Robert’s seen a few questionable New York Times Op-Ed pieces recently.  Including today’s thing about foreclosures and Mitt Romney’s alleged desire to see the pipeline of foreclosures flow more freely.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/opinion/sunday/mr-romney-on-foreclosures.html?_r=1

Robert  believes it is undisputed that one problem with the current  housing market, and, more generally, the national economy, is that the home mortgage system has not yet been cleared of bad loans.  Bad loans (meaning loans that the debtor– because of the loan’s terms, the underlying property’s value, and/or the debtor’s income –should not keep repaying) need to be extinguished and underlying properties sold. This will allow prices to be reset, the market to stabilize, and the banks to start lending again.  Robert does not claim to know whose fault it is, or why the short-sale and foreclosure pipeline is stalled, but he thinks Romney is essentially right that we need to clear the markets in order to move on. Robert  does not see an obvious way for the government to help distressed homeowners in a meaningful way that is fair and that will not cause more delay and more damage. But he’s not an expert, obviously.