BACK TO THE FUTURE

In early January, 2009, Atrios wrote that we needed a "cram down" on the principal of homeowners in trouble.  In what seems like decades later, the Obama Administration seems to get it:

U.S. tries to reduce more homeowners' mortgages
Sat Jun 4, 2011 5:42pm EDT
By Rachelle Younglai

WASHINGTON, June 4 (Reuters) - The Obama administration wants to help more struggling Americans stay in their homes by reducing the amount they owe on their troubled mortgages, a top Treasury official said on Saturday.

"We are very definitely trying to facilitate more principal reductions," said Timothy Massad, Treasury's acting assistant secretary for financial stability. "It is a very important piece of the overall solution," he said.

So far, one of the programs has helped some 670,000 distressed homeowners win lower mortgage payments. But that has done very little to help the overall housing market, which remains depressed even as other parts of the economy have started to recover.