by Osman Parvez
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Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow/Push Coalition are marching on Wall Street today to protest the mortgage rate freeze plan. According to the Center for Responsible Lending, the Bush-Paulson plan is a small first step with only 145,000 families expected to receive help. Jackson and his group will be protesting that the plan doesn’t go far enough to aid people impacted by the foreclosure fueled housing correction.

From Democracy Now:
A growing coalition of housing and civil rights advocates are calling for federal intervention to protect homeowners from foreclosures. Today, those calls are coming to the hub of the lenders and investors behind them. Demonstrators will gather in the heart of Wall Street for a march dubbed “Save Our Homes—Fight Home Foreclosures, Defend Our Economic Rights.”

You can download Amy Goodman’s interview with Jesse Jackson from the link above.

p.s. As I’ve already stated, I don’t like the idea of a bailout for reckless speculators, buyers who misrepresented their finances, or anyone that knowingly took on mortgages they could not afford. Still, with the possibility of foreclosures doubling next year, we need a more robust system of handling the flood. A plan that helps transition underwater mortgagees to rental housing, ease property liquidations, and better manage the process would be welcome. A program to fund well qualified investors with low rate loans and incentive for rental housing investments might also be beneficial.

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