The housing market usually leads the way out of recession, but this time around it's a drag on economic recovery. So President Obama is going to give it a boost, making it easier for first-time buyers with low credit ratings to qualify for mortgages on new homes.
Admittedly, it's a modest proposal — $900 in savings for just 250,000 people, when more than $2 million are needed for healthy growth. But critics call it a risky first step toward another sub-prime disaster -- just like the one that started the Great Recession a few years ago.