and let us remember, Hubbard was George W. Bush’s Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers from 01-03. What we have now is essentially a market failure due to the almost unprecedented (outside of the Great Depression) collapse in housing prices. Mortgage rates are at historic lows (right around 4%) and yet very few can refinance because they do not have optimal loan-value ratios due to the housing collapse. A program like this that allows people to actually take advantage of market interest rates would be a great boost for the economy and would likely involve little risk, as lowered interest rates in theory should reduce the likelihood of default. What I would like to see though is more of a true refi program where the current mortgages are bought out as opposed to just resetting the interest rate.