Clinton calls for $30 billion in mortgage aid to homeowners

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WASHINGTON — Sen. Hillary Clinton rolled out a series of proposals Monday to ease the nation's housing and credit crises, including a $30 billion fund to help cities and states aid distressed homeowners, but some critics faulted it as insufficient.

"It's a nice little political gesture, but it isn't going to help many people meet their mortgage obligations," said Robert Higgs, a senior fellow in political economics at the Independent Institute, a California-based research group.

Bruce Dorpalen, director of housing counseling at ACORN Housing, a nonprofit mortgage counselor, welcomed Clinton's proposals, but said they didn't go far enough.

"We've got serious waves of foreclosures. The first problem we need to tackle is a broad fixing of interest rates that's based on people's finances," he said.

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