So, Obama has announced a new assistance program for homeowners with underwater mortgages, the Home Affordable Refinance Program, which is to succeed the thoroughly corrupt HAMP program, which was geared toward helping the banksters to defraud homeowners, to allow for that cash flow to paper over some of the evidence of their insolvency.

A quick perusal of the proposal gives us the the following bullet points:

• The homeowner can be at a higher level of negative equity than previously allowed.
• An appraisal is not necessarily.
• Some fees are being waived, particularly for those who take shorter term loans.
• Underwriting standards for the banks are relaxed, making it less likely for them to have to buy back bad loans. ⇐ This is the stealth bank bailout. Another f%$#ing get out of jail free card.
• An agreement from the major banks to not block refinancing on the basis of a 2^nd mortgage.
• It only applies to loans held by Fannie and Freddie .

I’m dubious because I believe that the Obama administration has been completely captured by the banksters, and so will not live up to its expectation, but Felix Salmon calls the program pathetic based on its basic features:

• If you’re a homeowner whose mortgage isn’t owned or guaranteed by Frannie, you’re out of luck.
• If your mortgage was sold to Frannie after May 31, 2009, you’re out of luck.
• If you want to get out of negative-equity hell by doing a principal reduction, you’re out of luck.
• If your bank doesn’t feel like participating, for whatever reason, you’re out of luck.

Salmon also notes that even by the FHFA, the agency that is managing this program, does not forecast a significant uptick in refinancing, and the initial program has refinanced less than ⅕ of the the anticipated activities.

So, it probably fails on both the specifics of the plan, and the fact that Timmy “The Bankster’s Bitch” Geithner will be supervising the implementation, which is a recipe for another blow job for big banks.