Stimulus FAIL, Chapter 723

Via the excellent Denninger Market-Ticker.

We recently learned that "Hope for Homeowners" made a grand total of..... wait for it..... 51 loans.

FIFTY ONE? No, that is not a misprint:

Senior federal housing officials say that of 51 loans made under the program, 50 were made by Melville, N.Y.-based Lend America, and those 50 loans are being held up pending ongoing federal investigations...

...The officials, who insisted on anonymity because they are not authorized to speak on the matter, declined to offer specifics except to say anything from inadequate documentation to unethical practices could be the focus of the queries.

Remember, "Hope for Homeowners" was supposed to help four hundred thousand people stay in their homes.

The net closed loan count is fifty one over a period of six months.

Oh, and the reason for that article? The company responsible for 50 of the 51 loans is under investigation by The Department of Justice!

Gee, I'm not real good at math, but if we omit the loans not under investigation, the Hope for Homeowners program is therefore responsible for... uhm... precisely one revised loan.

Well done, bureaucrats! On to health care and climate change!

Oh, and after all of the bad publicity, President Obama recently decided to revise the program.

I emailed in a suggestion that they call it Change the Hope for Homeowners program, but haven't received a reply yet.