The left-wing mortgage counseling racket
Members of the US Senate are patting themselves on the back over their agreement on a housing bill yesterday. If you want to see a photo that should send shivers down your spine, check out the pic of Harry Reid and company. Blech. A disastrous provision to allow bankruptcy judges to rewrite mortgage contracts was dropped, but Republicans agreed to include another key provision pushed by Democrats: $100 million for mortgage counseling to be administered by non-profit groups. The Dems originally pushed for $200 million.
What I haven’t heard publicly from a single Republican senator is any objection to where all that money is going–and what exactly taxpayers are getting for it. Conservatives in the Senate (the few of them that are left) seem to have just rolled over and accepted at face value the liberal premise that the subprime mess was primarily created by a lack of education–as opposed to high-risk borrowers and lenders consciously making bad decisions and expecting now to be insulated from the consequences of their actions. From the way Harry Reid and company talk about the $100 million mortgage counseling provision, you would think helpless, hapless, vulnerable borrowers are being left adrift with no one to turn to for information.
As I’ve pointed out several times over the past year, mortgage counseling is a thriving racket that benefits far Left groups ranging from the AARP to ACORN to La Raza and Legal Aid. The Department of Housing and Urban Development funds hundreds, if not thousands, of these groups across the country. In October, HUD announced more than $44 million in new housing counseling grants to over 400 state and local efforts. The White House has increased funding for housing counseling by 150 percent since taking office in 2001.
Here’s a list (PDF) of national, regional, state, and local housing counseling grantees for fiscal year 2007–all of whom presumably were in operation when subprime borrowers got into the current mess. Among the major recipients:
*The AARP scored nearly $400,000 for training.
*The National Council of La Raza scooped up more than $1.3 million.
*The National Urban League raked in nearly $1 million.
*ACORN Housing Corporation received more than $1.6 million.
A full list of grantee profiles is here (PDF). A small sample:
National Council of La Raza (NCLR) Washington, DC
$1,322,652 - Comprehensive CounselingFounded in 1968, The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) is a private, nonprofit organization and the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States. Through its network of nearly 300 affiliated community-based organizations, NCLR reaches millions of Hispanics each year in 41 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. To achieve its mission, NCLR conducts applied research, policy analysis, and advocacy. In addition, it provides capacity-building assistance to its affiliates who work at the state and local level to advance opportunities for individuals and families. NCLR’s Homeownership Network is comprised of 43 organizations providing bilingual housing counseling services in 24 states.
Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation dba NeighborWorks® America Washington, DC
$1,424,711 - Comprehensive Counseling
$2,600,026 - Housing Counseling TrainingNeighborWorks America is a national nonprofit organization created by Congress to provide financial support, technical assistance, and training for community-based revitalization efforts. NeighborWorks’ core competencies include homeownership and affordable rental programs, professional training and certification, consumer counseling and education, rehabilitation of housing stock, outcomes measurement, and the training and empowerment of community residents. The nationally recognized NeighborWorks Training Institutes are the largest and most respected trainer of community development professionals in the United States, providing professional training and certification in all aspects of community development and affordable housing. NeighborWorks’ Center for Foreclosure Solutions trains foreclosure counselors, conducts public outreach campaigns, and develops strategic solutions, all in conjunction with national partners. It sponsors the HOPE hotline for financially distress homeowners at 888-995-HOPE.
ACORN Housing Corporation (AHC)
Philadelphia, PA
$1,628,829 - Comprehensive Counseling
Established in 1985, ACORN Housing Corporation (AHC) is a HUD-approved housing counseling intermediary providing housing counseling to low- and moderate-income and minority households in 38 cities. AHC housing counselors work closely with families to help them qualify for mortgages, home improvement loans, mortgage refinancing, reverse mortgages, or a delinquency payment strategies. AHC has special programs for first-time homebuyers, Spanish-speaking households, home refinancing, mortgage assistance, and individuals with high interest rate loans. AHC specializes in working with first-time home buyers and homeowners who are having trouble with their mortgages. AHC has programs with major lenders to provide more flexible loan terms and lower costs and has been a national leader in fighting predatory lending and helping people with unfair loans.Asian, Inc.
San Francisco, CA
$20,000.00
Asian, Inc. works to strengthen the physical, economic, and social development of Asian American communities in Northern California. The agency employs a multi-lingual and multi-cultural staff with varied backgrounds. Asian, Inc.’s First Time Homebuyer’s Education and Counseling Program provides bilingual first time homebuyer education to households in the City and County of San Francisco and Alameda County. These households are located in the distressed, low-moderate income areas of San Francisco, such as Chinatown, Tenderloin, South of Market Street, Visitacion Valley, Bayview Hunters Point, Excelsior, and neighborhoods with heavy concentration of Asian residents such as the Richmond and Sunset districts. The bilingual workshops are conducted by staff in Chinese and Vietnamese, in addition to English, and supported with bilingual print and audio-visual materials.AARP Foundation
Washington, DC
$399,974 – Housing Counseling Training
The AARP Foundation’s Reverse Mortgage Education Project (RMEP) has developed a comprehensive training, testing, technical assistance, and evaluation system to improve the quality and accountability of HECM counseling on a national basis. The system includes unique HECM-specific tools and technologies that have been carefully developed, tested, and refined over the past seven years in cooperation with a growing number of local counseling agencies and with input from HUD, HECM counselors, and HECM industry leaders. From FY 2001 to FY 2006, RMEP created, managed, and coordinated a national HECM counseling network that provided HECM counseling to 47,704 households.National Urban League (NUL)
New York, NY
$914,415 - Comprehensive Counseling
A housing counseling provider for over 30 years, the National Urban League (NUL) coordinates a network of 31 local affiliates that provide housing counseling services in 20 states. NUL affiliates provide comprehensive housing counseling, including pre-and post-purchase counseling. In addition, affiliates tailor their services to address the unique needs of the communities they serve, including providing education and outreach on predatory lending and fair housing issues, directing clients to mortgage products with flexible underwriting criteria, and encouraging the “unbanked” to use financial services as a way to enhance their credit worthiness. NUL also coordinates its counseling activities with a diverse group of public and private organizations in unique ways that benefit their clients. For example, NUL staff has collaborated with Fannie Mae to develop a flexible mortgage instrument to fit the needs of low-income minoritiesJacksonville Area Legal Aid Inc.
Jacksonville, FL.
Comprehensive Counseling
$34,461.63
Jacksonville Area Legal Aid Inc. (JALA), established in 1976, is a not for profit agency providing civil legal assistance to low income persons in need of private legal assistance. JALA’s mission is to obtain and provide high quality legal assistance to low income and other special needs groups and to stimulate and empower groups of poor people to accomplish energetic and affirmative advocacy. JALA provided counseling to 1,541 clients during FY05-06 seeking homebuyer education, predatory lending and HECM counseling.Legal Aid Society of Hawaii
Honolulu, HI
$20,000.00
The Legal Aid Society of Hawaii is Hawaii’s oldest and largest non-profit law firm, dedicated to assisting the low-to modern-income community. The mission is to achieve fairness and justice for Hawaii’s people through quality representation, advocacy, community partnerships, education and outreach. Legal Aid’s Housing Counseling Program is broken down into two main categories: (1) The Renter’s Assistance program that provides renters with a broad range of legal assistance about tenants’ legal rights and responsibilities and (2) The Homeownership Counseling provides basic pre-purchase counseling, default counseling or Post-Purchase counseling, including reverse mortgage counseling. Legal Aid Society of Hawaii has branch offices located on the islands of Molokai, Maui, Kauai, Hilo, Kona, and Oahu.Legal Aid of Western Missouri
Kansas City, MO
$70,615.72 - Comprehensive CounselingTexas RioGrande Legal Aid
Weslaco, TX
$74,231.13 - Comprehensive Counseling
Take a look at the list of HUD-approved mortgage counseling groups in California alone. The list goes on for miles. Counselors are available in every language under the sun–from Spanish to Hindi, Hmong, Cambodian, French, and Portuguese. Just picking an example at random, the Eden Council for Hope and Opportunity in Livermore, CA provides…
-Home Equity Conversion Mortgage Counseling
- Mortgage Delinquency and Default Resolution Counseling
- Prepurchase Counseling
- Renters Assistance
…in the following languages…
- Arabic
- Cambodian
- Cantonese
- Chinese Mandarin
- Czech
- French
- Hindi
- Indonesian
- Korean
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Russian
- Spanish
- Turkish
- Vietnamese
And on and on and on it goes.
If all of the available counseling assistance isn’t enough to prevent the current mess we are in, why are Republicans in Washington allowing one more cent to be thrown at the problem–money that will go to heavy-hitting left-wing groups who will turn around and undermine principles of economic conservatism at every turn?
Ask your Senators:
202-224-3121.
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- Hot Air » Blog Archive » Housing bailout benefits builders, offers “counseling” for homeowners
- Left-Wing Pork in Bill for Homeowners | OpenMarket.org
- Fungible Contributions « St. Louis CofCC Blog
- Neocon News » Daily Quick Hits 3/4/08
- BizzyBlog » TILTPAT-BIDHAT4 (040808, Morning)
- Michelle Malkin » Fiscal conservative hero: Sen. Bunning asks the right questions about the housing boondoggle
- Senate Passes Bad Mortgage Bill, House Seeks to Make It More Rotten | OpenMarket.org
- Michelle Malkin » The left-wing mortgage counseling racket, cont’d: La Raza’s earmark
- Michelle Malkin » Paging John McCain: GOP House leader Boehner rips La Raza earmark
- Michelle Malkin » Update: What happened to the La Raza/The Race earmark?
- Michelle Malkin » Update: What happened to the La Raza/The Race earmark?
- politicalpartypoop.com » Blog Archive » What happened to the La Raza/The Race earmark?
- Michelle Malkin » Open borders and the mortgage mess
- One Old Vet » Blog Archive » Open borders and the mortgage mess
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- Michelle Malkin » Wachovia: Banking on open borders
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Categories: Subprime crisis
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I used to think that houses here in Seattle were too expensive for me to buy. NOW I learn that the taxpayers are like an unwilling silent co-signer to my loans… I’m still not sure how to make it work, the intricacies of the system are beyond me as a first time buyer, but I’m sure the nice folks at ACORN will have the skinny on all the ways to beat the system. I don’t expect that these groups are going to teach people to “Suck It Up” in a dozen different languages, do you? No, counseling means teaching homeowners new ways to get taxpayers to foot the bill for homeowners’ loans. As a renter, I’m THRILLED at the opportunity to work an extra day or two per month to pay other people’s mortgages. Thrilled, I tell you.
Maybe I should take a weekend course and become an ACORN mortgage counselor. I wonder if they get paid enough to afford a home on a single paycheck?
I have my senators and congressman on speed dial.
They’ll be hearing from me when they wake up this morning.
I’m glad the judicial interference was dropped, but I fear that it’ll end up coming back in some form or another. It’s ludicrous to tell a company that they have to take a massive loss, readjust their books, violate the written agreement, etc, because the other party entered into a loan they couldn’t afford in the first place. Talk about hurting the economy…
It’s official, Democrat and Republican citizens of this country have absolutely no representation.
When Condoleezza Rice spoke last week about “birth defects” shared by African Americans, one of the things she alluded to was general financial ignorance. Up until the last 40 years, most blacks could earn only a fraction of what was made by their white counterparts, even professionals like doctors and lawyers. Blacks from previous generations never learned to save, because they never had enough money to save. And when financial difficulties came along, if family could not help out, the only people who would deal with blacks were loan sharks, pawn dealers, and other money gougers. (Unfortunately, much of that money gouging came from other blacks who owned those businesses.)
Those bad habits are still being passed along today. For that reason, I don’t think it’s a bad idea to have an independent organization (that is, one that doesn’t make additional money if a home is sold) do a financial review for the prospective buyers and then go over the mortgage with them, explaining equity, interest, and then doing some projections of what to expect under different economic conditions.
Question is, though, is that the kind of service being provided by these counseling agencies? Does anyone have an outline of that these training sessions cover? Commenters here to assume the worst, namely that these are “how to walk away scott-free” training courses. But is that true?
“Commenters here seem to assume the worst …”
Why does anyone need mortgage counseling? My guess is they can’t read, don’t know what a contract means (it’s binding…or at least it used to be)or they learned from their peers the taxpayers will eventually foot the bills because we’re
so generousso screwed.Let’s calling it Universal Mortgage assistance: another hand-out by the bureaucrats.
Of course the Republicans give in to this.They have been punked by the MSM and the Dems for so long I think they like it.Whatever the issue they are made to look like the evil bad guys and they don’t defend it anywhere the general population hears it.The Dems bought plenty of goodwill with this idiocy and McCain better get on the right side of it or the MSM will use it against him.Anything congress does is a disaster and they get away with it.Excuse me now,I am going to the bank to pay my mortgage.
1. Far more money than this goes to “faith based” (almost all conservative) groups.
2. Predatory lending is common.
Here’s this liberal’s view of what some here call socialism. Without governments we would have trouble building roads. Rather than individuals each building a part of the street in front of their houses, we all get together and have the government build a single road for everyone. The same goes for people in economic distress. Rather than each of us helping an individual, we give this task to a government agency that can do it more efficiently than we can.
Are you saying they consciously entered into mortages they knew they couldn’t pay down the line? Don’t people make bad decisions because they’re not well informed/educated?
As usual, lgm is doing his snip routine and twisting facts. From his link:
In all the years I have been involved in foreign aid, I have yet to see an atheist group devote themselves and their lives to foreign aid missions whereas, there are literally tens of thousands of Christian groups doing foreign aid missions around the world. So the money would, OBVIOUSLY, go to these “Christian” groups. Then again, his link was not about real facts concerning how many dollars are going to “Christian” groups. He linked an article about Atheist groups wanting to sue the government over how the government spends money so their dollar amounts might be a bit slanted.
Someone defined a troll yesterday and left out one obvious definition:
Type three. A person who constantly thread jacks and uses misinformation to take the thread where it was never meant to go.
On this issue, lgm does not skate all over the line. lgm lowers the bar to a new level every day.
Michelle as always thank you for the ammunition I will be using when I talk with my Congress critters staffers today. I make it a rule not to use four letter words and to be polite when talking with these ninnies, but this issue gets me as steamed as trying to grant amnesty to illegal invaders. Many illegals I am sure will require the counseling from the leftist groups on our stolen wages. Just once I would like to see a President repeal an Executive Order especially the one mandating everyone gets Government services in their native language instead of English. Thanks so much Billy Bob Horndog for screwing us all!
People make bad decisions for all kinds of reasons - but we are not required to intuit why or what their thought processes are, nor should we - the responsible taxpayers - be required to bail them out. Are we now, via government bailouts, supposed to insulate everyone from the consequences of bad decisions?
Conscious or unconscious, they signed the contract agreeing with its terms. Both sides must live up to its provisions. This is nothing but more, continued “legalized robbery” on the part of Congress and the irresponsible (but I repeat myself) from those of us who make responsible decisions.
I don’t disagree. However, regardless of whose fault it is, the subprime crisis is having a very negative effect on the economy. Spending $100M in ‘education’ to avert or alleviate a situation like this seems a small price to pay.
I understand your point about personal responsibility, but if too many people in the nation are making bad decisions, it’s in everyone’s best interest to teach them how make better ones.
Either they did it “consciously” or they aren’t competent enough to be entering into a contractual agreement. But, there are a great many of them that did go in with their eyes open, especially the speculators looking to flip homes for a profit.
The federal government getting involved in every aspect of our daily lives is socialism. The fed should deliver the mail, protect our borders and defend out nation, the only one of which it is doing very well, I might add, is the latter. Beyond that, it should be left to the states.
By the way, how were you able to inject the word “efficiently” into a sentence with “government agency” and not gag?
Fco, how does insulating people from their bad decisions teach them how to make better ones?
All I’ve learned from the “mortgage crisis” is that paying your bills on time and living within your means is for chumps.
Government is really people and there are always people who want what is yours and mine.
The Founders put in the ten amendments for such a reason.
Amendment II to protect the other nine.
We have tipped the scales…most of congress is there because they enjoy helping people by giving away other peoples money…..our money….they are now starting to look for others they can give money. and we keep electing them….soooo hold on it is going to get interesting…after they shut down BIG OIL, BIG Tobacco,BIG food producers, you got to wounder where they will get money to give away?
There hasn’t been a lack of opportunity for education. Take a look at the extensive list of counseling that was already being funded throughout the U.S. There was more than ample opportunity for “education” and “training”, if they needed it.
It comes down to living within one’s means. My wife and I can’t afford to buy a new home, yet. So, what do we do, we save our money until we can, like responsible adults. I have no expectation of being a tax burden on anyone else in society because I am going to do something stupid.
Our income doesn’t even put us into the middle income bracket. At best, we are probably considered uppper-lower class. But, we save our money and purchase, when we know we can pay for it.
It is the lack of personal responsibility by so many consumers that brings us to this so-called “subprime crisis.” In a nutshell it comes down to us taking up the slack of slackers, which just enables continued bad behavior.
Nail/head
These people should have been taught personal and financial responsibility and how to read a contract in school. These classes are at least as important as classes in putting on a condom. That is what the public schools were originally designed to accomplish, not indoctrinate little leftists. These people bought into the housing market to make a lot of money and save on rent. They knew the day would come when the balloon payment would come due, but figured they would win the lottery by then. Looks like they have, but supported by us who did not buy a ticket.
By the way, it this ACORN the same crooks that register voters illegally? If so, they belong in prison, not on the government handout lists.
I work in real estate education. Every piece of paper you sign related to your mortgage and closing on your house includes a full explanation of what you’re signing. Federal law requires that you be given this information in plain English. If you don’t understand it, you can ask your real estate agent or attorney to explain it to you. If you don’t trust them, sure, these non-profit groups can help you out. I don’t have a problem with the existence of groups that want to educate potential homebuyers. But I’m concerned that they’re pushing unprepared, low-income people to buy homes they can’t afford, teaching them to game the system and convincing them the government will bail them out. Homeownership is not for everyone at every stage of life, and sometimes people need to be told to save and wait 5 years or whatever.
#10 On April 3rd, 2008 at 8:57 am, lgm said:
“Rather than each of us helping an individual, we give this task to a government agency that can do it more efficiently than we can.”
Yet again, the Troll does not disappoint, but rather provides us with amusement. Frightening amusement, but amusement nonetheless.
That last sentence sounds like what I would expect to hear from a fourth-grader in today’s dreadful, politicized-socialist school environment.
How efficient is government when it has no competition; and when the overwhelming majority of the funds it extorts from us to “help” people goes to what is nothing more than a jobs program for either governement employees, or political “counseling” organizations and activist groups?
I can think of nothing but “smearing” and “personally-attacking” adjectives to describe that sentence in quotations above; therefore, becauase I am a polite grown-up, I will not apply any adjectives at all to that quoted comment (other than “quoted”).
However, we must all be very concerned, because the writer of that quoted sentence is an “educator”, and also because he can vote.
We should all be very afraid.
Are there any good places new homeowners can go to get help learning about mortgages? I ask because my wife and I are hoping to buy a house soon here in MD. We went to an ACORN housing seminar recently and felt we learned a lot. However, reading a bit about their parent group makes me a bit leery about continuing on with them. So are there decent groups out there who can help us navigate our way into a decent home?
Doesn’t he always? And yet he thinks he’s performing an original pantomine routine for all of us “typical conservatives” to enjoy.
You’ll have to excuse lgm, Soap, he’s just being a “typical Christian-hating, Christian-bashing liberal.” What’s also interesting is that lgm is Jewish (as revealed in his earlier posts). This behavior doesn’t exactly represent “inter-faith dialogue” does it?
I think you’ve pretty much summed up lgm’s “distaste” for not only this blog but for conservatives in general. He’s made it pretty apparent. Some other liberal (TOS?) accused of me of favoring the “echo chamber” mentality. With liberals like lgm behaving badly, I’d rather have disagreements with fellow conservatives who are respectful rather than a liberal with an agenda and a spiteful personality.
If this is the way lgm wants to gain respect (which I’m sure he could care less about), he’s going about it the wrong way.
Obviously not enough or we wouldn’t be in this situation. There’s some kind of underlying notion in this thread that people went into mortgages knowing full well they would lose their house in a year.
Yes they didn’t do their homework when they should have. I wouldn’t put it past some of the lenders to take advantage of that. Not that it’s their fault, but they share some of the blame.
What everyone here needs to understand is that this crisis is affecting all of us, even the financially responsible. I agree that those who do irresponsible things need to lie in the beds they made. But in this instance the problem has grown so wide that it’s affecting the whole community, so the community needs to take steps to alleviate the problem and help prevent it in the future.
I’ve worked too long and too hard to give my hard-earned money to passive, lazy, economics-challenged people who couldn’t be bothered with such things as research, and comparing different mortgage companies who offered the best terms. There’s really no honesty about the the sub-prime situation. People screwed up and socialism-favoring Dems and Republicans are using excuses like if we don’t help these people the economy will go “buh bye” or predatory lenders took “advantage” of people who got “stuck” with a loan they couldn’t possibly pay back.
What happened to planning, budgeting, living within your means? If you’re going under, do you really think it fair that we (the taxpayers) should pay for your folly? I’m sympathetic to some consumers who got ripped off with the ARM’s but excluding that, my sympathy ends there.
Message to America: GROW UP. Educate yourself instead of living on the edge waiting for the next disaster to occur. Did you sleep through Economics 101? Education and learning new things never ends. Do your research, look for seminars/classes about mortgage financing and buying a new home. However, if you’re too lazy to prepare for what is a big life change, you shouldn’t get a house and if you’re too irresponsible to understand what is required of most homeowners who did pay off their mortgages and had no trouble meeting the terms of their mortgage contract, your ignorance and contempt for responsibility should not be excused by the taxpayer.
Owning a home and finding a way to pay for it is work that needs careful preparation. Such a decision shouldn’t be entered into lightly or impulsively. When did laziness become an excuse for a bailout? Such an attitude is mind-boggling to people like me who had a parent (my mother) who grew up poor and did everything she could to prepare for home ownership. Maybe these suckers who want handouts should try it some time.
How much of all this money do you guys think weill actually go to what it’s intended for?
What a ginormous clusterf___ this is going to be. This one stinks almost as bad as shamesty.
#29 On April 3rd, 2008 at 10:30 am, ajmontana said:
“How much of all this money do you guys think weill actually go to what it’s intended for?
What a ginormous clusterf___ this is going to be. This one stinks almost as bad as shamesty.”
Agreed, aj.
That’s just what I said in #24 above.
A mere “stain” of this money will actually get to its “needs-help” target.
We need to get rid of the RINO’s.
That would be equal to the exact ammount of brains in lgm’s head. You figure it out.
Counselors are available in every language under the sun–from Spanish to Hindi, Hmong, Cambodian, French, and Portuguese. Just picking an example at random, the Eden Council for Hope and Opportunity in Livermore, CA provides…
California State Constitution
But does the Government here in CA recognize or enforce this?
sorry granite, didnt read comments, just jumped in the water, like our crapweasel politicians do.
#34 ajmontana:
Absolutely (no other-thread pun intended) no need to be sorry.
Keep on keeping on.
Have you looked at the lists in the actual body of Michelle’s post? By chance did you not notice just how extensive those lists of providers are?
Do you think the American populace so stupid as to need a counselor per potential homebuyer?
It hasn’t been a lack of opportunity to learn. It has been a lack of personal intiative and/or responsibility.
If someone is not competent enough to sit down and be able to list all of their expenditures and compare that to their income to see what they can afford, then they damned sure aren’t competent enough to be entering into a contractual agreement. And, we damned sure don’t need to be bailing them out and that goes for any mortgage/lending company stupid enough to give them the money, because they should have done an assessment of the client’s income and expenditures.
As Michelle has said repeatedly, “Suck. It. Up.“
When people’s eyes are wider than their wallets are fat, then all the education in the world is not about to prevent them from satisfying their “want;” especially when Democrats use the force of government to entice lenders to throw assets to liabilities/acid tests ratios out the window, in order to extend excessive credit limits to people who simply cannot afford it.
I sincerely doubt there is any counseling going on at all. Come on!
This is just a giveaway so that these radical organizations can pay their leaders and organize their clients to get even more money from the government (because or our racism, you see). I’m sure the higher-ups in ACORN and La Raza are pocketing the money.
Waiting for the media to do an expose….
On April 3rd, 2008 at 10:56 am, Pat said:
I sincerely doubt there is any counseling going on at all. Come on!
Perhaps. So, what are the odds that all of this new money for “counseling”, “education” and “training” will result in any, since the same people are getting the money.
Don’t hold your breath on the expose by the MSM.
This is the kind of crap Republicans allow when there’s no leadership.
Sigh …
More money thrown at the most left wing members of our society. Pretty soon they’ll have enough power to do whatever they want and communism won’t be far behind.
How about: (Just a short list)
Mortgage papers be written in PLAIN ENGLISH, so everyone can understand them.(Unless, of course, you can’t understand English)
No more “fine print”! (aka; stuff we hope you won’t read)
No more “bundling” of mortgage contracts.
No more “freebee’s from the mortgage companies for those who can’t afford the mortgage.
Prosecution for lending sharks.
Thus, no taxpayer rape and La Raza, AARP and their ilk don’t get to add to their coffers to fund their attempt to take over U.S. policy.
What really bugs me about this is that no thorough investigation was done about the root causes of the sub-prime fiasco. The usual scapegoats were determined as: 1) Banks 2) Mortgage Companies 3) Real Estate Brokers. The MSM rushed to the Dems’ aid by focusing on “corporate greed” and the usual anti-capitalist, “we need more regulations” screed. Yes, in some circumstances there were bankers who were all too eager to cash in on the easy credit for house trend.
There’s just one thing: where was the investigation into the role of the consumer during this “crisis?” How many people got “conned” and how many just simply closed their eyes, signed the dotted line, and “hoped” they could make those mortgage payments?
Every time there’s a “crisis” Congress or the Fed or both rush to the “rescue” by throwing money at it. Where’s their concern (especially Congress) for the consumer/taxpayer who has to pay for this benificent, big brother, where’s the strings handout? Oh, that’s okay, our deficit will just go up, our dollar will go down, and what’s a few billion between “friends?”
Yet these are the same politicians who don’t mind inserting billions of dollars of pork into bills for their home districts (at the expense of everyone else). Where is the shame, Dems and Repubs? Did we need to pony up money for “historic trails,” “lobster cameras/dog bisquits” and everything else that isn’t central to the country?
I know where it’s going to go, aj, down the drain with all the other giveaways that Congress has handed out over the years.
I was thinking maybe I could get in on this deal. Where does one go to learn how to run one of these counseling services? I noticed a lack of agencies dedicated to European descentants that may have made an uninformed decision to purchase a house using a subprime mortgage.
I could offer services in English and Redneck to cover all Euro-Americans that find themselves in financial trouble.
What a crock.
#12 soap said:
I think his repetitive mishandling of moral equivalence is breathtaking. Quite unusual for a man who claims an academic discipline which includes a focus on near certainty like probability and quantitative analysis.
If anyone is too stupid to understand how much they earn and equate how much of a mortgage they can afford, especially with help from a mortgage company,a closer, etc, THEY”RE TOO STUPID TO OWN A HOME!
.
Just wait, CARS WILL BE NEXT!
BAILOUT FOR MERCEDES, LEXUS AND ESCALADE OWNERS!
#41 Of all your excellent points, I want to emphasize the bundling aspect. The highly paid executives should be forced to pay a penalty (not us) for their failure to practice due diligence. Maybe they could take it out of their bonuses and find a way to live within their ample budgets.
Mortgage Call Center: Hello?
Caller: The adjustable rate mortgage that I couldn’t afford, but purchased anyway isn’t going my way, what can I do?
Mortgage Call Center: Be more careful next time, or try calling a democrat representative to try to get the US taxpayer to bail you out, goodbye!
Worth $100 million??
Sounds like more unaccountable democrat handouts to me.
Now that’s easier said than done, especially when most the Pubbies running are already rino’s.
IMHO the problem is the Republican Party is no longer conservative…they used that new philosophy of going to the middle to garner more votes…turning their backs on the base.
I’m curious if McShame really believes he can win the election without the base.
Maybe it really is time for a good strong conservative 3rd party…Ross Perot couldn’t mess this one up…not with all 3 of these candidates being communists, yes communists. All 3 want gobernment to run it all.
$100 million for mortgage counseling? Here’s some counseling for you:
You borrowed / lent money irresponsibly, now you have to pay for your stupidity / greed. Next time use your brains. Consider yourself counseled.
There ya go, and it didn’t cost the responsible taxpayers a cent.
You can’t educate those who don’t go to school. The only way additional education will help is if you require every potential home buyer to take a federally administered test, which, if the individual does not achieve a passing score he/she can’t borrow the loan.
Is that really the direction you want to go?
By the way, we currently have this requirement for college students who want to borrow a student loan through federal programs. It is called an “Entrance Interview”.
emjem24 (#26):
First the regret about my behavior, then the insult. Hey kids, can you spot the irony?
Back to the topic: Christian organizations get billions for proselytizing , and you worry possibly ten percent of that will be spent counseling people on avoiding predatory loan practices?
I think you’re in the wrong thread.
lgm,
You are a vile person. Do you even know what Samaritan’s Purse does? They collect shoe boxes full of toys and deliver them to poor children all over the world.
Fact: even atheists donate shoe boxes through Samaritan’s Purse.
For GOD’S sake, you would hate your own mother for saying “god bless you” if someone sneezed.
So some group of idiots condemns Samaritan’s Purse. Most people who take the time to learn about them are more than happy to get a shoe box and fill it with toys. Samaritan’s Purse is also funded by donations not by YOUR tax dollars.
Religious group feeding a family of 8 for $25 per month = bad.
Atheist group condemning religious groups = good.
I pray your children never have to depend on Samaritan’s Purse for toys. Since you hate all things “Christian”, you would make them go without.
First, you’re in the wrong thread. Heed Fco’s words.
Second, your presence in this blog is always ironic. Thanks for acknowledging that. If you think I insulted you than you seem to have a thin skin, lgm. Why is that? When you recognize the difference between an observation (which you regularly make) and an insult please let me know.
Third, Christian bashing again? You seem to be making allowances for stupid people and defending their “rights” to bilk taxpayers at the same time you’re deriding Christian organizations. Kids, that’s irony for you. A helping hand and then a slap! How does this topic have anything to do with Christian organizations? Oh, I see, you’re redirecting the conversation.
Don’t you think you should be on the Berkley thread? They seem to be your type of people. They’ll even let you go nude.
Shutting eyes in horror…..
Lgm’s Jewish, privileged, and well… he has a problem with Christians who want to help people! It’s okay to help people who should never have gotten loans in the first place, or had poor financial management skills but not people who truly need it!
I think lgm is a little too self-hating for his own good. I don’t think he understands the meaning of the word Christian. It’s a “vile” word in his vocabulary.
If he is indeed, Jewish, I wonder if his yamakah (sp?) is on a little too tight?
What, no Magyar language? I guess Hungarians are too smart to be fooled. They just think too much I guess. This is pandering to these NGO with no accountability. Totally unnecessary.
#55 emjem24:
The Troll, who is our wonderful “blog jester”, is what he is irrespective of the particular religion into which he was born, or to which he may (or may not) adhere.
Not to be schmalzy or overly simplistic; and not to insult any bloggers: but I (a former altar boy, choir member, and son in-law of the priest!) believe that, when what really matters is considered; when the Ten Commandments, and the rules for treating one’s fellow man and how to behave in situations that life may throw at you are considered; Christians and Jews are virtual moral brethren.
With all respect, I’m not referring to the teachings of the Church fathers, nor to the Talmud, nor to the differences among the Roman Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, and the various Protestant denominations.
Again, with all respect, those are man-made differences; and, as we all know, man is imperfect.
But the core, the heart, of our guides for our relationship with God, and our relationship with our fellow man are so much more similar than different.
One could consider Jews as Jews who still await the Messiah; and consider Christians as Jews who believe Christ is the Messiah.
What other real, in-the-depth-of-the-soul difference is there?
I am not a Bible scholar by any means.
However, I do not remember from my reading of the New Testamant that Jesus (a Jew) demanded that things Jewish be destroyed and replaced.
In fact, as I remember, He said that he did not come to destroy, but rather to fulfill.
Sorry for the preaching.
But, we must remember that we are in this together with Israel, as Civilization…facing the barbarians.
And we have to stick together.
So, if anything, Troll’s religion would be a good thing, if he follows it (I do not use the subjunctive, because I do not Know whether he follows it or not); and if he did not self-hate (that much, I think, is clear).
emjem24 said (#55):
We are getting close to the edge. I’m all for Christians helping people. But not proselytizing, which (as I showed by a link) is what many of these federally funded “faith based” organizations are doing.
granite (#57)
I’m not an expert on the New Testament, but there is one story that relates to this. (Pardon me if the details are wrong.) Jesus starts a meal without the ritual hand washing. Someone asks about this and Jesus says something about our hearts being clean.
Ritual, like ritual hand washing and dietary rules, is central to being Jewish. By telling his followers (also mostly Jews) to abandon ritual, he was telling them to disobey direct commandments to them form G-d. This is greater destruction than ruining a building or a sculpture.
#58:
Understood.
The “things” not being destroyed did not, I would venture, refer to concrete objects such as buildings or sculptures; but rather more to bedrock teachings and Commandments, and teachings of the Prophets, that instruct us about our relationships with God, and with our fellow man.
My main point is that Jews and Christians, in my opinion - and that’s all it is, my opinion - share so much, and have much more in common, when it comes to what really counts in God’s eyes and heart, than they have differences.
And, as far as I’ve been aware my entire life as a Christian, the Ten commandments are the Ten Commandments…period.
The Old Testament - all of it - (yes, I know some denominations insert or remove a part of this or that book) is considered, revered, and respected as part of the Holy Bible…period.
There’s no “Well, the Jews got it wrong; what was actually said, or done, or intended, was…blah, blah, blah, etc” - unlike what a different ideology says about the Jews and the Christians.
I do not dismiss ritual and tradition.
We Eastern Orthodox have our share; and, I respect them and am fond of them.
But, all of us know that one could observe ritual and tradition down to the teeniest minutia, and still be a horrible SOB.
My guess - and it’s only a guess - is that that was Jesus’ point.
And, that He was addressing not just the Jews he happened to be talking to in that story, but to all of us who call ourselves Christians and Jews today.
I can show a link where people call you and idiot. So, it must be true. Your “link” was just claims by a group and it was not about “many” organizations, it was about Samaritans Purse. You should get your facts straight before you condemn an organization you know little about.
DUH! Nor any other part of the Bible or you would just stop your hateful rhetoric.
WRONG. JESUS said it is not what goes into our mouth that defiles us, it is what comes out. It is more important to tell the truth than to wash your hands before you eat. Get it? I doubt it.
Really. Nothing about GOD being central?
WRONG AGAIN. These were not commandments from GOD but rules made by the church leaders. There were so many rules it was getting impossible for the people to keep them all. JESUS came and said to obey GOD’S law not mans. JESUS came to free the people from oppressive rules and worship the true GOD. The church (like churches today) set themselves up as the head of the people. People became fixed on the law and not GOD.
HAHHHHAAAAHHHAAAA
Your knowledge of the Bible, Jewish history, and the LORD is lacking in the greatest sense of the word. Now, go clean your own house before you preach to us (who know the WORD and live it out).
The “greater destruction” is still to come.
On-my-soap-box said (#60):
Reread Exidus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. G-d gives direct commandments to his people on a range of subjects: Don’t wear blended fabrics (e.g. flax and wool). Don’t eat seafood without scales (shrimp, eels, …) or pork or rabbit (or …). Wash your hands before eating.
p.s. there were no church leaders but Jesus when this story took place.
The ‘unbanked’ - you mean those with no valid social security numbers??
Michelle - you have to stop posting these stories - I have run out of high blood pressure medicine!!
And my BP is normally 120/80.
You know what it’s going to take turn this country around? Its going to take people like all the contributors to this blog to start getting involved in government. Everyone here seems to have all the correct answers to everything so what do you say we stop complaining about everything, get off our duffs, and start changing things from the bottom up. Lets get involved in local school boards, city councils, county government, and little by little we start making a change. It won’t happen over night, but if all the intelligent people here start getting involved, just maybe after a generation or two we will start seeing some real change and we can bring this country back to the great promise that it once had.