Next Steps to Resolve the Crisis

The Treasury Department and the FDIC are close to an agreement that would have the government guarantee some distressed mortgages. That’s a good step, since stemming home foreclosures and restructuring troubled mortgages is key to slowing the downward spiral hammering financial institutions and the real American economy.

It’s certainly more useful than having banks use taxpayers’ bailout money to pay dividends to shareholders. Don’t understand how your mortgage became part of a trillion-dollar market involving banks, insurance companies and huge investors? Here’s a short primer: