Best economic news yet

On the heels of Tim Geithner's confirmation as Treasury Secretary, and Obama's attempts to work out a stimulus deal with two visits to Capitol Hill thus far; comes the news that the Federal Reserve will renegotiate mortgages in its possession from the Bear Stearns and AIG rescues. This is a great precedent, although it is outside of the understanding of the average Republican voter and radio talk show listener, it means that they Fed will renegotiate troubled individual mortgages to mitigate (or 'prevent' for the average Limbaugh listener) foreclosure.

I expect this is just another step in the right direction; a step that can be taken with the Bush assholes out of the way. Even better, the Fed intends to make this the beginning of a program to slow the foreclosure landside observed by the Bush Administration with little or no action. This is from the end of an article from Reuters this evening:

The Fed has said it will purchase up to $500 billion of mortgage-backed securities by the end of June to make home loans more affordable to boost demand for houses.

Mortgage-backed securities pool many different mortgages, which makes them extremely tricky to separate in a loan modification designed to prevent foreclosure.

The Fed said it would consider reducing the interest rate paid on mortgages at risk of default, extending the term of the loan, and accepting "a deferral or reduction of the outstanding principal balance of the loan," according to the Fed document.