Maybe, this is part of a weak dollar policy?????

Costas Papadodulos, London,

George Bush has turned this country into a joke. He can bail out the idiots who made a bad business deal, but he can't help the brother of a 9/11 victim. Where is my handout? After all Bush, you knew about/helped cause 9/11, didn't you? Oh, I forgot, you were working on your proposal to fix the housing market! Right, Bush?

Allan, Deerfield Beach, FL

I have a business in France. The country is quasi communist and my business is systematically sucked clean of liquidity to support social welfare and ineffeciency.
As such, decisions that i take are critical for the survival of my business and it's employees. Indeed even a good dose of bad luck could bring us to the brink.
Why is is that banks and agriculture are not obliged to play by the same rules ... floods, foot and mouth, stupid lending decisions brought about by greed and here we go ... the state rides to the rescue ... makes me mad !

andy, Lardieres, France

Keeping a homeowner/debtslave in a house they can't afford anyway is worse than letting them fail. What a joke our society has become. We don't just tolerate mediocrity and foolishness, we subsidize it!

Fredrick, Chicago, IL, USA

Well I've been very prudent over the last few years and haven't mortgaged myself to the eyeballs or borrowed any money to buy new TVs etc. NOT ANY MORE! This decision by Bush, etc makes me realise I'm being a total idiot! It's time to go bananas now as the new paradigm seems to be 'borrow, spend, borrow some more, spend again and then borrow a bit more!' Keep spending folks 'cos the central banks will bail us all out if it starts to go belly-up!

House price rises now power the great Western economies. Politicians and central bankers will keep house prices propped up artificially so the plates keep on spinning.

We need a correction and everyone realises this but Bush and Bernanke have bottled it. Pathetic!

Rob, Exeter, Devon

Al this does is bail out lenders. As one wit once said "Capitalism without failure is socialism fo the rich."

herb , new york, ny

Bernanke's and Bush's posterings may sound good and great for vote catching but my goodness will the American public surely pay for any bailout in the longterm. The borrowers in trouble would always have been at risk. Shame on the Banking Institutions who lent the money in the first place. Maybe it would be better for the rest of us to have a less healthy credit rating? And thank you America for the crisis on the Stock Markets leaving aside the continuing mess in the Middle East.

Siobhan, Germany,

WHAAAAT? Horror! A "political intervention to stem the unfolding US housing market crisis"?
"Bush expected to propose legislation that will help prevent sub-prime mortgage borrowers defaulting on loan repayments"?
But surely the Saint "Invisible Hand" and the Holy Self Regulating Free Markets should prevent such heresy! Nothing worse than government meddling in business! Don't you remember? Is that unseemly move approved by the SBC (it's not a bank...) and Grover Norquist?

Ronnie, PARIS, FRANCE

so first they gave them free homes, now they will pay to keep them

paul, palmdale, CA

U.S. President George W. Bush and U.S. Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke are running scared after the Alan Greenspan tricks with the dotcoms panic that got him to pump the U.S. housing construction market.

It is time for more "economic blow back" as Nature's wrath keeps destroying more of the U.S. It does economic havoc from New Orleans into America's heartland of the Mid-West into the deep South and into the West with forest fires and floods.

Bush and Bernanke cannot keep throwing money at these problems. It is time to let the U.S. economy go into its long avoided natural economic depression.

Nature's bank account is unlimited and so is its consequences.

It is stupid to do more moves to monetize debts.

Emzy Veazy III, Aspen, Colorado/USA

Unfortunately, the creation of additional monies to bail out reckless lenders and poorly advised homeowners will only result in inflation and an even weaker dollar. Another sticking plaster remedy for a broken economic system.

We wont know just how bad the situation is until the next banking quarterly reports on Sept 18th. I suspect things can only deteriorate further. The fiat dollar can't be floated on confidence for much longer. The dollar will die in the next 12 months and it'll take the world economy with it.

If your American, vote for Ron paul in 2008. He's the only politician in America who will re-establish a sound, gold backed currency system. The Central Banks cannot cap the price of gold indefinitely. If Bernanke cuts US interest rates in september, the dollar will hit the floor.

Matt Myers, Redhill, UK

This is highly irresponsible.

Pete Balchin, Solicitor , Bristol, UK

More 'sticking plaster' on a structural problem! The US is in danger of moving into stagflation by reducing Fed rate, pumping in too much luiquidity and thus helping consumers to carry on mounting up huge trade deficits.
The US, like the UK , now needs to take the pain of reigning in the consumer and getting a shift back to investment in wealth creating industry. Let's hope that those lenders who were irresponsible take their share of the pain!

Steve Marchant, Torquay, Devon

What a brilliant idea! Let us remove the moral hazard from Banking. Lend money to everyone.! Better still, subsidise below par borrowers with tax payers money so that they will be so grateful-they always pay on time. Are there still people who believe this President is a conservative?
Sorry Mr Bush, you are way past your sell-by date

Desmond Taylor, Houston, USA Tx

Along the way, we might as well bail out everyone who ever made a bad business decision. What a joke....

Sean, TX,

Bush is most certainly NOT going to bail out sub-prime homeowners. His actions will be directed toward bailing out the lenders. Be very clear. The headlines read help for homeowners, the truth is relief for party contributors and that means lenders.

Charles J. Budde, Saint Louis, MO

The foolishness of lenders to pour billions of dollars into start-up and unproven dot coms was rewarded with the burst of the bubble and chastening losses to those investors. The loose lending practices to historically unworthy homeowners and real estate speculators are now rewarded. Not a penny of taxpayer dollars or the printing of more money should be used to ease the pain of the latest crop of greedy speculators.

S Seltzer, Wynnewood, POA

too late George, didn't even have a sub prime. Sold house for 30 k less than purchased thanks to FEMA declaring it a flood plain requiring insurance because of drainage problems discovered during Floyd that have not been addressed since 1971. 120 homes will be devalued approximatley 150,000 us on November 15 2007. Now aint that america for you and me.

roger peterson, Litle Falls, USA New Jersey

What impact would this have on future borrowing patterns? If there is little or no 'moral hazard' then why not borrow more than you can afford when you know you'll be baled out? Is this short-term solution simply storing up bigger problems for the longer-term?

Richard, London,

Who says there is no wellfare in the US.

roger, bristol,