Hillary’s socialist housing bailout plan
If you thought Hillary Clinton’s health care takeover plan was bad, wait ’til you see what she has in store for the housing sector. As always with the Clintons, the market is the problem and Big Nanny (and Big Fannie and Big Freddie) are the solution. Last week, she unveiled her “four-point plan” to protect the American Dream of homeownership. She’s wildly waving around $1 billion promises here and $1 billion promises there. Look out:
In her address to about 250 people in a Derry elementary school gymnasium, Clinton criticized unscrupulous mortgage brokers who push customers into borrowing more to pad their commission or are dishonest about the true cost of the loan. To help curb the number of foreclosures, Clinton proposed setting up a $1 billion fund to assist homeowners in making arrangements with lending companies to stay in their home.
She also discussed the lack of affordable housing, an issue that is particularly a problem in New England. To promote more affordable housing construction, Clinton proposed another $1 billion fund which would be distributed to state, county and local affordable housing programs.
The full plan is at her campaign blog, where she’s soliciting personal stories of homeowners “at risk.” Guess she’s tired of hearing John Edwards trot out his health care victim James Lowe anecdotes. Hillary wants her own homeowner victim James Lowe:
Hillary appeared on CNBC last week to pimp her plan. Unsurprisingly, she’s demonizing lenders and brokers the way she demonized the pharmaceutical industry:
“I think a lot of the lenders have really taken advantage of what is a really tough economic situation for many Americans,” Clinton told CNBC’s Dylan Ratigan during the live interview. “Although many of us have done well in the last six-and-half years, the median income in America has dropped $1,300, while healthcare costs, tuition and other costs that are really part of a middle class and working family’s budget have increased.”
In order to ensure mortgage brokers are qualified, she also thinks there should be more screening and a national registry of brokers as well as greater disclosure of the terms of broker compensation.
Clinton also proposed a $1 billion federal fund for local and state programs that help at-risk homeowners avoid foreclosures. She said those programs could help the “unsuspecting families” linked to unfair mortgages.
She also proposed that lenders remove early payment penalties attached to some mortgages.
“A lot of buyers think the brokers are actually representing them, when we know the brokers get paid depending upon the size of the mortgage they are able to sell,” she said.
For a salty, detailed smackdown of the CNBC interview, see this mortgage specialist’s blog. Read the whole thing, but here’s his bottom line:
People need to be fiscally smarter, think for themselves, and not run with the herd. There is nothing that can be done to support property values where they are in many areas, and borrowers do NOT need to be rewarded with taxpayer money for over-extending themselves…
…In closing, as bad as it was waking up to Hillary Clinton on my tv…I would rather be forced to see pictures of her cleavage (don’t ask me why that was nationwide ‘news’) than have to see the results of her proposed guvment programs.
Jonathan Hoenig at Smart Money similarly blasts Hillary’s housing scheme:
[A]mericans, especially many populist politicians, believe that individuals deserve to have their mortgage paid simply because they can no longer afford to pay it themselves. Forgetting the fact that these individuals willingly took out loans well beyond their means or didn’t plan for a rainy day in which the real estate market wasn’t soaring, politicians on both sides of the aisle say they are entitled to keep their home. So they plan to take other people’s hard-earned money and give it away…not because these individuals did anything to deserve it, but simply because they need it. It’s the essence of the “entitlement mentality” I wrote about last winter.
The purpose of government is to protect my rights — end of story. But because there is no such thing as a right to a home, using taxpayer dollars to bail out homeowners or home lender, is an immoral abuse of governmental authority.
Those who advocate for such measures tend to think with their hearts instead of their heads. When challenged about the morality of such schemes, they usually present a tragic example about a down-on-their-luck Rust Belt family who are in danger of being evicted from their home. Dad lost his job at the plant, mom is on dialysis and takes care of the kids, all of whom desperately need braces and new books for school. The argument is always an emotional one: “Don’t you want to help poor people in need?”
But a government bailout is not charity — it’s coercion. Americans are incredibly charitable people, last year donating a record $295 billion. But when you donate to Habitat for Humanity, for example, you do so voluntarily, deciding how much you’d like to give and to what particular cause. When Hillary pledges $1 billion in financial aid for homeowners, however, it’s not her money; it’s the taxpayers’, many of whom would undoubtedly prefer to give to any number of other deserving recipients.
The other tactic used by proponents of a bailout is to demonize the banks and mortgage companies for making “predatory” loans to financially unstable families, as if somehow loaning someone money is harming them. What’s ironic is that for years, elected officials chastised businessmen for failing to offer loans to people with poor credit. After the private sector stepped up and many billions in loans to lower-income families, many of those loans are not being paid back, and those same businessmen are being criticized for making the loans in the first place. Indeed, businessmen are the scapegoat either way.
The more the government gets involved in mortgages and banking, the tighter credit will become. But beyond the impractical reality of collectivist economics, a bailout of homeowners facing foreclosure would be an immoral violation of the property rights of the millions of citizens who live within their means and pay their bills on time. The responsibility of paying back subprime mortgage rests with those who took them, not the publicity-seeking politician eager to sacrifice the individual for the “public good.”
One last analysis to share with you from Matt Carrothers, who dubs her Hillary Clinton Corleone:
There is a key sequence of scenes in “The Godfather: Part II” in which a young Vito Corleone exerts his ascending power and influence over New York’s Little Italy neighborhood. A poor widow named Signora Colombo asks Corleone to intervene with her landlord, Roberto, who wants to evict her. Colombo cannot afford to move, and she has no where else to live.
Corleone seeks out the landlord Roberto and offers to pay six months of Signora Colombo’s rent in advance, at an increased rate. Roberto refuses, but soon finds out that Vito Corleone is not a man given to negotiation. A trembling Roberto then visits Corleone and says that Signora Colombo can not only stay in her home, but he will greatly reduce her monthly rent. Roberto leaves, and Corleone’s friend Genco declares, “God Bless America. We’re gonna make a big business.”
The Democratic presidential candidates see today’s Signora Colombos – families who defaulted on adjustable rate, sub-prime mortgages they could not afford – just as Corleone saw the poor widow – as helpless perdente, manipulated by others, who could not survive the mean streets without the helping hand of Don Vito Government.
On August 7, Sen. Hillary Clinton announced her detailed plan to “address mortgage lending abuses.” Clinton’s press statement, found on her web site, begins, “With foreclosure rates continuing to skyrocket across the country, Senator Hillary Clinton . . . laid out a plan to preserve the American dream of home ownership that would crack down on unscrupulous brokers, curb mortgage-lending abuses, assist families facing foreclosure and expand affordable housing options.”
The concept of borrower responsibility is obviously lost on Clinton. She then cites the plight of her own Signora Colombo, a woman named Kristi Schofield. Kristi and her husband can no longer afford to live in their home, because their adjustable-rate mortgage payments grew from $2,400 to $6,000 per month.
Signora Schofield said, “We tried to do the right thing and continued to make the payments as long as we could with our savings and what earnings we had from unemployment, temporary and part-time work.”
Schofield added, “Hillary Clinton is standing up today because she wants to help protect the American dream.”
In truth, Clinton’s plan would heap onerous and needless new regulations on the mortgage industry and establish a $1 billion housing trust fund to help “at-risk borrowers avoid foreclosure.” In other words, Clinton’s plan requires responsible taxpayers to subsidize the mortgage payments of deadbeats unable to comprehend the concept of adjustable mortgage rates.
Worse, if Clinton’s plan and similar plans touted by her Democratic opponents were to become law, the element of risk in borrowing and investing capital would disappear. If borrowers and investors incur no risk due to federally subsidized payments, nothing would stop lenders from inflating their home mortgage rates far beyond market-established values. Government subsidies have already distorted the free market and raised costs through agriculture, college tuition and health care programs.
The mafia analogy is on target. Check out my past posts on Clintonite Franklin Raines and Fannie Mae’s corruptocrats.
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Categories: Hillary Clinton, Subprime crisis
Sister Toldjah
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Borrowers will jump on this “give away”…it has already begun with $19 billion going into FannieMae’s coffers to assist in “buying” problem loans. What actually happened to bring this disaster on was that the money people like Lehman Bros. and their ilk began to want the loan companies to take them on as partners. When that didn’t fly the investors, on recommendation of the money people, began to pull back…that put a squeeze on the lenders and began the ball rolling towards the mess we are in now. There is nothing to be done because every lender is now unwilling to do anything but “A” paper loans…perfect credit, 20% cash down, long term employment and an affordability factor no more than 25% of gross. It isn’t that prices are too high, although they are, but that the majority of Americans need to be making $300,000 plus per year just to get into a first time home. Those with money like Hillary and Bill had “friends” willing to lend them the money and banks willing to assume the risk. Today neither need loans…they are worth millions. But everyone (?) is just beginning to understand that what the money guys did has just begun to have the effect they didn’t have the vision to see. It is beginning to trickle down faster now and there are still lots of layoffs coming. Time for everyone to hold on, the ride is going to get rough and nothing Hillary can do at this point will have any lasting effect.
Our lefties, including Hillery, are in fact socialists. The want America to be a socialist nation. One step at a time, they have been working on this for years. Nothing new here.
Sigh… yes, I know… It’s a nightmare.
Great! So when can I trade in my apartment for that nice 4-bedroom I see on my way to work every day?
Oh, wait, that’s right – it’s MY responsibilty to pay for my housing, and to be smart enough to buy what I can afford and not take out loans that are beyond my ability to pay back.
Hillary’s solution for America: give government control of everything; turn Americans into robots who obey her every command.
And she wants to be our president.
It’s scary.
Sound like Kristi and her husband over bought by a whole bunch of house. My wife and I were offered obscene mortgage amounts because of our excellent credit history and upper-middle class income. Interest-only, negative equity, 100% financing, walk in to your new custom home with pool! We wanted a house payment we could afford if we both lost our jobs and had to make ends meet picking up waitshifts at the local Chili’s. Now that I know Hillary would have bailed us out, I wish we were irresponsible too!!!!
If you take a teaser rate, and don’t know you are going to have to refinance in order to avoid getting smacked, how are you responsible enough to take care of a home? I like the idea of an ownership society, but let’s be honest with ourselves. Huge numbers of people in this country are not self-disciplined enough to bear the financial burdens of home ownership.
Supposing this were enacted I see two possible outcomes: 1) mortgage companies stop loaning money to subprimes altogether. 2)People will rely on this emergency assist instead of being fiscally responsible, lose their home anyway, and cost you and I money in the process.
The mortgage forclosure problem was twofold. Some people bought beyond their means, thinking that these low interest rates would last forever when they clearly would not. Others were never good candidates for large loans because their credit sucked and they had no intention of paying their bills on time anyway.
If Hillary wanted to do something useful, she could expand the requirement of credit couseling for people who get government grants for down-payments and closing costs.
The housing market in many of these areas is alreadly non-functional 9(see certain parts of Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New Orleans), why make matters worse?….oh that’s right because she’s a socialist and socialist have no concept of economics.
That ‘For Sale’ sign looks suspiciously like a cross…
Quickly! Someone alert CAIR! The Real Estate market is trying to impose christianity on them! To arms!
/sarcasm
I have limited sympathy for those who strove way beyond their means. I’m sorry, but if you’re making $40K a year, there’s no way in hell you can really afford a $600K house. I also have limited sympathy for gamblers who were trying to make a killing off the housing market bubble; they took a risk and the bubble bursteth.
The market has to be given a chance to right itself. If Big Guvment gets in the way, if you don’t own a home now, you never will be able to do so.
And whenever a Democrat talks about “affordable housing” she means the projects for welfare layabouts and criminals, not actual working, professional middle class people. Bah!
I think Hill needs to go back and retake her Constitutional Law Class and start with Article 1 Section 8 Enumerated Powers of Congress.
Hey, she can buy my vote with $56,000. That is the difference in the price of my house as listed and as sold. I missed the market by 3 months.
All kidding aside, it is a volatile market and Greenspan made good on his promise to control inflation. He put a bunch of people on government paychecks by tanking their jobs in the housing market which filtered into the auto market….
I blame Boosh! LOL Someone had to say it, it might as well have been said with maximum sarcasm.
The supply side argument for affordable housing is a joke. If you look at the Congressional Quarterly over the last two decades you’ll see that construction companies have largely been considerd democrat interest groups. All she’s trying to do if funnel more money to her campaign donors.
We already have a great subsidized housing program called Section 8. But the dems screwed that up to by making sure a large number of the vouchers are project based and not tenant based. So instead of getting to choose where you lived, you got to live in a government sponsored slum that that you could never leave, otherwise you would loose your voucher. The democrats are the biggest slumlords in the country.
Oil prices rise: Oil companies bad
Mortgage crunch: Lenders bad
Yearly rise in higher ed costs: Do the colleges / teacher unions get blamed? No – in fact there’s no talk about it at all – except to blame the Bush administration for low wages & lost jobs – totally diverting from the real problem of unions / tenure and others.
You can see who has the Dems in their back-pockets and who gets put on a cross for them to burn.
I’m not currently a homeowner, but I was when I was still living in Arkansas. When I went for my mortgage pre-approval, I was approved for a loan that would have equated to a $700/month mortgage payment (before all the escrow). I knew that was well beyond my ability to pay. Even though I could have bought a much larger, and more expensive, house, I settled for a cute little “starter home” that was on the market for $59,900 (yeah, I know that’s not a typical sale price in most parts of the country – and I made about $25K when I sold that house 2.5 years ago when I moved away). I also was eligible for a “first-time buyer” mortgage that had the “no money down”, but I was also required to sit through a class on a Saturday about how to manage your finances to ensure I was able to pay my mortgage.
If I had chosen a home to the max of what I’d been approved for, I don’t know how things would have turned out. All I know is, I liked having that mortgage payment less than $500 (and even when property taxes increased, it was never more than $540). It’s all about the personal responsibility, people!
I want to be a homeowner again. I’m also a recently certified teacher. Knowing what teacher salaries are (single income, single person household), I have only been applying to districts that have housing prices I’ll be able to afford. I like a community where I can find a decent home in a decent neighborhood for less than $100K…
I love it. People are stupid, so the government gives them money…
Soooooooo wish I owned a home.
Re: jrlingreenbay #12
Good observation. In fact, government subsidies (housing, student loans, agriculture) tend to drive up costs for everyone else. The easier it becomes to get a student loan, the less incentive the educaional institution has to control its tuition.
I own a home and was never given a dime by Uncle Sam.
What are you talking about?
Billary craves for new “victims’” blood.
Our political (legislative, executive, and judiciary) all have been changing our Constitution for years. I challenge any of them to show me where in the Constitution they have the right to take tax monies and use them for the benefit of individuals or as groups of individuals. ALL powers not specifically given to the Federal government is retained by the States. It is time for the States to stand against these spend-thrift, hog fat politicians who care for nothing other than election/reelection.
Two years ago I built a 3 bedroom 1500 Sq Ft home on about a half acre in Ohio. It cost me $115,000 including the land. I put 15% down; have fixed rate of 5.6% and a mortgage payment of $602 a month. I was approved for a mortgage payment of $1500. I told Countrywide they were out of their freaking mind, ended up using a small bank out of Cleveland.
Question to Hillary? I am financially smart and financially responsible, if you are elected (GOD FORBIDE). What are you going to do for me?
I have no sympathy for these people who over bought. These are people who think their house defines them as a person. My house does not define me; I have a wife and 2 kids. I don’t need anything bigger than 3 bedrooms and 1500 sq ft. I have been in $500,000 and $600,000 homes that are not furnished and they are using folding chairs and sleeping on air mattresses and these people make fun of my little house. Well, who is laughing now?
Did you not real MM’s post?
I’m sorry, but buying homes far larger than needed (how often do all three full bathrooms get used at once? You need a dining room and a formal dining room? How much use does that Great Room get? Two home offices?) because that adjustable rate is so nice is just what I called it.
Stupid.
And the market is finally in a backlash against those folks who did just that: over bought.
I wish I had had the foresight join them. Free house!!
And she’ll want you to buy a house for every illegal alien in this country as well.
How many schools in this country teach the kiddies anything about economics? No public schools, because educrats don’t believe in Capitalism or fiscal responsibility, so many kids graduate school without the slightest idea how to manage money.
For everyone who’s scrimped and saved and lived within their means, this is a blood boiler…
You think they learn it in college?
My econ professor was about half an inch this side of socialist…
PS – I think I’ll move to upstate NY next to the Clintons. Big fancy house (lousy neighbors, but they’re never home), and Hil’s buying! Mansions for all! Oh wait, Hillary and Edwards and Kerry and Streisand all want ME to have a shack with a Prius – the mansions and jets are for them…but Hillary, I already bought the jet, aren’t you going to bail me out?
Yes, and I enjoyed it very mush as usual. I guess I missed your interpretation of getting money from the Government by being a home owner.
From what you have said, I am either stupid for doing it right and not cashing in or they are stupid and you wish you had the foresight to join the ranks of the stupid.
I understand now where you were coming from because I missed the gravy train by doing the right thing.
You do not get money from the government just by being a home owner – I should know.
My experience with our government is they take from me not give.
Typical commie/puke…pandering to the inmature adult Americans.Mommy Hilly will take care of baby.
I shared my story with Hillary.
We are basically locked out of the market, although we could afford it because:
1) An illegal is using my SSN, and
2) The sub-primes just collapsed, and identity theft basically disqualifies you for the prime market at a rate below 16%
So now there is nothing left to do but either brace for the higher tax rate, or go on welfare to avoid having to pay in any more.
Decisions, decisions…..
Here’s a thought game for the Democrats:
One million people earn $1000/year on the island Imaginaria, while 1000 others suddenly earn nothing. The government comes up with scheme to re-distribute the wealth, as the 1000 face losing their shelters because they can no longer afford to keep them. The government proposes the one million each give $1 a piece. This leaves the million with $999 a piece, while the 1000 also get $999 (the rest is administrative cost). What will be the end state of this plan?
(HINT:Research the Prisoner’s Dilemma)
Perhaps the Invisible Hand will whack Hillary Clinton in the back of the head so that she knows it exists.
#21
How many illegal aliens with fake documents have some of these mortgages that they can’t pay for now? And now the gov will bail out the companies that shouldn’t have been giving them mortgagaes in the fiorst place.
It seems as if the village is having to do more and more. And with children being defined as under 25 (see the S-CHIP program, it looks like the elders are going to have keep opening up their wallets for Hildog
I think the eventual plan is for us to pay 100% taxes, and let Hitlery take care of us.
Until they bought the fancy joint in NY Hillary and Bill had mostly lived in government housing…while the rest of their real estate experience was, um, shall we say, questionable?
So, let me get this straight…people wanted to buy a house which they really couldn’t afford….it was above their means, but, because some companies wanted to make money in the housing boom…practiced some creative mortgage financing, so these people could afford payments on a house they normally couldn’t afford! The people were thinking that the increase in the housing market would save them….oooops…the market slowed down…now they are stuck with higher payments they can’t afford. Where in the world do we come in to bail them out?…why don’t we bail out everyone that can’t afford their house payment?…when does it end…
Yeah… In retrospect it should have read
You did the right thing, well done. Hillary want sto reward those who were not quite so bright, and punish you for not being stupid.
The only good thing about the current democrats running is that only one of them would end up president. Can you imagine the utter hell if you combined these jokers?
The new I.R.S. 1040 form after Hillary is elected:
1. How much do you earn _______
2. Send it here:
I.R.S.
Washington D.C.
hmmm. Should I who bought a house at my means …
be coerced…
to pay for the family who can’t control themselves and bought a house above their means….
when I live in a 2,000 square foot home and they live in a 4,000 square foot home???
Maybe as part of the “program” Hillary can force that homeowner to take in a few homeless people – you know and ask them to work for food… around their John Edwards sized …. I mean Hillary’s NY Estate sized house….
malkin_fan, you forgot something:
1a. Would you like to contribute to my re-election campaign?
( If answered yes – skip #2 )
That may be today’s winner for “Most cynical thing said”.
What bothers me is that it probably isn’t too far off…
Bill and Hillary go house hunting…
Hillary – “Is it a good Learjet Liberal neighborhood?”
Bill – “Is there a thick pad under the carpet in the study?”
Why , so they can bury themselves deeper?Or do we get to pay their mortgage for them. Seems like illegal aliens and fools get all the rights and all the breaks and screw everyone else.
So now there is no accountability to the buyer? No accountability to the idiot that borrowed 125% of his houses value? Idiots that signed into ARM’s?
SubPrime consumers. They’re really not subprime LOANS, they are BELOW PRIME BUYERS.
Hillary really does not have a clue, does she?
Dangerous, dangerously stupid, dangerously willing to lie/cheat/steal from peter to pay peter?
I think I’ll go but a half dozen houses to flip…then have the Shill bail me out. Easy money.
She scares the heck outta me.
God HELP US. PLEASE!
riplag is right on… Congress is out of control and much of the spending is unconstitutional – the contract with America has been broken. Those who have sworn to uphold it have lied to us repeatedly.
How do we right the ship? Constitutional Convention? Taxpayer revolt? Supreme Court ruling? Civil war? New political party?
It’s time for honorable men to once again pledge lives, fortunes and honor to correct this great wrong.
I feel not on ounce of sorrow for these people.
The old adage still applies here…if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.
Oh, and
Nothing is free.
Pul Pat,
The hotdogs are free when you vote Democrat…
Somedays here at the state of CA the pizza is free (from the Union)
This goes much further than subprime lenders. There have been a host of irresponsible lending practices from lenders such as Wells Fargo and Bank of America, who issue credit cards and loans to undocumented illegals.
Luckily, MM has been commenting on this for years Here
And theres another article here that shows the trend has continued.
And a bit from Diana Grassi of the American Chronicle in 2005:
Now, I’m not saying that loaning money to illegals is the reason there is a crisis in the mortgage market. I am making the point that this is a risky, irresponsible lending practice that has been going on for the past 6 years.
If you have bad credit or a foreclosure on your record, it seems like the best thing to do is to renounce your American citizenship, become a Mexican citizen, and return with Mexican papers to get a loan.
Will Hillary’s plan bail out the illegal immigrants in foreclosure too?
COMMUNISM!!!!!!!
This whole entitlement thing is ridiculous. The ONLY thing you are entitled to is your weekly paycheck and what ever you are able to buy with it!
I guess we can now add another one to the Democrat’s list of enemy’s. First it was “Big Oil”, then “Big Tobacco”, then “Big Medicine”…… now its “Big Real estate”????
What in the hell is happening to America?
Did someone say PORK?
Wanna bet – say the ranch?
At the risk of enraging feminists (redundant, I know), Hillary Clinton is a woman with few significant life accomplishments. She flunked the bar in another state, passing it in Arkansas. She used her husband’s power to get clients, and she road his coattails to a Senate seat. Her only major attempts at policy were debacles.
First she tried to reform education in 1980 in Arkansas, leading to her husband being fired. Bill moved away from Hillary and towards Dick Morris to save his career. 14 year later, health care reform brought the same failure, with Hillary again being banished in favor of Morris.
People look at her words. They need to look at her deeds. Her record is simply one of failure. She cannot get things done, and even if she could, those solutions would make things worse.
http://blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com/2007/06/01/your-words-are-adequate-but-what-have-you-actually-done/
http://blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com/2007/03/14/liberals-can-run-and-they-can-hide/
Respectfully,
eric
It will be funny to hear Jan Edwards’ stance on this since he worked for such a company after he and John Kerry lost the last Presidential election. Let the back peddling begin!
I will accept MM’s criticism of the Fannie May if she also criticizes the Fed for bailing out the hedge funds that have made so much money in sub-prime loans. Helping the big guy is OK but helping the little guy is socialism?
Ah, little green meanie is back beating up Michelle. Taking up where MikeB left off.
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=18413
Alphonse, thanks for reminding me that I hate my home state…
lgm, the feds have yet to bail anyone out in this subprime fiasco. See GWB’s latest press conference when he said he woulnd’t do it.
And soap_box…
There can only be one president. Only one would be the Pres…
Unless there is some horrible accident, and they create Jorak Kusinton…
“Clinton criticized unscrupulous mortgage brokers who push customers into borrowing more to pad their commission or are dishonest about the true cost of the loan.”
In this, Hillary is right. There are lots of unscrupulous lenders. They lie about the true costs of the loan, try to hide the consequences of what happens when the teaser rate of an adjustable expires, and then try to “thrash” the borrowers into refinancing again, usually with “hidden” brokerage fees that amount to thousands of dollars. Then they sell the paper and add an addition to their beach house in Maui.
Right now, they are bombarding the borrowers of New Century Mortgage with all sorts of “offers.” They obtain an address list gleaned from county court houses across the nation of people who filed a mortage with New Century, and then blizzard them with junk mail and telemarketers (violating the do-no-call government list), unmercifully. If you EVER had a New Century loan, no matter how long ago, no matter if you still have the mortgage or if you refinanced already, or if you even paid it all off, they want you. And they want you bad! And they won’t accept no for an answer.
They have a name for their prospective customer: “SUCKER!” And they want as many suckers as possible. That beach house in Maui….
Hillary’s solution, of course, won’t work. It’s a feel-good panacea that will only attrack more sharks into the feeding frenzy.
If the housing bubble hadn’t burst, the borrowers could have sold out and used their equity to buy another house. But with 105% “interest only”, “no-doc,” loans, in a market where housing prices have dropped by 2-5%, there IS NO EQUITY. In fact, after the foreclosure, the borrower is STILL ON THE HOOK for the rest of the money.
So you file bankruptcy, right? Walk away from the loan? Nope. The “reforms” enacted into law at the behest of the banks have made it impossible to “walk away” from your loans. In many federal districts, the bankruptcy trustees routinely deny Chapter 7 applications, permanently blocking any attempt at remediation or relief. They even toss out most Chapter 13 applications, denying borrowers protection from unmerciful creditor harrassment.
So, when those new offers to refinance roll in, the “SUCKERS!” have little choice but to sign on — and to sign on to a life of eternal debt and servitude.
Why do I say this? Isn’t indentured servitude illegal? Not for long, because within the next few years, the banking industry is going to make a major play to strip the money in pensions, social security, and 401/403 and IRA’s from those “SUCKERS!” and “deadbeats” to repay their debts, leaving nothing for retirement in old age. Right now, there are hundreds of billions of dollars that are beyond the reach of the bankers. And they want it. ALL of it.
My wife and I foresaw the current situation several years ago. We noticed how illegal aliens were causing wages to be depressed, causing a real-income crunch. We noticed how the banks were screwing people with outrageous interest rates on credit cards. We saw the revolving door between the Comptroller of the Currency and the banks, and the Comptroller shutting out the states from enforcing their laws against banks and credit cards by claiming exclusive jurisdiction. We saw where bankruptcy legislation was going. So we took action.
WE PAID OFF OUR HOME MORTGAGE. We attacked our credit card debts.
If you are a home owner on the edge, do whatever you can to eliminate your mortgage. Get second jobs. Sell personal property. Sell your home at a price above what you owe and consider renting until things get better for you. Better to take a ‘paper loss’ right now based upon an unrealistic property appraisal in a falling market, than to lose the whole thing, and still owe money when it’s all over, after the banks have “lowballed” your house at a foreclosure auction.
Do what you need to do. But don’t fall for the junk mail and telemarketers unless you have a good attorney to explain the pitfalls of the new “deal” to you. You have no idea what lenders are inserting into their mortgage contracts these days.
If you are a “flipper,” you can go to hell! Flippers created the bubble, and caused it to burst for everyone. The Constitution does not confirm a right to a profit on real estate transactions. If you lose your shirt, too damn bad. No sympathy for you.
The problem is greedy banks and bankers preying on foolish or desperate borrowers. We can’t do much about fools except to educate them as best we can.
What would help the most is not more “hillary-care, banker’s edition” but returning the enforcement back to the states.
Unscupulous lenders?
WHITEWATER anybody? (sorry for shouting)
That was unscrupulous lending at its finest. All mortgage payments made were rent until the property was fully paid off. That means that people who paid 95% of the mortage in some cases, if they missed a payment near the very end, had their homes repossessed without warning.
Hillary Clinton would know about predatory lending practices. It was one of the only thing in life she succeeded.
I guess that is what she meant in 1992 by “putting people first.”
http://blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com/2007/05/26/run-for-president-lose-your-soul/
Respectfully,
eric
I apologize for the grammar above. I will stop being arrogant, and use the “preview” button before posting.
eric http://www.blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com
Speaking of The Pantsuit, what is she hiding?
In the great socialist world of Hillary and the Democrats, everybody is a victim of something or someone. Therefore, the government must bail out the victim. Self discipline, honesty, and integrity don’t matter in their world – just look at Bill Clinton if you doubt this.
All,
I am having a good day Imus settled with CBS according to the Drudge Report- he got paid. The thing is, Imus isn’t what you would call a Hellary fan, yeah and they say he is negotiating with WABC to get back on the Air. I do wonder what he will have to say? Part of the settlement CBS asked for a non dispargement clause. I don’t think that covers the Clintons!
Hillary ‘Tax’ Clinton at it again. She’s so smart she knows what to do with your money better than you do. She’s really good at giving away other people’s money.
I guess in her ‘free’ society, people aren’t ‘free’ to make bad choices. People are only free to make choices requiring bigger government assistance. People shouldn’t have bought more house than they could have afforded and they wouldn’t be in trouble.
Thanks again MM.
Hot dogs & government hand-outs….
Both made with pork-products, and both are things that may look good to whomever gets them …
… but you don’t want to see how they’re made!
Idiots! Like I said last week, what happened to Buyer Beware. I do feel badly that these people are/may lose their homes but how is this my fault and why should I pay for it? We pay our mortgage on time all the time and do without big trips, motorcycles and jet skis because we’re also trying to save for retirement and that big trip we’d like to take in 10 years on the Queen Mary. So, we take small side trips and we go out to eat once or twice a month and other things.
I mentioned those friends of ours in Tampa last week who like idiots got themselves an interest only loan three years ago and put 10K down on it. They figured that since his tour at Central Command was only going to be three years this would work out for them. They asked everyone’s advice at their Hail and Farewell and everyone thought it was a bad idea but they did it anyway. Long story short they have major payments coming up in November of this year that they can’t afford. They’ve had the house up for sale since March and finally got an offer but the offer is for 520K, which of course they can’t accept because it’s way too low. They’re hoping for a bail out. This man is a LTC in the US Army and he wants a dang bail out. What’s wrong with this picture?
You could use taxpayer money to give $1 billion to people.
Or, you could abolish the federal income tax.
The average American family earning between $60k to $99k per year will pay between $9k-$15k in federal taxes. This means they would have $750-$1250 extra per month to put towards a mortgage.
Of course, by proposing an abolition of the federal income tax I’ll be branded some sort of fanatic. Hillary, on the other hand, will be lauded for taking $1 billion from taxpayers. Go figure.
It’s all pandering…every bit of it.
A few years back the leftist claim was that banks weren’t offering mortgages to high-risk applicants, or set “unaffordably” high interests rates. It was all “red-lining” and racism, you see…
Then, the sub-prime mortgage market arrived, not by government fiat but based on risky business plans and unfounded assumptions (by both lenders and borrowers) that house prices would continue rising.
Jessee Jackson was happy to be photographed with the execs of the lender banks helping “his” people, perhaps because he got “contributions” from them to carry out his “struggle”.
Now that “his people” are defaulting, Hilary comes along to tell them she will make them whole — by taking $1 billion from other taxpayers to pay off the lenders.
Then: “You bankers should trust us to pay”.
Now: “You bankers forced us to borrow!”
Then: “We bankers don’t want to lend to such high-risk borrowers”.
Now: “The government forced us to lend to them”.
Anyone out there like me, who wonders if Hillary’s Chappaqua house has a secret room looking like the one festooned with newsclippings in “A Beautiful Mind”?
Sure, she may seem smart in pandering to poorer voters in a financial pickle, but how many million middle class voters are gong to say “Hey! How come I’m not getting a bailout! Baby needs shoes! Junior needs an XBox! Sissy needs college tuition!” I need a Prius! My mortgage keeps me from all these!”
IOW she will alienate many more than she will win over.
LOL Michelle; was that big fannie comment in reference to Hillerys butt?
I guess with her as president and a democrat congress, I’ll have to sacrifice my family even more, to support another. Not only will I have to support someone else’s healthcare, but it looks like I’ll have to support someone else’s mortgage payment too. Welcome to socialism. Funny, I used to be a Dem years ago, but they went so radical I can’t stand them anymore. Constitution? What Constitution?
My constitution reads….
If you are a responsible individual you own a home within your means AND you provide for the irresponsible decisions of others who own a 4,000 square foot home.
See if I ever choose modest homes to buy ever again…. I’m going with the flow – overextend and be bailed out by the government.
I will submit….
And Slick Willy was the first black President.
Any takers? Can there be two Presidents? Can the President server more than two terms? Hint – trick questions!
Thank you. Many people forget that a loan is a two-party transaction: borrower AND lender. And unless every bad borrower committed fraud, then there are a lot of lenders out there that are every bit as stupid as the borrowers for making loans that should have never been made.
What’s really disingenuous about Hillary’s plan is that she that by bailing out the irresponsible borrowers, she is also going to be bailing out the irresponsible lenders. So sure, the lenders have to take, on the surface, some verbal abuse from Hillary, but do you think they really mind when she’s going to make sure they get their money?
Where? Why New England states. Why, fewer conservatives. Trap? A congressman who will not support Shillary has little chance of securing any of that Billion!
What is Hillary hiding in the pantsuit?
According to my Dave Chapelle dictionary, it would be called a “Badonkadonk.” I am not taking a position on that, although “Monique from Showtime at the Apollo” has said it should be worn proudly and loudly, or something to that effect.
http://blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com/2007/07/02/rosie-scooter-dubya-and-monique-huh/
eric
‘The median income is down $1,300′. Does anyone think that 20,000,000 illegals have anything to do with that?
We’re in a down cycle. People can’t take responsibility for their decisions anymore and the democrats are pandering to the misfortunate and trying to convince them that they’ll make it all better. We probably have a housing supply in most of the country for the next several years. How many more housing units do we need anyway. It was an inevitable downturn. I’ve seen several before and we always recovered.
It’s time for the “players” to suffer through their risk taking decisions and not the U.S. Taxpayers. We already have enough national debt for us to pass on to our great, great, great grandchildren. God help us if the Liberals get control of all branches of government.
That IS the plan which she will happily implement. She willbe the mother of all villages:)
For moths, newspapers have been bombarding us with sob stories of people “taken advantage of” by mortgage lenders, all to soften us up for the inevitable bailout. The last story, however, ended with this Mexican American’s takedown of his spendthrift, greedy neighbors who borrowed too much and are now paying the price: “I never sell. I never refinance,” Zambrano said. “I don’t take money out of my house to buy a car or take a vacation. I’m not stupid.”
At any one time, there can only be one PotUS. 25th Amendment issues aside, you only get one…
And technically, a VP coming in after half the term is over could get now you can’t serve more than 2 elected terms…
Or am I mistaken, sir?
I do have the disadvantage of a public school education…
Another trust fund to be raided by the Government, just like Social Security. Does anybody really believe that a dime of this money is going to go towards paying off mortgages?
The Goverment will raid that money and use it for staffing, salary increases, pork, and other waste.
HHmmm…The only thing missing from billarys mortgage scheme is the “Race card” and I take it that its inferred because if the Mortgage Companies were not attempting to reach out to the people with bad credit then the MSM would be complaining that minorities were being locked out of home ownership.
In other words, the mortgage company would still be the scapegoat…Where’s jessie or al when you neeed them?
In the course of my 56 years I’ve seen this country go from a republic to a socialist’s dream. Government at all levels controls property and production through regulation. Just try to do something to your property where I live without the county’s permission. The more government gives you (in the process of taking away from you) the less free you are – it owns you.
If (God forbid) Hillary is elected president with a socialist democrat congress, the transformation from republic to socialist wasteland will be complete.
We can then send our Constitution to Iraq because we’re not using it anyway.
As the son of a Holocaust survivor, I am politely requesting that people stop referring to Hillary as “Hitlery.”
I disagree with everything she stands for. I find her to be awful from a political standpoint. However, name calling is reserved for children, aka liberals.
Let us batter her deservedly on issues, without crossing the line.
http://blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com/2007/04/24/liberals-are-rightjust-not-about-anything-that-matters/
Respectfully,
eric