Outlook: The subprime lending crisis: Focus on the problem: Subprime borrowers in trouble

Abstract

Public policy should be directed at serving the large number of borrowers who have recently taken out subprime loans and who are at serious risk of losing their homes when their mortgages reset. Practicing forbearance and providing counseling for defaulting homeowners, as well as allowing them to refinance into a Federal Housing Administration loan, can be particularly helpful. Broad changes in housing programs and in the structure of the mortgage market should be considered on their merits as good or bad public policy for the long term, not simply as solutions to the subprime problem.     

REVIEW ARTICLE: MILITARY SPACE POLICY: DEBATING THE FUTURE

Colonel Bruce M. DeBlois, USAF (ed), Beyond the Paths of Heaven: The Emergence of Space Power Thought (Maxwell AFB, AL: Air University Press, 1999). Benjamin S. Lambeth, Mastering the Ultimate High Ground: Next Steps in the Military Uses of Space (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2003). Major M.V. Smith, USAF, Ten Propositions Regarding Spacepower (Maxwell AFB, AL: Air University Press, 2002). Brigadier General Simon P. Worden, USAF and Major John E. Shaw, USAF, Whither Space Power? Forging a Strategy for the New Century (Maxwell AFB, AL: Air University Press, 2002).     

COMMUNITY COLLABORATIONS:

Many communities are now involved in collaborations in order to solve problems which no one group or organization can deal with by themselves. They find they must organize in a unique way that allows them to try to solve these problems on equal terms with the public, non-profit and private sectors. These unique collaborations are referred to in this article as network structures. Network structures require the use of different management styles and policy instruments than are used in more typical bureaucratic efforts. This article is based on a study of four community groups in the Los Angeles area which organized in such a way to try to improve conditions of families and children. Each of these collaborations highlights the impact of network structures on the ability to sustain effective collaborative efforts. In addition they point to new roles and changing relationships among government at all levels and those participants outside the government. They also highlight what participants, both inside and outside the public sector, will need to understand about how to organize and mange in these unique settings.