Government Spending Backfiring

NEW YORK (AP) - The Federal Reserve announced a $1.2 trillion plan three months ago designed to push down mortgage rates and breathe life into the housing market.

But this and other big government spending programs are turning out to have the opposite effect. Rates for mortgages and U.S. Treasury debt are now marching higher as nervous bond investors fret about a resurgence of inflation.

That's the Catch-22 threatening to make an awful housing market potentially worse and keep the economy stuck in a funk. Kick-starting the economy requires higher spending, but rising rates mean fewer Americans will be able to refinance their home loans. And some potential buyers will be shut out of the market by higher monthly payments they won't be able to afford.

You don't say? Throwing $1.2 trillion at the problem didn't work huh? Crazy. Will this ever stop a Democrat from throwing money at a future problem? Nope. Will they try and tell you it has been successful? Yep.

That's the Catch-22 threatening to make an awful housing market potentially worse and keep the economy stuck in a funk. Oh, you mean like FDR keeping America in the Great Depression longer than the rest of the world, because of the outrageous spending associated with the New Deal? Obviously voters and Democrats learned nothing from history, and those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

And some potential buyers will be shut out of the market by higher monthly payments they won't be able to afford. That's a shame. You want to know how they could afford the rising rates? Less taxes, more money in their pockets.

Kick-starting the economy requires higher spending, but rising rates mean fewer Americans will be able to refinance their home loans. Thank you for making my point for me Mr. AP writer. Yes, consumer spending does drive the economy, not government spending. How do you increase consumer spending, thus stimulating the economy? Why, you give them their money back of course, and you quit giving it to banks, auto companies, and others, labeled as "stimulus."