There’s been a lot to complain about when it comes to the economic policy advanced by this Administration, so it’s nice when there’s an opportunity to point out a bright spot.


As the Wall Street Journal reports today, the Obama Administration hasn’t succumbed to calls from the Left to institute a moratorium on foreclosures because of reported processing irregularities. A foreclosure moratorium would be counterproductive to allowing the housing market to heal and to promoting sustainable economic recovery. Here’s how the WSJ explains it:



So far the Obama Administration, to our surprise and perhaps its own, has behaved with admirable sobriety despite the wailing from the political left. Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan indulged in some familiar bank-bashing in an op-ed on the weekend, but he also says a moratorium would be a mistake. Perhaps this is because he knows something about mortgage contracts, including that bank process errors don’t add up to an injustice to homeowners who haven’t been paying their mortgages for months or years. He also notes that stopping a foreclosure creates unintended victims-such as the potential new buyer.


The alleged scandal here is that “robo-signers” for mortgage servicing companies have been signing foreclosure authorizations based on assurances from colleagues, rather than reviewing the files themselves. Some banks and mortgage servicing companies were also sloppy in maintaining records on the ownership of loans. This supposedly leads to horrible consequences for borrowers, though the evidence remains elusive. …


Sloppiness in some financial back offices does not come close to justifying a national foreclosure moratorium. By some estimates such a freeze could cost more than $2 billion per month, and given how involved the unwilling taxpayer has become in mortgage finance, this damage won’t necessarily be limited to bank shareholders. This is a nightmare for anyone who wants a healing housing market and investors willing to lend to the next generation of homeowners. It also raises false hopes among delinquent borrowers.


Perhaps it’s a sad sign that one has to cheer the Administration for not using executive power to derail countless legitimate legal contracts, but that’s the era we live in. Congratulations to the Obama Administration for not inappropriately meddling in the foreclosure process and further damaging the economy!