If it didn’t work the first time, what makes the Obama administration think it will work this time?

What we’re referring to here is Washington’s insistence on shaming mortgage lenders into modifying more loans. We can think of several reasons why this strategy is merely the latest in a string of Making Home Affordable missteps.

Back in August we wrote a post tilted “When All Else Fails, Try Shaming Servicers into Cooperating.” The fact that the words we wrote nearly four months ago are still a perfect fit to describe both the White House’s current gripes and the lenders’ consistent rebuttals indicate that nothing was solved through shaming the first time around: Read the rest of this entry »