because boy oh boy, do we feel foolish out here, paying our bills on time and all....we could have been speculators, liars, cheats, and frauds as well as deadbeats, all along....
The President is trying to help those who got the mortgages, and who actually LIVE in their homes, keep those homes, and try to make the payments on them, as opposed to helping those who were looking for a quick buck, but got caught in the downturn of the real estate market. Many of these new homeowners were led down the garden path by Realtors looking to make money off the sale, and Mortgage brokers, also looking to make a quick buck selling the loan on the Secondary Market. Neither of these groups of 'professionals' seemed to be concerned with whether or not the borrower could actually make the payments over the long term, or if in fact, these folks SHOULD have purchased real estate in the first place.
The homeowner/borrower in the subprime market was ill-served by those who should have given him the straight dope, but didn't, because it served their purposes not to do so.