So Much For Help From Your Home State

So much for Bush's tax exempt bond idea. It's not a big surprise - is it? By the sounds of it, this plan to help a million subprime borrowers avoid foreclosure is only helping a handful of people.

Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush's proposal to help 1 million subprime borrowers avoid foreclosure with tax- exempt bonds has an obstacle: states don't want the risk any more than private lenders do.

According to this article in Bloomberg:

The state housing agencies that are already offering mortgage refinancing options are turning away so many applicants that they've had no need to raise funds.

Why is this the case?

Let's face it, why would the states want to bring any more of this mess upon themselves at this point. This whole proposal may be more of a publicity stunt than anything. Sounds good - solves nothing. If lenders won't do it, why would or should the states. In fact, I think the whole idea (if it did work) would put states at additional economic risk. The more I think about it the more this concept sounds like a bad idea. Maybe it's a good thing that nobody qualifies for this rescue plan. I say that tongue and cheek - there's gotta be some better solutions. Less talk - more action!