The administration’s attempts to support the real estate market grow more desperate and bizarre every day. Now it wants to pay people to walk away. More precisely, force lenders to accept a short sale and pay the “owner” to leave. Presuming, I guess, that the prices might be better than foreclosure and might help clear the backlog before the next election. Fat chance.

Taking effect on April 5, the program could encourage hundreds of thousands of delinquent borrowers who have not been rescued by the loan modification program to shed their houses through a process known as a short sale, in which property is sold for less than the balance of the mortgage. Lenders will be compelled to accept that arrangement, forgiving the difference between the market price of the property and what they are owed.

“We want to streamline and standardize the short sale process to make it much easier on the borrower and much easier on the lender,” said Seth Wheeler, a Treasury senior adviser.

The problem is highlighted by a routine case in Phoenix. Chris Paul, a real estate agent, has a house he is trying to sell on behalf of its owner, who owes $150,000. Mr. Paul has an offer for $48,000, but the bank holding the mortgage says it wants at least $90,000. The frustrated owner is now contemplating foreclosure.

It might help clear the problem bank list, though. But not in a good way. Barney Frank has figured out his decision to waive mark-to-market accounting has led banks to sit with a pile of worthless second mortgages on their balance sheets at ludicrous valuations, which they are needless to say reluctant to properly value. So Barney writes them, asking them to do just that.

Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, last week sent a letter to the four biggest U.S. banks demanding “immediate steps to write down second mortgages.” The Massachusetts Democrat sent the letter to the chief executive officers of Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. Meanwhile, the Obama administration is preparing to launch long-planned initiatives aimed at addressing these obstacles.

Ms Bair, over at the FDIC, must be having a nervous breakdown over this idiot’s antics. Be careful what you ask for, Barney, you might just get it.