Treasury secretary says many foreclosures can't be prevented

By Jeannine Aversa The Associated Press WASHINGTON — Faced with record foreclosure rates, the Bush administration has been scrambling to keep people from losing their homes, but many are beyond help, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Tuesday. Lax lending standards that accompanied the once-highflying housing market allowed people to buy homes they could not afford, Paulson said. "Many of today's unusually high number of foreclosures are not preventable," he said in prepared remarks to a mortgage-lending forum meeting in Arlington, Va. "There is little public policymakers can, or should, do to compensate for untenable financial decisions." Paulson said 1.5 million home foreclosures started in 2007, and some economists estimate there will be about 2.5 million foreclosures begun this year. Since last summer, the Bush... [read full story]