According to Urbinas:

First, we must reject the notion that helping homeowners facing foreclosure amounts to a bailout of "deadbeat" households. Instead, we should pursue a plan to stabilize American families with the same urgency that has been applied to the financial system. Such an effort should include counseling to prevent additional foreclosures and a new mechanism to restructure mortgages into sensible loans that keep borrowers in their homes.

Check it out. And if you want a really user-friendly guide to understanding the financial mess, check out a special edition of This American Life. I recently had the pleasure of hearing Ira Glass share for two hours about how he puts the show together. He noted that the show never would have launched without support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and my friend who served as an arts guru there for many years: Nick Rabkin.