Here the candidates go, more housing crisis handouts.

From the WSJ:

Note the section regarding changing the terms of existing mortgage contracts. Thank God this will end up in court immediately (as well it should). I have faith that the Supreme Court would strike this down quickly.

The top three Democratic candidates have called for various measures that move beyond the current administration’s effort to get lenders to voluntarily modify troubled loans. The Democratic plans share elements, including the creation of a federal fund to help homeowners refinance onerous mortgages, legal protections for lenders to free them to alter individual mortgage terms, and tighter regulation of lenders to prevent future crises.

But the plans from Democrats contain some differences, which could become accentuated in Nevada, and later, in big states such as California. Both Mrs. Clinton and John Edwards have said that if the mortgage industry doesn’t voluntarily agree to enlarge and lengthen the terms of a plan backed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and agree to a foreclosure moratorium, they would force the lenders to do so through legislation.

Barack Obama opposes making laws to force such moves. An Obama adviser says that a mandatory moratorium and rate freeze — which could force lenders to hold loan interest rates below market levels — could deter them from re-entering the market and would delay the return of liquidity.

There could also be legal issues, the adviser says. “There would certainly be some serious constitutional issues to consider from the government trying to directly change the terms of millions of mortgage contracts after the fact,” the adviser says. Mr. Obama thinks the industry should make these changes voluntarily.

And then we have the Republicans (not much better, IMO). At least they aren’t all talking about the government getting into the mortgage modification business:

Republicans for the most part support President Bush’s approach on the issue, to get lenders and mortgage-bond investors to agree voluntarily to modify some troubled loans. They haven’t unveiled separate plans like the Democrats, but two candidates, Mitt Romney and John McCain, have indicated that more might need to be done should the situation worsen, a view echoed by Mr. Paulson earlier this week…

“There’s clearly an additional need to consider other measures,” Mr. McCain said Wednesday. “I will know within a very short period of time whether these policies are succeeding or not,” he said of Mr. Paulson’s plan to persuade lenders voluntarily to modify some troubled mortgages. Mr. Romney has called for the creation of a business cooperative that would pool the bad loans in one entity that would then be able to handle individual solutions with homeowners. Romney’s aides also say he favors increased funding for a government chartered housing-services agency called NeighborWorks America.

Mr. Huckabee mentions the housing market in his new ad. But he hasn’t proposed government intervention. He said in Iowa that he fully supports the administration’s voluntary plan.

Messrs. Obama and Edwards support a bill currently in the Senate to amend bankruptcy law to allow judges to alter the terms of a mortgage.

It really pisses me off that I will end up bailing people out who made bad decisions about their mortgage. People will never learn to make sound decisions unless we stop this government nanny trend where those who don’t screw up end up bailing out those that do.

Manly