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The Humpty Dumpty Economy

[In a classic case of unintended consequences, the plan will encourage a massive new round of delinquencies and household income reduction ]

What's ironic is that in many cases, homeowners would be better served by the mod they can get on a case-by-case basis than the "streamlined" terms.

[In many cases, dual income families may decide to eliminate one job altogether as reduced mortgage payments combined with lower child care and other work related expenses will likely exceed the after-tax value of the lost paycheck.]

I see this as a good thing. Too many households have one member stuck in a dead-end job so they can pay for their "stuff." The mathemactics of that second job quite often made little sense on a net-after-all-costs basis. If we see a shift to parents spending more time with their children and less money on useless crap, this is a positive, unintended consequence.