President Obama to Work Around Congress with Housing & Student Loan Plans

President Obama to announce plans to aid homeowners and those with student loans, though his past efforts to save the housing market and jumpstart the economy have fallen short.

President Obama is set to work around Congress to help the people on Main Street, but I am sure his detractors will find another reason to call him a Socialist and with dictator-like qualities. Quite frankly, it's high time something substantive was done to help people on Main Street and not another tax break for the wealthy and well-connected. It may be too little and too late but I suppose he's trying.

From Reuters: President Barack Obama this week will announce a series of actions to help the economy that will not require congressional approval, including an initiative to make it easier for homeowners to refinance their mortgages, according to a White House official. The actions come as Obama is facing resistance from Republicans to a $447 billion jobs package he has urged Congress to pass.

The first of the initiatives will be unveiled during Obama's three-day trip to western states beginning Monday. He will discuss the changes in mortgage rules at a stop in Nevada, which has one of the hardest-hit housing markets in the country.

The Obama administration has been working with the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to find ways to make it easier for borrowers to switch to cheaper loans even if they have little to no equity in their homes.

The FHFA intends to loosen the terms of the two-year-old Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), which helps borrowers who have been making mortgage payments on time but who have not been able to refinance as their home values have dropped.

It should be noted that a president doesn't have to get approval from Congress for everything and I believe he's doing the right thing in this case. We all know that Congress, particularly the Republicans and some Democrats will find a way to not work with Obama, so why bother? This is to help the average American homeowner or parent with a kid in college. The situation in the housing market is getting dire.

President Obama had promised to help homeowners stay in their homes, but of the $50 billion promised to help to that end, only $2.4 billion has been spent and only 1.7 million homeowners have been helped. Many homeowners, who are still in their homes, are still struggling and it is clear President Obama and his "advisers" have fallen short in taking more dramatic actions to help people on Main Street. They have consistently unveiled programs that under-performed or were just plain weak and did nothing to reduce the mortgage nightmare. Doing more to fix the mortgage problem in this country is paramount. It will help to jumpstart the economy and greatly aid in Obama's prospects for re-election. So, I guess going around Congress isn't a luxury, it's a necessity for his own presidential survival.