Why are both candidates silent on mortgage crisis?

President Obama has done almost nothing to help Americans restructure their mortgages.  With HAMP, Obama pledged to modify 4 million mortgages; but in fact "more than 1 million homeowners have been bounced out of the program."  

Meanwhile, about one-quarter of all U.S. houses are still underwater to the tune of about $690 billion.

So why is Romney silent on Obama's failure?

Because Romney promises to be even worse.  He has not made one proposal for re-structuring mortgages to somehow reduce mortgage principles.  Indeed, Republicans believe underwater mortgages are an issue of personal responsibility, a sacred trust between the bank and the borrower into which Big Government shouldn't intrude.

My hero, economics professor Joseph Stiglitz, finds it "shocking" that both candidates have been silent about the housing crisis.  And it has a been "a gross miscarriage of justice" that not one banker has ended up behind bars, said Stiglitz.  Then again, we shouldn't be surprised, since both candidates are in the pocket of the TBTF banks.

Stiglitz: "Shocking" how Obama, Romney are avoiding housing crisis

October 24, 2012 | Reuters TV

Obama's ongoing failure: $26 B fraud settlement not going to borrowers

It's stories like this that make me despair of choosing between Republican (Romney) and Republican Lite (Obama) in this November's elections.  

If Obama really cared, he would have leaned on the banks, via his HAMP program, to modify at least 800,000 mortgages, keeping 800,000 families and about 2 million Americans in their homes.  

Meanwhile, states are not giving $26 billion in settlement money from banks to help distressed borrowers; they're using that money to pay for tax cuts for the rich and to plug other budget holes.  

It's outrageous and pathetic.  Yet you won't hear about it from the lamestream media.  #OWS isn't out there protesting about it.  Democrats don't mention it in their campaign speeches.  Nay, underwater borrowers-homeowners -- the biggest drag on the U.S. economy -- are completely on their own.  

Below the Fold: Where did the $26 Billion go?

By Richard Zombeck

September 14, 2012 | Huffington Post

URL: http://huff.to/TSIPPw