Stimulus Plan Variation

I do not like the stimulus plan being pushed through congress: it awards money to people who made a number of bad decisions without obliging them to correct what caused the problems to begin with.

Having accepted that money is going to be given out as part of a stimulus plan, one wonders how matters would go if the funds went to pay off mortgages instead of being handed to the banks? Then the banks would get their money, and homeowners -- whom the money originally came from anyway -- would have paid-off homes.

Would you triage recipients: those who are not in arrears and have kept up their payments get the funds first? Perhaps limit it to primary place of residence?

Still, such a plan would be unfair to the people who have been responsible managers of their mortgages -- about 90% of homeowners -- to help those who have been less than prudent. And it's unfair that people who bought too much house or made imprudent purchase decisions should be excused from the consequences of their greed and stupidity. Would it still be better than just giving money to banks and having the homeowners lose out anyway?