Several proposals about how to handle the mortgage meltdown are floating around on Capitol Hill. But politicians are not interested in helping people because they have big hearts. The talk of bailouts is to prop up the banks and lenders -- who are big political contributors -- yet it's being done under the good-natured guise of rescuing the borrowers. Does this sound cynical? Just follow the money and you'll see what Clark means. Remember that economics is often called "the dismal science." That's because the reality is that our country will suffer if we do exotic things to keep people in homes they can't afford. Look at Japan. The government over there decided to bail out the commercial speculative real estate industry and went into a recession for 2 decades as a result. Japan is still struggling 20 years later to come out of it. That example teaches us that there must be an actual business reason to do a bailout with someone.

Clark recently spoke to a man who was just days away from foreclosure and wanted advice. But he could not give the man false hope; some people have never even been able to make their initial teaser payments. The typical homeowner who is in over his or her spends between 45 and 55 percent of their pre-tax pay on their mortgage. Clark knows of woman who has a payment that's higher than her income. What is a bank doing making that kind of loan? Either the paperwork was forged or she didn't have to disclose her finances to get the loan. The mortgage broker, meanwhile, probably made a huge commission on that deal. These ugly abuses are the reasons why the feds should not save an industry that partied too hard during the good times and now wants a helping hand. The fact that it's being done under the guise of helping homeowners is tragic. It's really about helping cronies in the mortgage and banking worlds.