There's a way we can do both those things at once: energy efficiency. The lower you are on the income scale, the higher a percentage of your income you spend on energy costs. A coordinated national program to boost the efficiency of our housing stock would benefit those most in need: struggling homeowners in danger of going under. (It would also, incidentally, reduce fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions.)

What might such a program look like? Glad you asked. Lisa Margonelli at the New America Foundation just released a proposal for Energy Security for American Families initiative, which gets into the details of this kind of effort. LINK