The
proposal to lower all mortgages to 30 year fixed mortgage at 5.25% ticks me off to no end. And if you make responsible decisions, waited for an affordable rate when buying your home, researched and refinanced at a rate close to this, are saving money for a down payment on your first home, or you paid points to get a rate at 5.25% it should tick you off too.
If you waited and bought or refinanced when rates actually hit 5.25%, then this proposal says your patience or the higher cost you paid for the home (home costs often go up as rates go down since the amount a buyer can pay is what it is), or points you paid or the effort you put into managing your mortgage was a complete waste.
And if you were responsible and could not afford a home, you are screwed because everyone will have a rate lower than you're ever likely to ever see meaning the value of homes won't be set by what the market (you) can afford but will be higher than that.
Alternatively,
this article suggests that only those delinquent in their payments might get the new rate so perhaps now is the time to buy a new home at the highest rate, but cheapest closing costs you can find, and then don't make a single payment.
Why not make a fair proposal? If the goal is to lower mortgage rates so that fewer people default, why not lower everyone's rates the same amount, regardless of whether they have not fulfilled their contract or whether they were responsible, ripped off or just greedy.
If the average interest rate is say 7.25% then why not lower all rates by 2%. That way, people who got conned or were totally irresponsible with their money get assistance, but people who are on top of their business or paid points for their loan are not punished by essentially wiping out the advantage they earned through their patience, willingness to pay more up front, hard work, or responsible decision making. And responsible savers, who want to but a home, have a chance as the market will still turn over as those who really just can't afford what they took on, move on, and the market continues to adjust to what is reasonable.
Thoughts?
Real Estate got crushed with all 4 real estate funds I track posting -9 to -12% losses. REACX American Century Real Estate was the biggest loser.
The S&P 500 pulled off a nice gain, but the more diversified portfolios were flat or posting losses. Real estate funds in particular took a big hit this week.
Lazy 20 Mostly Index
The biggest loser was once again PNRZX Jennison Natural Resources. Its staggering loss of 26.5% for the week surpassed the astonishing loss of 20% last week. Not surprisingly, this fund is down more than any other fund I track for the year as well with a 55% loss. So how can this be a 5 star fund? It is worth noting that its 10 year annualied return remains over 20%. 
The WylieMoney Portfolio of funds I selected is the only portfolio that is not down 30% or more, so far.
WylieMoney Slowly
ETF 20
Three Fund Index
S&P 500
From mid cap blend to small cap blend to mid cap growth and currently small cap blend, this fund gets around. Regardless, it is small cap blend now, I'm looking for the best small cap blend fund for my hypothetical portfolio, so the next day the markets take a dive, I'm adding $2500 in RYVFX Royce Value Svc. to the WylieMoney Slowly portflio.
Yet again, Morningstar continues to make changes to performance results from the last few years. 
What I find interesting is that have an investment portfolio including bonds and international equities has not really helped much in performance compared to just buying SPY, tracking the 500 largest US companies.
WylieMoney Slowly
Lazy 20 Mostly Index
Three Fund Index
S&P 500
