Campaigning Over – Now For the Foreclosure Crisis to Get Top Priority

The presidential campaign is over. Barack Obama has been elected the next 44th President. Promises have been made. Now is the time for the foreclosure crisis to get top priority without humming and hawing any further. The people are waiting. Obama in his inaugural address should say that all other campaign promises will be kept pending while he gives his undivided attention to the critical foreclosed economy. At this juncture the nation cannot wait for further discussions and arguments.

The first step will be the injection of some kind of fluidity in the cash flow. The outgoing administration has taken the correct step towards this and slowly it seems to be showing results. But the efforts have been insufficient. More is required.

The president has to give first preference in supporting the housing sector. The financial crisis has largely been due to the travails in the housing sector plagued by foreclosures. This has been followed on by increasing unemployment and falling real estate market. To reverse the situation the housing sector has to be propped up first. Others will follow. It must not be forgotten that the householders are the first and foremost customers of American business.

As a start the president should request the Congress to extend the insurance benefits of the unemployed for another six months. But this will be only a temporary painkiller and not the curative medicine. It is only with the stabilization of the real estate market that sanity will return to the economy.

The origins of the financial crisis go back to the time when defaults on sub-prime mortgages began to increase from the summer of last year – 2007. So the target is to check the continuing defaults. This in turn will put a halt on foreclosures. With the stopping of reo homes rushing into the market the price of property will find a level and not go down further. If not the vicious cycle will continue – further defaults will lead to foreclosures and falling prices. The gloom in the construction industry will then spill over to other sectors. A jobless construction worker cannot buy a car. So that group suffers. People with slim purses do not dine out and so the eateries are affected. The links in the chain are endless. Ultimately the morale of the millions of people, that makes up the American nation become as depressed as the economy.