The US Senate has approved a rescue bill designed to prop up America’s battered housing market.

The new law creates a $300bn (£150bn) rescue fund to help thousands of homeowners get cheaper loans.

It may also be used to bail out the struggling mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which own or guarantee around half the nation’s mortgage debt.

The bill has been approved in a very short time. President George Bush is expected to sign it into law next week.

Washington says the bill will help hundreds of thousands of Americans trapped by mortgages they can no longer afford.

They will be offered the chance to refinance with state-backed, fixed rate loans.

This is some relief for bewildered home owners, but in the same bill millions of taxpayer dollars will be used to bail out the corporations that lead the speculation in the housing markets.  I guess I would have to support the bill only because it will give the average home owner a chance to refinance at a lower rate.  Damned if I do and damned if I don’t.