

Empower the homeowner by waiving interest payments for a year or two. Even if the payments remain the same every month, apply the ENTIRE AMOUNT towards the principal. This will do a heck of lot to help the economy. Discourage buying things on credit or with 12 months no upfront payments.

If the economy gets back to being real, then the condition of the economy can be reassessed in six months to a year and adjustments made that that time. Nobody is willing to acknowledge that the banking and investment industry suffocated too many people by having them pay too much in interest. Nobody is willing to take the government to task for wanting to much in the way of taxes without providing anything to help the economy.

Solving the Home Owner Crisis Requires more than a Stimulus Check.

A better way to stimulate the economy is to eliminate interest rate charges for a while. An economic stimulus package in which the entire amount of the stimulus check goes towards higher gasoline prices is silly, no? If I were a bank and I was worried about millions of foreclosures, I would value keeping the homeowner making a monthly payment over simply foreclosing on them.

But for some inexplicable reason, the banks seem reluctant to waive interest payments. The obvious reason is that if they waive interest payments for some, they will have to do this for everybody. The reverse corollary to this reasoning is, if the banks don't waive interest payments, the debtors who lose their homes just become more of a drain on society, and it will be up to others to prop them up.

How about this idea. Waive all interest payments on home mortgages UNTIL a homeowner is no longer upside down on the house, plus 20% equity. So if a homeowner owes more on a house than the house is worth, they get to stay in the home as long a they make interest free payments. Once they have built up 20% equity in the home, they can either put the home up for sale, or agree to new terms that now involve interest.

Assuming banks have behaved ethically in how they have managed their homeowners loans, the above solution is a no brainer that helps everybody get through the current crunch. If it isn't done sooner rather than later, than we can assume the fix is in to imprison the american citizen for some ulterior motive.