Posted on 10/28/2008 4:40:48 PM PDT by Libloather
Frank now calls homeownership emphasis 'a mistake'
By Jim O’Sullivan/State House News Service
Tue Oct 28, 2008, 10:59 AM EDT
Belmont, Mass. -
U.S. Rep. Barney Frank said Monday that fewer prospective homebuyers will qualify for mortgages as a result of the financial meltdown, calling that trend a positive byproduct because "tens of millions" of people are not suited to own homes.
Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Frank said the market will likely encourage a large increase in affordable rental housing. Answering critics who said he was working to deny low-income people access to their own homes, Frank said, "I'm not denying them the right to own a home, circumstances are."
“We made a mistake as a society in promoting homeownership as a universal achievable goal,” he said.
He also signaled a massive increase in regulations, saying the federal government would impose rules on "the securitization activities of all financial entities in the United States," including capital requirements to ensure solvency.
After addressing the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Frank told reporters that concerns of Democratic hegemony in Washington come January were largely confined to people with deregulation agendas. "I think that just bespeaks a mentality that doesn't understand how we got into this situation," he said.
Frank said the economy, which he told the audience was in “a serious recession,” had suffered a setback after the response to the credit crisis when other aspects of the economy started draining confidence. "Until we can get a stimulus package passed, I will be very nervous," he said.
That package, he said, should include funding for states to stanch layoffs, construction projects like roads and bridges, and extended unemployment benefits.
Massachusetts, Frank said, has been buffered from economic fallout in part by its large health care and higher education sectors.
The Newton Democrat also reiterated his call for a substantial reduction in the military budget, saying the US armed forces had become "overextended."
A second round of the federal economic bailout package, totaling $125 billion, would help smaller banks, Frank said. He said the local banks would be subject to the same rules.
“Although, frankly the community banks aren’t the ones who had this outrageous overpayment of the CEOs that we’ve been trying to stop,” Frank told the reporters.
Tom Callahan, executive director of the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance, called Frank’s message warning against universal homeownership “healthy.”
“It’s clear that there should be room in housing policy and American politics for a strong rental policy,” said Callahan. “I think homeownership is not going to be right for everyone for a variety of reasons.”
“We let the free market set housing policy for a while in this country, and you can see what we get when we do that,” Callahan said.
Speaking to a crowded Marriott Boston Copley hotel ballroom, Frank quipped, after a discussion of the decision to cap executive compensation for companies that partake in the $700 billion rescue plan, “There are audiences that greet that news with more cheer than this one.”
Aren't the RATS the ones who complained that the troops didn't have all the gear they needed?
I heard today that Barney Frank’s mom is a high official in Fannie Mae - feh
“We made a mistake as a society in promoting homeownership as a universal achievable goal,” he said”
Three trillion dollar drop in retiree accounts. Ya think?
Frank redefines what irresponsibility means.
Frank is a lisping c*cks*cker.
The ‘Rats are always looking for a quick patch in order to get more votes. Never mind if the long term consequences are disastrous. Giving people loans for houses they could not afford was the recipe for disaster. And since loans were so easy to get, basically requiring only a pulse, I wonder how many people would get a loan, move in, default on the loan and when they are evicted several months later, just go and get another loan.
“Society” is at fault whenever Democrats do something egregious.
A few years ago I heard an NPR personality (it may have been Diane Reem) during a discussion of the Japanese internment camps during WWII just oh-so-casually slip in the observation that it was “we, as a society” who did it.
When the Republicans get something wrong, it’s Republican’s fault. Or the rich. Or individualism. Or selfishness.
When the Democrats get something wrong, it’s “the system,” or “society’s” fault.
The media, of course, lap this up and spit it back out.
Barney will worm his way back into office because the Brain-dead of Newton can’t handle the truth.
Frankly (no pun intended), these people would vote for a sphincter with lipstick.
what liberal program has ever acheived it’s goals? But every one of them waste huge amounts of money—and in this case brought our economy to the brink of collapse
A brief review:
For at least six years the Democrats/media have been trying to talk us into a recession.
For at least six years the Democrats/media have been blasting the Bush Administration/Republicans as the “worst administration ever’ and responsible for all the ills we experienced, the Republican Culture of Corruption.
Bottom line, the Left blast the present administration, depending on th adage of “A lie repeated often enough becomes perceived as truth, and the bigger the lie the better its chances of success.
Unfortunately, for whatever reason, Bush refused to defend himself or his piolicies, allowing the Republicans to sinl lower and lower in public opinion and helping the Left.
Go figure!
That also applies to Big Gubmint health care and retirement plans - no?
It's not just Newton,my friend.It's Brookline (quick quiz....what's Brookline,Massachusetts best known for?),Swellesley,Dover and Sherborn....some of the richest Marxists on earth live in those towns.
Ith's terrible!
Timeths could get tough and your boyfriend could be
reduthed to running a gay prothtitution ring out of your bathement!
“We made a mistake as a society in promoting homeownership as a universal achievable goal,” he said.
It is a goal, but that doesn’t mean you give a 400k mortgage for a 350k home to a person making 35k with no money down and an ARM loan.
There goes property rights folks. I cannot, cannot believe I am watching socialism slowly creep in and take over.
If stated by a Pubbie, this would be seen as a racist statement, and they'd be forced to step down within 48 hours.
Here's the money shot. Capitalism doesn't work, blah, blah, blah.
The reality is government messed up the free market so now government will have to take over the whole thing.
Da, Comrade.
The Country Club, where Francis Ouimet won the US Open way back when.
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