Next Up for Obama: Housing

President Obama's recent offensive on Wall Street could soon turn to the mortgage industry, with the administration looking to revamp a $75 billion program that owners keep their houses. The original program has drawn widespread criticism for being ineffective, and The New York Times reports that the new version will include less paperwork holders and more help making mortgage payments for unemployed or semi-employed people. Critics worry that the new moves might mirror some of the practices that led to the mortgage crisis in the housing market, like providing loans with little documentation, a practice known sometimes as "liar loans." “It definitely does lead to the question, are they substituting liar loan modifications for liar loans?” one mortgage-industry consultant told The Times.