Famed Investor Bill Gross Calls For Massive Taxpayer-Backed Mortgage Refinance Initiative

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Famed Investor Bill Gross Calls For Massive Taxpayer-Backed Mortgage Refinance Initiative: "Bill Gross, who runs Pacific Investment Management Co.'s $239 billion Total Return Fund, said that policymakers 'should quickly re-engineer' a plan that would refinance all non-delinquent mortgages backed by the federal government. The rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged a record-low 4.44 percent in the week ending Aug. 12, according to taxpayer-owned mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

Taxpayers guarantee the mortgages of 37 million households, or two-thirds of all homeowners with a mortgage, according to a July 29 note by David Greenlaw, Morgan Stanley's chief U.S. fixed-income economist. That includes government agencies like the Federal Housing Administration as well as twin behemoths Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Greenlaw estimates about 18.5 million taxpayer-backed mortgages are at rates higher than 5.75 percent interest."