Mo' Mortgages

(updated below)

Bold non-action.

SANTA ANA- Sen. John McCain addressed the mortgage foreclosure crisis and the weakening economy in a speech in Santa Ana today but offered no major prescriptions for quelling turbulence -- instead calling for two panels to look at the problems.

I know I'm a broken record about this mortgage business, but the way this is all unfolding is really bizarre.

I think McCain actually has a good plan. I hope that when all the rhetoric from the Democrats fades, as these types of issues always do, that is their plan as well.

Of course, we know that any sort of "bail-out" of homeowners is ultimately a bad idea. The government would be interfering in contracts of private parties, which is what a mortgage ultimately is. I've said many times, you can't bail-out stupid.

The different point I'd make this time, is the way the liberal blogs (like in this case, Daily Kos) observe the candidates reaction to the "crisis" but never suggest a better policy. Read anything about this issue on any liberal blogs and you'll see that they are critical of Clinton, or McCain, but never actually make a case for what the correct policy should be.

That irritates me, because it's dishonest.

I think the "big time" progressive bloggers know that the correct approach is to let the housing market settle itself, but they don't want to say that because liberals are supposed to advocate saving people from themselves.

But no.. that's NOT what liberalism is about. There's a huge difference between helping feed the poor and preventing people from defaulting on mortgages they are not paying. It would be like I bought a half million dollar car with a loan, and the government not allowing it get repossessed when I stop making payments on it. Ultimately I could make do with a car I could afford, and if I bought one that I couldn't, that was stupid on my part.

This is a hugely important issue because it will define government's involvement in personal issues. I don't know that the politicians even know what the "American public" wants done. How many Americans want to "bail-out" other Americans who are losing their homes? Is that a winning political position?

Hopefully it's all just a bunch of words, trying to make it look like they are "doing something" when ultimately everyone realizes nothing needs to be done.. because if they do something, that sets a hugely bad precedent about the involvement of government in contracts.

Hmm.. one of the commentors at Kos gets it;

What About Us Renters... (0 / 0)
...who looked at their finances, did the responsible thing and decided against a risky mortgage. Now we're expected to prop up homeowners who took that risk - while we stay in shitty rentals. A 10 - 20 percent drop in the cost of housing would get my family into a home.

I am all for holding banks accountable - regulate those thieves until they act responsibly. Let the shareholders and CEO's wither on the vine. But I'm sorry, if you didn't read the fine print or your ARM is coming due and you can't afford it or (here's my favorite) your $100k equity gain is now only an $80k gain - that's too bad. I've been sucking it up for 10 years.

Do I ever get a turn at home ownership or should I just jump on the next hair brained lending scheme and let some other schmuck bail me out when it goes south?

I think the vast majority of Americans think the same.. and it's a horrible idea for Clinton or Obama to suggest otherwise.

/update

NEW YORK (Reuters) - About 60 protesters opposed to the U.S. Federal Reserve's help in bailing out Bear Stearns (BSC.N) entered the lobby of the investment bank's Manhattan headquarters on Wednesday, demanding assistance for struggling homeowners.

Demonstrators organized by the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America chanted "Help Main Street, not Wall Street" and entered the lobby without an invitation for around half an hour before being escorted out by police.

"There are no provisions for homeowners in this deal. There are people out there struggling who need help," said Detria Austin, an organizer at NACA, an advocacy group for home ownership.

Please, Gorak, make it stop!

This is from the NACA website;

NACA’s call to action
It is now time for the brokers, lenders and Investment banks to stop foreclosures and modify predatory and subprime loans to amounts that borrowers can afford. People say that subprime loans at high interest rates provide homeownership opportunities to people who have not had such an opportunity due to credit issues or lack of savings. To think that providing the highest cost mortgages to working people who are struggling with paying their bills is good for the borrowers or the public good has no basis in reality. In fact, the subprime market has had only one goal and that is to reap as much money from working people as possible and put it in the pockets of brokers, lenders and investors. The result is the financial and personal devastation of hundreds of thousands of hard-working people and the destabilization of neighborhoods nationwide. Unless the billions of dollars generated from this massive exploitation are returned to these borrowers and reinvested in their communities, the housing market and neighborhoods will collapse to an unprecedented extent.

It takes more than 6 months to do a foreclosure. During that time, the home owner can get a refinancing, or otherwise make arrangements to meet their obligations that they agreed to. If they can't, that's tough titties.

Yes.. millions and millions of people thrown out of their homes.. because they never should have bought one in the first place. Owning a home is not a right, it's a privilege that you PAY for.

Having a sub-prime loan means that you didn't meet your financial obligations in the past, thus making you a risk to the lender in the future. I understand shit happens, and due to no real fault of their own, some people's credit gets fucked. That's not the end of the world. You can always work to repair it and get another chance in the future.

But that does NOT mean you still have a right to the same borrowing as people who always meet their obligations. You can't qualify for the low interest fixed rate mortgage? Don't buy the fucking house! You wait until you get your credit in order and THEN you find the proper mortgage that you can afford.

Did your ARM adjust on you? Fuck you
Did you speculate and the market tanked? Fuck you
Did you borrow at 12% interest? Fuck you

God damn fucking assholes.

And fuck Bear Stearns as well, and fuck their "bail out". Let them fucking crash and burn.

The "solution" to the "problem" is for the government to do fucking nothing, other than regulate the financial industry and prosecute mortgage fraud.