THREE IDEAS FOR JOHN EDWARDS IF HE REALLY WANTS TO BE A POPULIST

PROGRESSIVE REVIEW - Here are three campaign issues a populist presidential candidate could easily promote and win a lot of votes in the process:

1. END CREDIT CARD USURY: Beginning in the 1980s - as part of the Reagan counter-revolution - interest rate controls began disappearing in this country. Rates that generally were below ten percent would rise as much as three times.

The media did not report this story, the politicians did not deal with it, and the banks got away with murder. This is not your average political or economic change; it altered views of fair interest rates going back to the earliest times. Essentially usury became legal.

2. SHARED EQUITY HOME PURCHASES: A program for new and less wealthy would-be homebuyers in which the federal government became an equity partner with the purchaser. At the time of sale, the federal government would get its share back including its portion of the increase in value. This program would be immensely popular not only with would-be home buyers but with the real estate industry. And the beauty is that it could easily become a money maker.

3. ENDING FORECLOSURES - This is Dean Baker's idea: "There is a simple and direct way in which the federal government can help out millions of moderate-income families struggling to keep their homes: They can simply change the rules on foreclosure to allow moderate-income homeowners the option to remain in their homes indefinitely as renters, paying the fair market rent. . . If a homeowner chose to go this route, the judge in the foreclosure proceeding would appoint an independent appraiser to determine the fair market rent for the house, in the same way a bank hires an appraiser to determine the value of the house before issuing a mortgage."