— A couple of professors in an NYT op-ed make a convincing case that the Obama/Geithner housing bailout is doomed to fail. They propose writing down the principal for underwater borrowers. It’s very interesting, but seems suspiciously simple—and cheap. It couldn’t be that easy, could it?
— Felix Salmon at Portfolio says it makes sense and isn’t immoral for a homeowner to walk away from a deeply underwater mortgage, especially when he’s already lost his $300,000 down payment. He calls out CNBC for getting outraged that a caller is thinking of doing it.
— Daniel Gross at Slate says the idea that Obama is declaring war on the rich is laughable, and pokes ABC for a particularly bad tax article (which it had to rewrite).
— Barry Ritholtz blows up those blaming Obama for the stock market decline, noting stocks went down more in George W. Bush’s first six weeks, and it was just as ridiculous to blame Bush (which nobody did).
— I like this David Ignatius column in the Washington Post making the case that Obama needs to be a little more TR, and a little less FDR. Break up the “too big to fail” companies.
— Nearly one in eight Americans is in foreclosure or late on their home payments.
