Get government off credit cycle

By most accounts, the U.S. government is now backing $11 trillion worth of mortgage-backed securities, give or take a few billion. Many, but certainly not all, are worthless pieces of paper. You and I, fellow Herald reader, are on the hook for our share of what will inevitably be massive losses on these securities.

In the first quarter of this year, more than 10 percent of all home mortgages across the land were at least 30 days delinquent. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are burning through nearly a billion of our dollars a day in losses between them. The Federal Homeloan Administration, FHA, has been resurrected after years of inactivity, and is now responsible for over 30 percent of all home loans nationwide. They are approving mortgages on people with less than stellar credit requiring as little as 3.5 percent down. Their delinquency rate swelled to over 13 percent in the first quarter of this year. Foreclosures are continuing to grow, with no end in sight.

There is again some mortgage activity in the private banking sector, but they are requiring 10-20 percent down, a proven ability to pay and a credit report showing you have done so in the past. It is high time the U.S. government had the same requirements. Please write your representative or senator and encourage them to do the same, before our country goes into foreclosure.

Michael H. Bond

Monroe