My colleagues and I at HSH have asked and debated over this question for most of the year: “To what cost are we willing to promote home ownership?” As close to the market as we are, we fully recognize the value of home ownership. However, our lawmakers have steadfastly promoted it above any other option despite a housing crisis and a soaring national budget. The question is: “When is enough enough?”

Washington has developed multi-billion dollar programs to modify and refinance troubled mortgages, subsidize mortgage rates, we’ve thrown massive lifelines to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a $10 billion homebuyer tax credit extension, and the list goes on.

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Critics of large government spending have long argued that the increased dollar count accumulates mainly into a burdensome future financial obligation. According to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), we’re about to get the first taste of our mounting obligation.

The CBO estimates that taxpayers will have to pay $167 billion more than expected for the nation’s laundry list of bailouts. The tab will increase $152 billion for this year and $15 billion for 2010: Read the rest of this entry »