Blowing smoke and mirrors up our skirts

Kentucky's biggest growth industry got a boost today from last year's bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Gov. Steve Beshear and Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry joined Kentucky Housing Corporation CEO Richard McQuady to celebrate receipt of a $1.5 million federal grant to "help" 2200 subprime borrowers with their troubled home loans.

Can't imagine $681.81 per borrower is going to make very many bad loans suddenly very good. But fixing problems is not what today's announcement was about.

We're replacing last year's real estate bubble with today's government hot air bubble.

"This grant will help an additional 2,200 Kentuckians, who are in danger of foreclosure, receive counseling and assistance as they work to keep their homes," Gov. Beshear said.

So now we are counseling our way to prosperity. Great.

Not to be outdone, Mayor Newberry said: "We have been working very hard for several years to help people realize the American dream of homeownership, and we want to keep new homeowners in their homes," Newberry said.

Newberry didn't specify what he meant by "working very hard."

CEO McQuady took the cake, though.

"They had the foresight to develop the Protection Center before the foreclosure crisis destroyed the dream of homeownership in Kentucky," McQuady said.