Posted on 02/27/2012 2:32:03 PM PST by VU4G10
Rick Santorum on Monday blamed the housing crisis on high gas prices.
During a campaign appearance in Michigan, Santorum said the housing bubble burst in 2008 because people could no longer afford to pay their mortgages because of high gas prices.
"We went into a recession in 2008 because of gasoline prices," Santorum said in Michigan according to Buzzfeed. "The bubble burst in housing because people couldnt pay their mortgages because of $4 a gallon gasoline."
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
He may not be so wrong, a lot of people I know drive 1-2 hrs to and 1-2 hours from work. I live in a rural area, and fortunately don’t have to do that. I also have relatives 15 miles outside NY that work in the city and it can take them up to two hours to get to work. You add in family travel and other activities, gas really takes a bite out of the budget.
What a total idiot!!!
He isn’t smart enough to flip burgers!
The housing Crisis has been cause primarily by building 10 years worth more homes than we have families, and similarly overbuilding commercial sites.
You had to be pretty damned stupid to not know it was coming.
If I may........the housing crisis was looming way before 2008. People were being given 1st mortgage loans they could barely qualify for and were also financing their down payments. If this wasn’t bad enough, they would then get second or even third mortgages for vacations, new furniture, decks, blah, blah, blah, the lenders were giving up to 120% value on these loans. These people were way over their head, before they made their first payment. Most of them were adjustable rate mortgages, taxes were not quoted correctly, they were lying about income and by the time all these expenses rolled out accurately, there is nt way they could afford the home, so turn key, walk out. Hell, they were so buried in housing expenses, they couldn’t afford anything, groceries, utilities, docotr, dentist, , gas, nothing. For Santorum to assert this is ridiculous.
Precisely. The home loans to people who were unqualified was predictable. People who otherwise saved, paid their bills and budgeted conscientiously kept their homes which have lost value because of the high foreclosure rate.
High gas prices affect all consumer goods. The direct gas prices have affected those who have long commutes to and from the workplace and if they drive premium gas guzzlers.
One blessed group are the DC Government employees who use public transport. They have probably not even noticed the $4.00 gallon price.
When you have all the feathers you can carry can you carry one more. The fuel price was the feather that broke the camels back, so to speak.
Finally a DC politition who gets it. The high price of oil was manipulated, it was the trigger that led to the meltdown. When one builds a house of cards, it just takes a breath to bring it down.
Finally a DC politition who gets it. The high price of oil was manipulated, it was the trigger that led to the meltdown. When one builds a house of cards, it just takes a breath to bring it down.
I’d like to know who we’re going to blame for Santorum?
This is also precicely why we are so screwed if Santorum gets the nomination. The guy is a moron. Please Newt, why do we have to suffer this fate!
Many people around here don’t know a damn thing about how to win elections.
Using the fact that high gas prices fuel many of our problems is how you appeal to voters who are not going to pay attention to how the democrats created the mortgage crisis.
Those people only know kitchen table politics. This is a way to use the current crisis to make a point.
Dems are good at it. Most republicans are not.
Santorum was making a point that people understand. They know these skyrocketing prices are starting to cause great pain and making it harder to pay their bills..
Many people around here don’t know a damn thing about how to win elections.
Using the fact that high gas prices fuel many of our problems is how you appeal to voters who are not going to pay attention to how the democrats created the mortgage crisis.
Those people only know kitchen table politics. This is a way to use the current crisis to make a point.
Dems are good at it. Most republicans are not.
Santorum was making a point that people understand. They know these skyrocketing prices are starting to cause great pain and making it harder to pay their bills..
He’s partially right.
The housing market crashed from Clinton’s race quota loan demands which nullified bank qualification standards for loans.
Rick is, as usual, is out to lunch when to comes to understanding and explaining complex issues.
Can you say the Rickster is slllloooowwww real slowly? ;)
This is pitiful.
What about the variable interest rates. People working at McDonalds etc., while getting loans approved for $500,000 homes. Barney Franks and Chris Dodds taking measures to give people montages in which they did not have the credit or money to secure those loans.
I thought the mortgage crisis - foreclosure rates, subprime bubble, less liquidity at the banks - was already a fact before $4.00 gasoline; and sorry, but as much as it is a jump in prices, adjustments for it are/were much easier (drive less so mortgage payment money not drained) and widespread than I think you give people credit.
I think in the essentials, Santorum is wrong and possibly just playing to populist sentiments of the moment over gasoline prices.
The development was pitched exclusively to Marylanders, who thought that the $250 - $350K McMansions on quarter acre lots were a bargain even though they were at least $100K overpriced by Pennsylvania standards.
They could handle their interest-only mortgages AND their 80 to 120 mile daily commute UNTIL the gas price spiked. Then we started seeing a full newspaper page of just these properties being Sheriffed.
You can spin it, twirl it, apologize for it, interpret it, and translate it into something you would like us to believe, but it won't change a thing. It is what it is. He said what he said and looks rather stupid for doing so.
When your Interest-only Option ARM transitions from the interest-only phase to the fully-amortizing phase and your payment goes up $1000 per month, it doesn't matter if gasoline is free; you're in a world of hurt.
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