Bush ‘freeze’ plan coming tomorrow

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Good morning. A handful of newsy items to chew over today:

--Five-year freeze: Reuters, via CNBC, reports, ‘President Bush is expected to outline Thursday a plan to freeze mortgage rates for five years for many homeowners facing sharp increases in their monthly payments, industry sources said Wednesday.’

--Freeze fans: A poll by the L.A.Times and Bloomberg reports that 58% of those surveyed say sub-prime lenders should freeze interest rates for sub-prime borrowers.

--Political play? The L.A. Times reports the Bush freeze plan is motivated by fears than an election-year recession will hurt the GOP: ‘The Bush administration’s newly aggressive effort to help people facing foreclosure and shore up the troubled mortgage industry was sparked by growing concerns of an election-year recession, and the political damage that would cause, analysts said Tuesday.’

--Hanky Panky? If you missed this one, and you like to hang out at the intersection of Wall Street and politics, it’s worth a read: N.Y.Times economic columnist (and comedian) Ben Stein points out that Goldman Sachs, under the leadership of now-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, was in the business of turning out mortgage-backed securities that have now proved to be toxic and potentially recession-inducing. Stein asks, ‘Should Henry M. Paulson Jr., who formerly ran a firm that engaged in this kind of conduct, be serving as Treasury secretary? ... Maybe it’s time for an investigation of just what Wall Street and Goldman did to make money as they pumped this mortgage mess into the economic system, and sometimes were seemingly on both sides of the deal.’

Your thoughts? Comments? Email story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com