Ayn Rand wrote a fictional story about similar ill-advised government intervention in the book Atlas Shrugged and more and more often lately I am seeing scary similarities to what went on in that book.  The idea that the government can save people from stupid decisions is dangerous.  Usually the government makes even more stupid decisions in their haste to 'do something about' a problem.

None of this is going to end well for the majority of Americans that are trapped in negative equity mortgages.

cheers!

mike