City left holding bag on shopping center
Posted on 10/11/2008 9:38:26 PM PDT by gogov
"If not enacted this year, the American taxpayer will continue to be exposed to enormous risk, that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole."
The year was 2006. The letter, signed by 19 senators and copied below, was written to warn about the very financial mess faced by the U.S. and the world if action was not taken. Not one Democrat signed the letter. The warning went unheeded. We now have a financial mess that finds many of our residents losing their homes, their businesses, nearly everything they own.
(Excerpt) Read more at friendsofdeserthotsprings.com ...
In May of 2006, U.S. Senator John McCain warned about the crisis from the well of the Senate and urged Congress to act, “For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac–known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs–and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO’s report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO’s report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.”
Bush and McCain have been sounding the alarm about this for years. Now, the Commie ‘RATS are blaming the mess that they made on Bush and McCain. It’s sad that so many people living in this country have so little intelligence that they are falling for all of the ‘RAT lies.
... You can spin your support for Obama any way you want by trying to blame Bush (who is not up for election). The facts are that McCain sounded the warning - in writing. He signed the letter. Obama, who was asked to sign it, did not.
This editorial would make a killer campaign ad.
Note the year.
Congressman Ron Paul
U.S. House of Representatives
July 16, 2002
Ironically, by transferring the risk of a widespread mortgage default, the government increases the likelihood of a painful crash in the housing market. This is because the special privileges of Fannie, Freddie, and HLBB have distorted the housing market by allowing them to attract capital they could not attract under pure market conditions. As a result, capital is diverted from its most productive use into housing. This reduces the efficacy of the entire market and thus reduces the standard of living of all Americans.
Mr. Speaker, it is time for Congress to act to remove taxpayer support from the housing GSEs before the bubble bursts and taxpayers are once again forced to bail out investors misled by foolish government interference in the market. I therefore hope my colleagues will stand up for American taxpayers and investors by cosponsoring the Free Housing Market Enhancement Act.
Good for Paul.
.
This didn’t happen overnight and I question the timing of ‘the collapse’.
Every fall is October in America. The timing is a call from the enemys of America. Very astute on your part.
I don’t think the Republican media managers are capable of it. The party is in the hands of the country club set, they don’t know how to manage the media or issues but they are not willing to let go of control.
It’s called a click.
I sat on the patio of a relative's new $300,000+ house and looked at all the building going on, asked people could afford these homes (some cost quite a bit more). Plus we've gone through massive job losses since the 80's, and I didn't see how many could be that affluent in our local funky economy. Some move in to manage these big box stores and national franchises. A guy who had once worked at a plant that went out of business with a lot others around here, said that you only need to make $60,000 a year to buy one, now I see how that was possible but was a little incredulous at the time. $60,000 doesn't really go that far with house payment, high energy bills for more area to heat and cool, luxury furnishings, one or two car payments, not to mention everything else that goes with that lifestyle, just didn't add up.
With the CA real estate in the stratosphere and all this furious housing boom and expansion around the country, that it was going to implode in the not-too-distant future, just wouldn't have conjectured on when.
It just seemed so unreal that very few of my "profile" have large families, yet they need those huge houses with 2 and 3 bathrooms, didn't make sense, especially in light of all the jobs starting to be outsourced at around the same time as the boom.
I wonder who will be living in those homes 50 years from now. Everybody wants the American dream, not just a house, but a brand new house, may begin in a starter house, but new is the goal.
I've never lived in a brand new house and can't say I'm any the worse for it, probably better off in some ways and certainly content.
Clique - pronounced as you spelled it.
I have no idea who was buying those big McJunkboxes. I was making 90K a year and my wife was making 60K when we bought our house--a 1960 ranch for 175K. We refused to pay over 200K for a house because I insisted on us having breathing room. I like to sleep peacefully, and I can't do it with debt fear hanging over my head.
I don’t use the French spelling.
City left holding bag on shopping center
Looks like South Florida in 1989-1990. How history repeats itself.
Who needs a house? People that don't know how to scope out decent rentals with neighbors who are decent.
LOL. They are just unappealing to me. I didn't know that happened in AZ, don't know what will happen here. People are going to change their spending habits after this which will further impact the economy but necessary.
No, I could never sleep at night with all that debt load. I never was much into borrowing, was brought up that way, but some of it is luck and no particular virtue on my part.
Who needs a house?
The main reason I'm so stubborn about staying in mine is the neighborhood. Maintenance-wise, it's not so cost-effective any more, but I hang on. It cost $21,000 in 1968, paid off for years while everything else goes up. My utilities counting ones they've added probably quadruple what my house payment once was. I pay more on utilities to get a break for the summer; a lot of people average it out over the year.
But what I don't like about renting is that a lease will give you some protection (and disadvantage if you find yourself with neighbors you've got to get away from). You have no control over your payments in the future plus if it is sold, you have to find another place, maybe at a difficult time. Rent for anything at all decent here is $500 plus. That's too much. But homeownership can be a huge headache, too. Landlords can get hit with things that will impact you one way or another, too, like a sewer break, etc. It's hard to find a good landlord. At least I can get right on things if I need a repair and do a lot of it myself, fixed my sink drain that a plumber screwed up by taking a photo of the problem and going to the hardware store. They found the right part for me, one cut, and it was easy. The next one may not be so easy.
The main thing is I can plant what I want where I want in my own yard because I love growing things. I don't want to plant a tree on a rental property or nice and hard-to-replace flowers even if they would let me.
Still I laud you both for being responsible. If more were, we wouldn't be in this mess.
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