The National Association of Realtors is back at the government feeding trough. Hey, why not? Hasn't every big business become a ward of the state this fall? Here's a snippet of the plan the association has submitted to Congress:

The plan includes consumer-driven provisions that would eliminate repayment of the first-time home buyer tax credit and expand the credit to all home buyers, make the increased mortgage loan limits permanent, and focus the economic stabilization efforts on supporting the housing and mortgage markets instead of providing capital to banks with no strings

In essence, the association seeks an extra, super-duper, double-secret version of the housing rescue package passed this summer. If you'll recall, only first-time home buyers could tap the home buyer tax credit. And they had to pay the $7,500 credit back over several years. NAR wants those restrictions waived.

Realtors also want the government to sponsor a "buydown" of interest rates so that home buyers could get financing for 4.5 percent. The association predicts such cut-rate mortgages could spur the market to the tune of 840,000 additional sales.

I understand Realtor frustration during this unprecedented housing slump. But how much government intrusion in the financial markets can a country tolerate before it ceases to have a free market?

This week's rate cut by the Federal Reserve brought rates down to 1 percent. But the reduction wasn't reflected in mortgages. On the contrary: Banks initially raised rates, trying to capture an extra chunk of the difference between the 1 percent they pay the Fed and the 6 percent their customers pay them.

The government's ham-fisted attempt to increase home ownership among the financially unstable - forcing Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to play backup for hear-no-evil-see-no-evil lenders like Countrywide - helped set this whole crisis in motion in the first place.