Back to business as usual? If you read the article in the New York Times today, you’ll have to think so. Republicans and Democrats sank back into a partisan, ideological clash over whether the government should intervene in the real estate mega-crisis and perhaps even bail out lenders.

In Congress, Democratic lawmakers have begun to push ahead with an agenda aimed at shoring up the housing market with federal money, giving delinquent homeowners more bargaining power with their lenders and having the government buy troubled mortgages. About 20 percent of subprime mortgages, which are made to people with low credit scores or low incomes, are delinquent and in danger of default. Moody’s Economy.com recently estimated that three million subprime borrowers were likely to default over the next several years…

3,000,000 million losing their homes PLUS hundreds of thousands which can afford the monthly payments today but will lose their jobs/homes during the deep recession! Remember a couple of months ago, they were talking of 1,2 million. The New York Times article continues:

… Democrats, knowing that they could not muster 60 votes to pass their bill, charged that Mr. Bush and the Republicans were protecting banks and Wall Street firms while doing little for people trapped in mortgages they cannot afford and houses they cannot sell…. But unlike other Democratic proposals, the idea of a government-funded mortgage buyout has considerable support among banks and mortgage lenders. Lobbyists for the mortgage bankers have circulated a detailed proposal, though company executives said they were merely providing “technical information” requested by Democratic lawmakers…

Amid those enormous conflicts of interest, everybody shows his true colors. The Democrats’ proposal shouldn’t lure anybody. Both parties work for the lobbies while accusing each other of doing the same. In the meantime, nobody is being investigated nor arrested.

Don’t worry, be happy? China is still booming and Sir Alan Greenspan recommends the Gulf States to dump the dollar. America could resemble a ‘Banana republic’ sooner than you think!

ps: updates on the world economic crisis are also available on Danny Schechter’s blog.