The homeownership rate in American has fallen to 66.9%, which is the lowest since 1999. I realize that times are tough and there are some people who can no longer afford a home simply because they have lost their job and are unable to find a new one. But there is a large segment of the population that had no business owning a house in the first place. There are people who need to be and remain renters. They only reason they owned a homein the first place is because the government forced mortgage companies to lend to people that couldn't get a cup of water at a "We'll tote the note" used car dealership --- all in the name of "becoming a nation of owners." The fact is that our housing situation is in the state it is currently in today primarily because of government policies and because of two entities: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The entire reason for their existence was to expand mortgage financing and encourage home ownership. Arguably, this recession will begin and end with Fannie and Freddie.

Well finally, the Obama administration has decided to tackle the issue (after it got its way by passing financial reform measures that addressed almost nothing with any relationship to our economic crisis). On August 17th, the Obama administration is going to hold a conference to discuss ways to fix the "broken" housing-finance system. By January it intends to submit plans to overhaul Fannie and Freddie. I'm sure Barney Frank will have something to say about this one. If we can understand him, we will keep you informed.