USA Today reports that 1 in 9 housing units in the US are vacant.

“The numbers are further documentation of the gravity of the housing problem,” says Nicolas Retsinas, head of Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. “This inventory is delaying any kind of housing recovery.”

Adding vacation homes drives the number to about 15%, compared to 11% and 9.4% during the recessions of 1991 and 1984, respectively.

From an article at Seeking Alpha.  The definition the administration uses for hope:

“the fall back position when there is no option and no money even if we had an option”.

I remember a preacher said, “you never know how much you need God until God is all you have”. It must be possible to draw on (cash in) a guarantee, for it to be valuable.    Sovereign guarantees of all the liabilities is not going to be good enough, the liabilities themselves have to be quantified and be able to be turned into cash. If the Sovereign won’t pay them off, then holders need to go back to the originator and get whatever they can.