Thursday, July 24, 2008

Far-Reaching Government Assistance

Any time I read in the New York Times that the "House approved far-reaching government assistance" I start to bite my nails. If the New York Times thinks it's far-reaching, heaven help us! 

So... I thought to myself... well, the House and the Senate can approve it, but that doesn't mean it will become law. Right? Well, in theory this should be right. But because President Bush said he'd SIGN it, I guess the law it is.

Do I sound bitter? Well... I suppose I shouldn't. I am, after all, a real estate agent. And, according to the realtor PAC I should be all in favor of this legislation. After all, it's to "help struggling homeowners keep their homes." (If I roll my eyes any further back in my head, I may never find them again.) 

Yes, it bites to lose your home. It's not that I have no sympathy at all. But it's a bummer for those people the same way it's a bummer to get an F on a test you didn't study for. When you have a large number of kids in a class NOT study for a test and a large number of students fail, is it then proper procedure to saw, "Awwwww... poor little guys. Everybody should at least get to PASS...." Wait, no... scratch that example. I think that actually does happen. 

Oooo ooo!! I know! This election cycle, we should count all the votes. We should tally up the votes for Obama. Tally up the votes for McCain. Tally up the votes for Nader and for Barr. Then, since (obviously) Nader and Barr have so drastically brought up the rear, we should hand THEM the Presidency. I, personally, would prefer Barr to be President and Nader to be the Vice. But, frankly, if we're going to go the route of the underdog, I probably won't get my way. There can't possibly be more people who would support Nader than Barr... and since the person with the LEAST votes would need to achieve the most in this scenario... I guess I'll be living with Nader. 

Sounds pretty ridiculous, doesn't it? But then tell me, WHY are we doing this borrower bail out? Get this: The White House, citing an urgent need to restore market confidence in the two mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, said President Bush would sign the measure despite his opposition to the inclusion of nearly $4 billion in grants for local government to buy and refurbish foreclosed properties.

Say wha-? First of all, why should the local government need to buy and refurbish foreclosed properties? Hasn't that always been left up to the free market? People come in, buy the properties at a low price, refurbish them, and then sell them at a profit, right? This is a business practiced by many people! So now the government is going to come in and do this?? That's irritating. But what really frosts me is that they can't even get their own local taxpayers to fork over the dough... no! They have to cozy up to the national trough and take money from everybody else! AAARRGH!!

I know that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are huge. I know that it will cripple us in a big way if they go down. I get that. I also get that interest rates are currently rising because people are feeling unsettled about the mortgage giants. (Rolling my eyes a bit here, because all kinds of unpleasantness is resulting from election year jitters, too, but we're not going to provide a quick fix to that, are we?) God forbid we feel unsettled for a little bit. Chances are pretty good that the "unsettled" feeling would work itself out in short order. 

Regardless... I can sooner see shoring up the giants if we didn't put all the other garbage into the bill as well. 

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