An ideal solution to America's foreclosure crisis would provide just enough federal money to stabilize the national economy, without rewarding irresponsible borrowers and lenders and without risking taxpayer dollars.
The housing bailout legislation moving through Congress is a testament to the impossibility of meeting those goals simultaneously.
Any federal aid program sweeping enough to be effective will inevitably give money to some lenders or buyers who don't deserve it because their greed or dunderheadedness helped get the country into this mess.
Still, doing nothing, the main-line Republican position, is a nonstarter, politically and practically. Voters fear, and persuasive economists make the case, that the country's economic malaise will get far worse unless Washington intervenes.
Similar strategies have been proposed in the Senate and House. Federal money would back mortgage refinancing for up to 500,000 borrowers over five years, and the money would come with sensible strings.
Banks would have to agree to accept 85 percent of current appraised value of a house as full payment. Borrowers, properly qualified for the new payments, would have to share any profit from future sale with the government.
The $300 billion program would cost about $1.7 billion to set up and run. The House would cover that administrative expense with tax dollars, while the Senate would pay for it by temporarily diverting money from a low-income housing fund financed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, private, but government-sponsored, mortgage companies.
Neither funding solution is particularly appealing. Of the two, the Senate scheme is better, provided there are safeguards to ensure that the low-income housing fund gets repaid.
Critics are correct that helping 500,000 homeowners over five years isn't much compared with the several million foreclosures expected over the period, but it could be enough to shore up the economy.
Congress is likely to reach agreement on the bailout's general framework in time for July 4. And President Bush is showing signs of dropping his veto threat, particularly if the national treasury doesn't have to pay the aid program's administrative expenses.
The housing bailout is far, far from perfect. But it may offer the best chance of limiting the economic slowdown that the nation can get.