Foreclosure Mess Hitting Critial Mass

Memo to the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board:

Remember how you told us that the whole foreclosure mess was much ado over nothing?

...allowing people to live in homes without paying for them is not cost-free. That cost will be borne directly by investors in mortgage-backed securities and mortgage servicing companies, and ultimately by American taxpayers, who now stand behind 90% of new mortgages, thanks to guarantees by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration.

The bigger damage here is to the housing market, which desperately needs to find a bottom by clearing excess inventory and working through foreclosures as rapidly as possible.

WSJ Editors? This just in:

Shut. The Fuck. Up.

Seriously. Read that article. Or better still, the follow up.

Here's just the first paragraph:

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Michael and Pamella Negrea have never been late on a mortgage payment in the 15 years they've owned their home in Eastlake. But they've been foreclosed on three times.

Tell me this kind of harm isn't worse than excess inventory cluttering up the housing market.

(H/t Ryan Chittum over at CJR)