Actually I don't think the Federal Government actively created the slump. Rather, I think it was the lack of adequate regulation of the industry that permitted unscrupulous loan officers, mortgage brokers, lenders and title companies to perpetrate the abuses that resulted in the current mortgage crisis. However, if as you say the Feds were to blame...then it is fitting that they rectify the problem.

I do not think the remedial legislation passed in Connecticut recently or the proposed federal bill going to Bush's desk for signing is targeted so much as an attempt to bail out homeowners as it is an attempt to pull the economy out of a slump in general. The Federal Reserve recently opined that the housing crisis remains at the heart of the general slump...followed closely by the insanity of oil prices.

With respect to off shore drilling....yeah, great idea. Unfortunately it is going to take years to produce results. In addition I think we need more immediate results. ...development of alternative means of energy...putting an end to buying friends with foreign aid... charging OPEC nations higher rates for military aid and other goods and services they can only get from the U.S. ...an end to throwing money away on adventures such as Iraq.