Remember the pictures from the Great Depression? Homes foreclosed by the thousands and entire communities forced to move out West to start a new life. Nobody ever though it could happen again--well it is, except there is no "out West" for people to escape to.

The government isn't in the business of bailing out homeowners. But one of its roles is to help keep the economy stable--and, its discovering--that may incidentally require it to help out people in foreclosures. We've seen that the Fed jumped right in to help financial institutions faltering because of mortgage related debts. Its taken awhile for Congress to realize that we're all in this mess together, whether we were personally prudent or not.

Now Nancy Polosi has weighed in. Yesterday she stated that "Americans are facing a housing crisis unseen in generations and congress must act immediately." Yes, its "Americans", not "some homeowners" who are facing a crisis and Polosi seems to have finally gotten the message.