Posted on 04/11/2008 5:59:16 AM PDT by King of Florida
Senator John McCain, who drew criticism last month after he warned against broad government intervention to solve the deepening mortgage crisis, pivoted Thursday and called for the federal government to aid some homeowners in danger of losing their homes, by helping them to refinance and get federally guaranteed 30-year mortgages.
“There is nothing more important than keeping alive the American dream to own your home, and priority No. 1 is to keep well-meaning, deserving homeowners who are facing foreclosure in their homes,” Mr. McCain said in a speech on economic themes that he gave at a window company in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn.
Mr. McCain, an Arizona Republican, had been painted as uncaring by Democrats, and drew murmurs of concern from some Republicans, after a speech in California last month in which he cautioned that “it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers,” and noted that the crisis had been brought on by both lenders and borrowers.
Since then, he has gone out of his way to try to signal that he understands that times are tough and that people are hurting. His speech in Brooklyn — which is to be followed by what aides are billing as a major economic address next week — was a shift in tone, and part of a new effort to communicate that as president he would act to help Americans in financial distress.
“Let me make it clear,” Mr. McCain said, “that in these challenging times, I am committed to using all the resources of this government and great nation to create opportunity and make sure that every deserving American has a good job and can achieve their American dream.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
You know what’s coming next? A credit card bailout- The
amount of people drowning in credit card debt is staggering. Can’t afford to take the kiddies to Disneyland?
How about Uncle Sugar helping out!
In my neighborhood, the people in trouble are the ones who bought houses expecting to sell them within months at a higher price. Housing prices here have dropped to where they were in 2004/5...so unless you’ve owned your home for less than 3 years, you’ll do OK.
And if you are selling your home after 1-2 years, then why did you buy it in the first place?
I also have no pity for those who bought adjustable rate mortgages to save cash in the short term, and now have problems. What part of ‘adjustable’ did they not understand?
And no, I have no pity for those who claim they didn’t understand what they were doing. There are perhaps 50 pages of disclosure forms you have to sign when borrowing for and buying a house. What idiot spends 200-600K without knowing what the implications are? Because folks, there is no way to protect the criminally stupid without destroying the country.
In past loan practices it was necessary to show that you could at least put one-quarter of your take-home monthly household income toward a house payment. If borrower couldn't (and such applications included all household monthly bills) he/she did not qualify; PERIOD! No amount of arm-twisting interference mattered, either. Somehow, that loan standard was circumvented; and mainly by greedy giant loan-makers looking to pad their pockets. Accordingly, although I understand that many young homeowners overstressed their borrowing limits and are now in trouble because of it, I can feel a bit sorry for them...but, in no way, do I feel the least bit of sympathy for the mortgage companies in trouble, nor their stock-holders who invested in them. BTW I am both a stock-holder in such a mortgage company and the father of a young homeowner in trouble of losing a house.
I hope all you McCain haters enjoy the radical whiter ,pro abortion, military hater socialist that plans on taking your piece of the Pie to give to others Michele Obama considers more worthy ! I blame you if he loses !
I heard McCain on Hannity last week (or was it earlier this week?). The man is an idiot, and has clearly been in Washington for far too long already.
Wake up and smell the socialism everyone, because whether it is BHO, Shrillary, or McCain who wins this election, that's what we're going to get.
I am a stockholder but, as you probably know, you can only vote the amount of stock you hold in controlling management decisions...therefore, it is difficult to counter board decisions not to oust failing CEOs (themselves major stockholders) or finally letting them go--of course, with huge severance packages. As far as being a "socialists" try telling former stockholders of ENRON about that label.
the loan standards to which you refer
were exactly what caused the effect called “redlining” that the Clinton Admin official condemned and threatened to bring down the hammer over.
This was just another case of the rules causing a “disparate outcome” for minorities and PC protected types.
Therefore, they changed the rules to let unqualified people get loans.
Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!
Some “unintended consequences” happened when the gov’t interfered with market best practices.
(Some “greedy lenders”, but mostly gov’t meddling was the cause)
HC is an ideological socialist. BO is an angry young man with a smooth talk and strong socialist leanings to address the wrongs of society.
McCain is a de facto socialist — he is not smart enough to understand the implications of what he is proposing.
There's something in the bylaws of The Golden Rule that allows for the Gold Holders to get away with that kind of stuff. Since I'm not a Gold Holder, I don't have a copy of the bylaws.
If McCain loses, blame McCain, the GOP, and all the democrat voters.
The GOP and McCain knew beforehand he was going to dump conservatives, so knowing this fact, I am sure they are factoring in that they will lose many conservative voters.
In a "perfect world", that would be Me!
Well, I do have pity for ARM holders. I view ARMs, just slightly below predatory payday loan makers who are allowed to make usury interest above (in some states) 25 percent. Yeah, I know the counter you're going to make, "no one is twisting a borrower's arm to go in those places" but it is IMO too close to the loans that Tony Soprano would make in his neighborhood?
I think it was mainly the US Government pushing lenders to lend money 'without discrimination' - i.e., those hardest hit by examinations of credit history and down payment size, etc were minorities. Rather than being viewed as financially prudent, this was viewed by politicians as deliberate discrimination.
Add in a younger generation that seems to have no idea what the value of money is (and I include my two oldest, although they held jobs when young and heard many lectures on saving), and you have a lot of young people who took advantage of the relaxed rules pushed by government - and are now paying. But instead of being mad at the politicians who pushed the relaxed rules, they are mad at the lenders who obeyed the government...and expecting a bail-out.
Sorry, but there has to be consequences to dumb behavior, or the dumb behavior repeats - and grows worse with each repetition!
Sell the stock if you do not like management. In fact if you had any sense you would do due diligence BEFORE you buy the stock.
As far as Enron. I find it amusing that people wanted to value their holdings at the high which was a result of the fraud and then bitch when the stock plummeted due to the same fraud that propped it up. Funny to me.
We need pockets of economic failure to ensure the success of the system. if you do not allow failure you destroy the system. Please do yourself a favor and go to amazon.com and order a few of Dr Sowell’s books.
First you tell me how good my comment made you feel, then you go off on a rant about how bad everything thing is... I'm confused, it's Friday, and I'm going to have a great weekend no matter how crappy you want to feel about it!
Hey, I’m with you. But I see the next six months as a time of venting and when November rolls around, people will come to their senses. Whether it be Barry O. or Hillbilly, MOST people here will look at the situation and do the right thing.
“(Some “greedy lenders”, but mostly gov’t meddling was the cause)”
Don’t think so. Nobody held a gun to the head of the borrowers. You could have gotten a pretty cheap fixed loan. You may have had to eat baloney or settle for a smaller house or forgo trips to disney, but nobody was force to borrow.
In the real world, it’s going to be a government bureaucrat, and I’m sick and tired of nameless, faceless, unaccountable drones deciding which Americans “deserve” this and which Americans “deserve” that. How ‘bout the boneheads who bit off more than they can chew financially live with the consequences of their actions? Then maybe they’ll make better decisions next time. That used to be the American way, and we prospered greatly because of it.
McCain is proving himself to be as big a statist as any Democrat. Somebody remind me again why I should be afraid of the Democrats, when the Republicans act this way?
...and that's why Bear Stearns was bailed out? Why can't it be allowed to crash (along with those who borrowed their money)
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