Debt Takes a Holiday

Back in 2008-09 there was a lot of talk about loan forgiveness for underwater mortgages.  (Those are mortgages where the principal owed exceeds the value of the house.)  At the time, the idea was that for the most part the efficient solution to the then housing crisis was for for the current occupant to remain in the home.  TARP, the program to save the remaining big banks and restore liquidity to the system, had $50 billion allocated for this purpose, to provide assistance. (In other words, the federal government would absorb some of the debt, which along with partial debt forgiveness would make the renegotiated mortgages viable.)  I did not track this well, but I seem to recall that money didn't spend quickly and may have never been spent in full.  Many people were dispossessed from their homes, part of the human tragedy that ensued after the housing bubble burst.