Editorial: Echoes of the '08 fiscal crisis

Apparently even the smallest step in the right direction is too much for Congress. What else can we surmise from the inclusion in a new spending bill of a provision expanding Uncle Sam's exposure to mortgage risk? The Federal Housing Administration already guarantees a third of new mortgages, but in October the limit was lowered to $625,500. The new provision would raise it back to $729,750, where it had been. And FHA loans can be had with as little as 3.5 percent down. The idea is to support the housing market -- which collapsed partly as a result of low down-payment loans packaged into toxic securities with implicit government guarantees. Do the names Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ring any bells? The higher FHA limit, in a spending bill President Barack Obama will likely have to sign, is a step in the wrong direction.