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Tick, tick, tick.

I noted in an earlier post that President Obama’s economic address in the Rose Garden had been scheduled for 12:30pm Eastern. It is now past 1:00pm Eastern. Wonder what kind of tension there must have been on his economic team phone conference this morning?

Reader @nicklaus on Twitter quips that the recovery is “delayed,” so it’s entirely fitting that the laggard president’s address today is late, too.

Meanwhile, in case you missed, here are the depressing details of the next massive expansion of government aid to home borrowers:

The Obama administration plans to set up an emergency loan program for the unemployed and a government mortgage refinancing effort in the next few weeks to help homeowners after home sales dropped in July, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said.

“The July numbers were worse than we expected, worse than the general market expected, and we are concerned,” Donovan said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program yesterday. “That’s why we are taking additional steps to move forward.”

The administration will begin a Federal Housing Authority refinancing effort to help borrowers who are struggling to pay their mortgages, and will start an emergency homeowners’ loan program for unemployed borrowers so they can stay in their homes, Donovan said.

Responsible renters, there’s nothing for you.

Flashback 2009: Washington’s recipe for more mortgage defaults

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Obama’s remarks were brief — interrupted by Obama complaining about the microphone and audio half the time. He blasted the GOP for opposing the Dems’ $30 billion “small business” bill and called for ending the legislative “blockade.” (Too bad he couldn’t spare the time to meet with the mom-and-pop fishermen’s flotilla on Martha’s Vineyard.)