If fears about mortgages are behind this, couldn't they just guarantee every mortgage

[HeraldSquare212]

and leave it at that?

[begin_within]

1. That would make too much sense.

[dysfunctional press]

2. paying off every bad mortgage would be a lot less...

why not just do THAT? :shrug:

[Warpy]

6. This isn't entirely about mortgages

although mortgage backed securities are a big part of it.

What this is about is the collapse of the shadow banking system in which derivatives were traded back and forth and appeared on balance sheets as though they really represented wealth. They didn't. They were BETS, which is the quick and dirty explanation. If the bet paid off, that derivative earned money. If it didn't, the derivative still appeared on the balance sheet.

However, the collapse of the one type of derivative which was based on mortgages has led institutions from banks to pensions to states to examine their books and add up how much other worthless paper is on the asset side of the ledger.

What they found was frightening. Just about every institution out there has enough of this stuff infecting their balance sheet that they are now bankrupt, and this is even before the main round of mortgage defaults that will begin in January.

The bailout is to keep the institutions going and that's a good thing. However, unless it is encumbered by strings and a lot of very sharp teeth, it will do nothing but buy time.

That's what the debate in Congress is all about, whether to buy time until after the election or to start fixing the system now.

[dysfunctional press]

8. most people think it's about the mortgages- the credit-default swaps NEED to be front and center.

mr. and mrs. john q. public are NOT going to be happy about this one, if they ever fully understand what was going on.

[BOSSHOG]

3. Freeze foreclosures and let lenders renegotiate loans to everyone's benefit

(compared to this knucklehead scheme)

But what the fuck do I know?

[Eric J in MN]

4. The big corporations now want all their "troubled assets" to be purchased...

...by the taxpayers, and not just their mortgage-related assets.

Cash for trash.

[dkofos]

5. It would be alot cheaper. But it's not just about the mortgage crisis.

[dysfunctional press]

7. and that's what the american people really don't understand...

a lot of them think it's all about them shifty black folks getting mortgages they couldn't afford.

the truth about the credit default swaps needs to be explained fully.

[dkofos]

9. Needs to be explained to congress!!

[curious one]

10. This is a logical question and solution for those that are not logical.

[TexasObserver]

11. No, that would not work.

Because why would anyone pay their mortgage?