TIME Magazine content is available exclusively for TIME subscribers.

Current subscribers for full access. Not a TIME subscriber? .

GOVERNMENT: The Payoff

In the dark days of the Depression, the New Deal tried out a plan to help the housing industry. With a $1,000,000 advance from the Treasury, the Government set up the Federal Housing Administration to insure loans for housebuilding and repair, thus spur the building industry. The experiment was a noble success. FHA's first insurance was on a loan for $125 to paint a house, repair the roof and install a water tank. Since then, the agency has insured mortgages on 3,940,000 housing units, and has made a total of 16 million loans for property improvement. FHA has not...

Time.com on Digg

POWERED BY digg

Quotes of the Day »

DAVID CAMERON, British Prime Minister, on England's soccer manager, Fabio Capello, who resigned after challenging the FA's decision to strip John Terry of the captaincy; Terry denies a charge of racially abusing QPR's Anton Ferdinand
For use in rail of Articles page or Section Fronts pages. Duplicate and change name as necesssary to distinguish.