Necessity and Proportionality

The phrase "necessary and proportional" has special significance in the practice of law. In fact, it is imbued with such widespread significance that it applies across many aspects of the law. Generally speaking, it applies to explain why an action that would ordinarily be considered unacceptable is, in fact, justified to address certain threatening circumstances. That line of logic could - and should - be extended to certain areas of economics, specifically to the present housing crisis. To return to a long-standing theme here, a coordinated principal-reduction equity-sharing modification strategy espouses just the sort of extraordinary action that would be deemed justifiable in the face of threatening circumstances. A massive wave of foreclosures (there are currently almost 6 million loans in some stage of default or foreclosure) still represents a distinct threat to the housing market; in the face of such a threat, the use of the extraordinary option of principal reduction would be a justifiable option. For further explanation, please see: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-joe-sestak/principal-reductions-can_b_1788587.html?utm_hp_ref=tw.