White House to the Rescue for 8.8 Million Homeowners

The Bush Administration and the Congress may bail out the nearly 8.8 million people whose mortgages have ballooned due to the subprime crisis.

Echoing the depression of the 1920s, The New York Times reports this morning, a large percentage of Americans own homes with face values far above market prices. “With the collapse of housing boom, nearly 8.8 million homeowners, or 10.3% of the total, are underwater,” write Edmund L. Andrews and Louis Uchitelle, reporting from New York, Washington and Memphis.

“That is more than double the percentage just a year ago, according to a new estimate of the damage by Moody’s Economy.com.”

The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.