Posted on 01/29/2006 6:51:06 AM PST by Uncle Sham
Political Horizons for Jan. 29
Baker’s relief bill deserves try
By JOHN LAPLANTE
Published: Jan 29, 2006
Ford to City: Drop Dead,” a legendary headline screamed in 1975, when a president refused to bail out New York City from financial disaster.
Change the president and the locale, and Louisiana hurricane victims might be forgiven for thinking the same thing.
After hemming and hawing for months about U.S. Rep. Richard Baker’s home-buyout bill, and never really saying what he had against it, Bush brushed it aside last week.
Only after aides revealed his opposition did Bush grant a one-paragraph explanation. It amounted to three things: Don’t create more bureaucracy; we already gave you people lots of money; and Louisiana doesn’t have a plan.
Baker and Gov. Kathleen Blanco countered the Baker bill is so important it amounts to “the plan.”
Blanco said she only really controls $6.2 billion in recovery money that will be stretched far too thin to aid owners of 200,000 destroyed or damaged homes.
She said opposing bureaucracy is an odd argument for any federal officials to make.
What she should argue is that Baker’s bill is a plan for people, not politicians.
Yes, the bill would set up a new bureaucracy called the Louisiana Recovery Corp., but this is not an open-ended promise to hand out money to politicians or write checks to the idle.
The LRC is supposed to be a hard-nosed business proposition. It would pay willing homeowners some, but not all, of the equity in their homes.
If they have a mortgage, the agency would pay it off, giving lenders back some, but not all, of their investment.
The agency would clean up the property and, working with local interests, market it to investors for redevelopment.
The LRC should take some decisions from politicians and give them to homeowners. They could take less and get on with their lives or keep their property in hopes of working out a better deal some other way. The agency would not take land against the owners’ will.
The corporation could transform many homeowners from helpless victims to people with some hope for the future. It could block a wave of foreclosures that might wipe out tens of thousands of families’ finances.
It could help head off statewide economic stagnation and spur speedy, organized recovery for communities that must come back for the state to recover.
Baker said he’s not giving up. He sees support in both chambers of Congress and says he has passed significant legislation over Bush’s objection before. But the opposition of a president whose party controls Congress is a major setback.
In fairness to Bush, Louisiana leaders made it easy for him to so casually shrug off the bill.
Our U.S. senators tried to grab $250 billion on sympathy instead of catalogued needs. The governor and Legislature found money for political projects during the crisis and so far have done little to adjust state government to the vastly different needs. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin famously made blackness, not prosperity, his top goal.
Some Louisiana leaders also exude an air of entitlement, even arrogance, demanding Washington immediately turn over as much taxpayer money as the state demands.
The Baker bill is not another toy for Louisiana politicians to play with or a well-intentioned program for them to screw up. It should actually bypass the politicians by dealing mostly with residents and bankers and developers.
Bush would appoint the managers of the agency, with Blanco suggesting only two. The U.S. treasury secretary would have final say over how much money the agency can borrow.
The bill is founded in Baker’s long expertise in the complexities of housing finance and the federal government’s long interest in affordable homes as a big part of the American dream.
Baker’s bill also is complex and in some ways unprecedented, and who knows how wily politicians, lawyers or speculators might try to abuse it?
Baker says he is willing to compromise. He should be. Louisiana is asking the nation to take a huge risk by borrowing up to $30 billion. Limits and controls are appropriate to minimize the chance of abuse.
Risks and reservations should not sink the bill without a proper airing.
The idea is worth more than months of foot-shuffling and a sudden brush-off by the president.
The 200,000 families that might directly benefit from it, and the 4.5 million Louisiana residents affected by their state’s continued crisis, deserve a hearing.
John LaPlante is Capitol bureau editor for The Advocate.
How about our HARD EARNED MONEY BEING TAKEN TO HELP THOSE WHO WON'T HELP THEMSELVES, AND REFUSE TO RECOGNIZE THE FOOLISHNESS OF LIVING BELOW SEA LEVEL, AND EXPECTING US TO PAY FOR THEIR FOLLY?
Those earnings ARE our natural resource, to those of us who are responsible for our own well-being. How about you?
That would be tobacco lol. However, my great grandfather used to raise his own in southwestern louisiana so we could convert some of our crops over to tobacco if needed. Since I don't smoke, no skin off my nose. ;)
St. Lawrence Seaway, Vancouver, Chicago. There are alternatives, jack up those taxes and lets see where it all goes.
Yes it is. I live in the direct impact zone where Rita hit and we are almost back up and running. There are some problems but the local leaders here are extremely competent and efficient. The MSM has ignored this area simply because the people are tough and independent.
Thanks. I'm embarassed it took me this long to even ask.
We'll find something else to tax. :-)
That's okay, we're used to it by now.
Those alternatives sure look cost-effective! Wow! Good luck, and remember when you're done pricing them, we are still here to help. Even if you don't want us to be.
Well, you shouldn't be.
I suspect you're much like the people in the eastern part of this state. One look at any map should tell people just about everything they need to know.......LOL.
I'd like to add on item to my list up the thread about why people on this forum might not be so anxious to give you all some more money.
Your attitude.
You're quite a charmer yourself Howlin. Use me for whatever excuse you need to do nothing for others and complain about it at that.
**In a sense, because of their abundance of Natural Resources on land and off their coast, Louisiana has the Nation and Americans at their mercy and the State is just beginning to wake up to that fact. Time will tell how all this shakes out. Stay tuned!**
It is only right that Meemaw Blank-o and Chocolate city man take lessons from commrade Chavez. When they do this, I hope Louisanna's commies are good at pumping the oil because private industry might object to the lie that the State suddenly owns privately owned "resources." I'm sure the American people will sit by and permit these incompetent cleptocrats a nation-wide tax, too.
We need Meemaw on teevee threatening the Nation - give us billions or we are taking over the oil. Have the stubbly faced thing bawling in the background about how Bush killed his mama. : )
You add tax and everything else becomes more cost effective. You want to extort our sympathy?
Sympathy? Like that you've displayed? No, I wouldn't want anything at all to do with your type of sympathy, much less extort it. When someone has a problem and folks like you show up, they'd be better off solving their own problem. That's all we are going to do. Start pricing those alternative routes. Might be a good idea.
Good bye New Orleans
Just remember, we're still here when you get those prices. Even if you don't want us to be.
From the 2000 U.S. Census, the median value of homes in New Orleans is $87,300.00.
Specified owner-occupied units 74,407 100.0%
VALUE
Less than $50,000 9,204 12.4%
$50,000 to $99,999 35,535 47.8%
$100,000 to $149,999 12,778 17.2%
$150,000 to $199,999 6,775 9.1%
$200,000 to $299,999 5,246 7.1%
$300,000 to $499,999 3,170 4.3%
$500,000 to $999,999 1,466 2.0%
$1,000,000 or more 233 0.3%
Median (dollars) 87,300
In 2000, according to the Census Bureau, 60.2% of all homes in New Orleans had a value of less that $100,000.00. How many of the 20,000 homes fall into this category, I have no idea.
I have no problem helping my fellow citizens, I am concerned about how H.R. Bill 4100 is going to determing purchase price, see my post 135.
Example of my concern. If the Louisiana Recovery Corporation purchases a home for $75,000.00 (market value before Katrina), then levels the home, prepares the land...sewers, water, electricity for another say $15,000.00 totalling $90,000.00 for now what is just land. The Louisiana Recovery Corporation sells the property to a developer for $25,000.00 for a net loss of ($65,000.00). Who is going to pay this for this loss. Is this how it really is going to work.
I'm not against New Orleans residents getting help, I just what to know what H.R. 4100 is going to cost all of us before all is said and done. The emphasis of this thread was Bush was stalling the bill. After looking into the details of the Bill (see my previous posts on this thread), I have some reservations about this plan. Thats my opinion.
One last thing, I went to the Congressional Budget Office's website and searched for a scoring of HR 4100. There was no cost estimate for H.R. 4100. It wasn't even mentioned anywhere on the site. CBO scores any bill a congressman requests and there are plenty on file under the 109th Congress. But not H.R. 4100. I found that interesting. Thats why I tried to do some analysis on my own. Normally, CBO does it.
I am simply making an observation here in that there is not one word of disagreement about Mississippi paying their citizens $150,000 simply because Barbour is a republican with connections. What is the difference in Mississippi paying well over market value for the homes that were destroyed than Louisiana doing the same thing? They are using federal dollars to buy out the flooded homeowners who did not have flood insurance.
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