He Taketh Away, Giveth

The Times describes the administrations thinking on mortgage finance

The Obama administration has been barraged with ideas for reworking the government’s role in housing finance... Mr. Geithner said continued government support was important... The absence of such support... would deepen future recessions because unsubsidized private companies would curtail lending...

The Journal reports that mortgage markets are being knocked.

The market for mortgage-backed securities has... taken a hit in recent days on growing talk of a "mega-refi" program... lots of refis would be bad for mortgage-backed securities investors.

It goes without saying that a government truly concerned that private companies not curtail lending, would not be pursuing policies that punished private lenders.

To me, this is emblematic of this administration's general economic approach: With one hand, use private sector inaction to justify expensive government intervention/expansion, while, with the other, punish/freeze private sector actors.