But the real story comes from the L.A. Times, which blared, "Mortgage industry changes throw new hurdles in borrowers' way."

Yes, the WSJ story has ominous news: "Lending at the biggest banks has fallen more sharply than previously realized, despite government efforts to pump billions of dollars into the financial sector."

So the bailout of the banks is not working?

What is working is that banks are jacking up fees. Here's how Kenneth R. Harney of the West Coast paper puts it:

You can blame Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for setting the pace in jacking up fees, but Wells Fargo and other banks are going even further. And now people who want to buy homes or refinance them — and the government is pushing people to do so — are facing all sorts of new or cleverly jacked up fees and other costs.