By Doug Cunningham

AFL-CIO President, John Sweeney says after sitting idly by for months while countless Americans saw their home ownership dreams slip away the Bush administration is now doing too little too late to address the crisis. Sweeny says a moratorium on sub-prime mortgage foreclosures for at least 6-12 months is needed; not just a limited freeze on some interest rates. Without such a moratorium on foreclosures so loans can restructured, Sweeney says the record wave of foreclosures will crush the economy. The AFL-CIO says housing markets must be stabilized to prevent cascading defaults throughout the economy. Underlying this crisis, Sweeney says, is the reality working families have been living – falling or stagnant real wages, extreme economic inequality and the loss of good jobs. That has made many families dependent upon borrowing to sustain their standards of living, making them vulnerable to home foreclosures and bankruptcy.