Yes, the housing industry is in the tank. Yes, lots of folks are in foreclosure. But should the government step inâEUR¦again? Wasn't it the government that caused the problem in the first place? Let's see, give everyman four bedrooms and two and a half baths if he "promises" he can pay for it. Don't consider his credit history, his true income, his actual bank depositsâEUR¦just take his word for it. And force the banks and mortgage companies to issue those loans, against their much better judgment. Then bribe them by looking aside while Wall Street reacts to the phony opportunity government created by a believed "treasure trove" of loans, secured by first mortgages, always a prime investmentâEUR¦prior to government setting the rules. So now that you've created the problem, compound it by forcing banks and mortgage companies to refinance those loans at a lower rate? As the administration now says has to be done to "solve the problem." Wasn't that what created the problem in the first instance? Government interference?What is it about past mistakes that cause the government not only to ignore them, but to continue the same mistake after mistake. The definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. That pretty much describes the collective mental state of the United States government under the current administration.Was the prior administration culpable for the current economic catastrophe? You bet they were, Bush should have moved decisively to curtail those pseudo government agencies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and their reckless loan policies. However, remember how many times Bush did warn us and Congress against those policies, and the last years of his administration saw Barney Frank and his minions, and the Democratic controlled House of Representatives, shoving us all over the edge, and all of Congress stumbling along fat, dumb, and happy, and joining in the suicide of the American economic systemâEUR¦all to satisfy the ego of those who wanted to keep up with the Joneses, and to buy their votes.Well, now something has to be done, but keeping folks in houses they've proven they can't afford is not the answer. What should be done?If government is the only answer to the problem, and it may well be, let's not pour gasoline on the fire by keeping folks in homes they couldn't afford in the first place, and still can't afford. Give 3% down loans, or even100% loans, to those folks about to lose their current homes to foreclosure, or who have, but only to purchase a home they can actually afford. Yes, lots of folks will have to step down from four bedrooms two and a half baths to three bedrooms one and three quarters baths. And even less. However, they will again be part of the great American dream, home ownership, and enjoy participation in the basis of most American wealth (at least before the current debacle), home equity. Don't look back, look forward. Take a bulldozer to those acres and acres and thousands of foreclosed homes in neighborhoods that look like ghost towns, neighborhoods that will never recover and are now only shelter for squatters or used as dope cribs, and offer those lots (former homeowners, and subsequent squatters, didn't destroy the underlying land and it's improvements) at prices that will support affordable homes. The economy will actually begin to recover, driven by the construction business, by the renewed sale of concrete, lumber, hardware, roofing, appliances, carpet, paint, etc., etc., and most importantly, by jobs. Jobs preformed by folks who can buy and actually afford what they're building. It's time to take a realistic look at change in American. And that change is to reality. One chicken in every pot is enough.