An August Surprise from Obama?

Reuters ^ | 8/5/2010 | James Pethokoukis

[chessplayer]

“,,,it will get them scorn from the 4 in 5 who have been responsible.”

If it wins them the election,,,so what? Thats they`re thinking. And if it does`nt? So what? Thats they`re thinking, too.

[snowsislander]

Here’s another one:

http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/05/an-august-surprise-from-obama/

I have seen about 5 independent sources so far.

Your link goes to exactly the same story by the same author as the top of this thread:

Article at your link

Original article at top of thread

An August Surprise from Obama? By James Pethokoukis - Reuters | Published: 12:42 PM 08/05/2010 Main Street may be about to get its own gigantic bailout. Rumors are running wild from Washington to Wall Street that the Obama administration is about to order government-controlled lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to forgive a portion of the mortgage debt of millions of Americans who owe more than what their homes are worth. An estimated 15 million U.S. mortgages – one in five – are underwater with negative equity of some $800 billion. Recall that on Christmas Eve 2009, the Treasury Department waived a $400 billion limit on financial assistance to Fannie and Freddie, pledging unlimited help. The actual vehicle for the bailout could be the Bush-era Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP, a sister program to Obama’s loan modification effort. HARP was just extended through June 30, 2011. The move, if it happens, would be a stunning political and economic bombshell less than 100 days before a midterm election in which Democrats are currently expected to suffer massive, if not historic losses. The key date to watch is August 17 when the Treasury Department holds a much-hyped meeting on the future of Fannie and Freddie.

An August Surprise from Obama? Reuters ^ | 8/5/2010 | James Pethokoukis Posted on 08/05/2010 9:53:06 AM PDT by Qbert Main Street may be about to get its own gigantic bailout. Rumors are running wild from Washington to Wall Street that the Obama administration is about to order government-controlled lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to forgive a portion of the mortgage debt of millions of Americans who owe more than what their homes are worth. An estimated 15 million U.S. mortgages – one in five – are underwater with negative equity of some $800 billion. Recall that on Christmas Eve 2009, the Treasury Department waived a $400 billion limit on financial assistance to Fannie and Freddie, pledging unlimited help. The actual vehicle for the bailout could be the Bush-era Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP, a sister program to Obama’s loan modification effort. HARP was just extended through June 30, 2011. The move, if it happens, would be a stunning political and economic bombshell less than 100 days before a midterm election in which Democrats are currently expected to suffer massive, if not historic losses. The key date to watch is August 17 when the Treasury Department holds a much-hyped meeting on the future of Fannie and Freddie.

Furthermore, Mr. Pethokoukis admitted later the same day that the Treasury has flatly denied any such plan in http://blogs.reuters.com/james-pethokoukis/2010/08/05/obamas-august-housing-surprise-part-2/, so he then casually conjectures that the White House must therefore be working alone --- ignoring the fact that the White House is very unlikely to create such a plan without close coordination with both the Treasury and the Federal Reserve.

We'll see by the end of month for sure since the author was kind enough to include specific dates, but I believe that this story is utter blog bunkum, good for nothing more than generating lots of hits to silly rumor-mongering.

[snowsislander]

I went to the link yesterday and read all the comments there. Very interesting. The Reuters readers think like FReepers!

However, the article is gone now. What happened? Did Rahm poke them in the shower, or did the journolist cabal show up?

It's still there. Reuters just moved the article to a new, more logical link:

http://blogs.reuters.com/james-pethokoukis/2010/08/05/an-august-surprise-from-obama/.

[Cyclone59]

If the loan goes into default, part of the entry would look like:

Credit Asset A/R 150,000 - thus removing the asset from the BS
Debit Liability O/S loan 150,000 - thus removing the liability from the BS

[marstegreg]

You are correct! They all refer to this on source. He does seem to have a lot of experience ala his profile. Here’s what I can’t figure out: He worked for MSNBC, USA Today , the Times and several other liberal entities, so they liked his work and I’m sure they vetting his writing. What does he have to gain by starting rumor about the Prez. that has his name all over it? It makes no sense. Unless he just wants to make trouble for FOX (having worked there too), but that seems a stretch.

Here’s his profile:
James Pethokoukis is the Money & Politics columnist for Reuters Breakingviews. Previously, he was the business editor and economics columnist for U.S. News & World Report. Pethokoukis has written for many publications including the New York Times, USA Today, and Investor’s Business Daily. Pethokoukis is also an official CNBC contributor. In addition, he has appeared numerous times on MSNBC, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, CNN, and Nightly Business Report on PBS. A graduate of Northwestern University and the Medill School of Journalism, Pethokoukis is a 2002 Jeopardy! champion.

[Rockitz]

Don’t know if anyone has posted this yet, but this blogger calls BS on this story.

http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2010/08/nonsense-rumor-on-fannie-and-freddie.html

[Qbert]

Yeah, I saw that one, too.

Zero Hedge says otherwise though, and cites a Friday FHA release- although the effect of the program may be limited:

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/rumors-news-news-rumors

[Qbert]

“We’ll see by the end of month for sure since the author was kind enough to include specific dates, but I believe that this story is utter blog bunkum, good for nothing more than generating lots of hits to silly rumor-mongering.”

FWIW:

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/rumors-news-news-rumors

[snowsislander]

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/rumors-news-news-rumors

Yes, I posted about the FHA program yesterday at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2566472/posts?page=5#5.

For what it is worth, my analysis was similar to Mr. Krastings:

Perhaps. I read through the document, and there seems to be enough "ifs", "ands", and "buts" to make it unlikely that many folks will attempt this on their own.

If one has a good accountant, he might try to make sense of this and see if it might be worth pursuing for individual cases.

[Rockitz]

Barry Ritholtz calls BS too.

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/08/refi-madness-the-heat-is-frying-your-brain/

[Rockitz]

Yet another blogger calls BS on this.

http://www.housingwire.com/2010/08/10/slam-dunk-stimulus-the-natural-history-of-a-rumor