Mortgage Madness

"I'm here today to talk about a crisis unlike we've ever known." - Barack Obama, beginning his speech to introduce his mortgage bailout plan.

"The plan I'm announcing focuses on rescuing families who played by the rules and acted responsibly... I want to be very clear about what this plan will not do. It will not rescue the unscrupulous or irresponsible by throwing good taxpayer money after bad loans. It will not help speculators... It's going to allow millions of families, stuck with loans at a higher rate to refinance. And the estimated cost to taxpayers would be roughly zero." - Barack Obama.

So his holiness the President of the United States goes to Mesa, AZ to introduce his plan to "help struggling homeowners." Strategically chosen, I suppose, because the Phoenix area was hard hit when the housing bubble popped. Funny thing, though... there was significant protest in the area over this speech. People holding signs reading:

"Give Me Pelosi's Plane"

"I want... a house (crossed off) a car (crossed off) a president with ethics and honor"

"Gimme-nomics - Give Me A Baby Grand Piano"

"Annual Passes to Disneyland"

"Fund Bikini Wax Now"

"Stimulate the Economy: Give Me A Tummy Tuck"

"Give Me Liberty OR At Least A Big Screen TV"

"Can I Have Free Gas With My Free Rent"

"I Need A Beach Front Condo"

"Free Beer For My Horses"

"Mr. President!! Before we're forced to Hades can you get me a Mercedes!!"

I have to say, although I'm sure I sound cold and cruel, I have a very hard time with the government "rescuing" anybody from a foreclosure. Yes, even though Obama's plan supposedly focuses on rescuing families who "played by the rules and acted responsibly." First of all, playing "by the rules" does not necessarily mean that they "acted responsibly." Just because the rules said that you could take out a mortgage up to 110% of the value of the home doesn't mean it was the responsible thing to do. The rules made it perfectly okay to take the equity out of your home to buy a big screen television and a new car, but that wasn't exactly the responsible route to take, either. The "rules" also required banks to lend to people who were extremely high risk (or, in other words - people the banks knew wouldn't be able to repay). This was not responsible on the part of either the banks or the people taking out the loans. 

I think it's pretty apparent, too, that Obama was blowing more sunshine up our collective derrieres when he stated that his plan was going to help millions of deserving families refinance at lower rates at a cost to taxpayers of roughly zero. I know that Obama has a messiah complex, but this is getting ridiculous. It's like he's into loaves and fishes now or something... If there's a plan out there that is going to "help" people get a better deal than they currently have, somebody has to eat the difference. Whether the government is going to fund that on the books, or whether they're going to force the banks to eat it -- the taxpayer is ultimately going to pay. In some way, shape, or form -- the piper will be paid. Unfortunately for Obama, if he's going to force mama dollar and papa dollar to make many baby dollars to spread around, he's going to have to actually print that money. He's not capable of pulling it out of the sky.

Rick Santelli of CNBC said, "The government is promoting bad behavior, because we certainly don't want to put stimulus forth and give people a whopping eight or ten dollars in their check and think that they ought to save it! ...I have an idea. The new administration is big on computers and technology. How about this, President and new administration. Why don't you put up a website to have people vote on the internet as a referendum to see if we really want to subsidize the losers' mortgages? Or would we like to at least buy cars, buy houses in foreclosure, and give them to people who might have a chance to actually prosper down the road and reward people that could carry the water instead of drink the water? This is AMERICA!! How many people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgages that has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills? President Obama, are you listening? You know Cuba used to have mansions and a relatively decent economy. They moved from the individual to the collective. Now they're driving '54 Chevys (maybe the last great car to come out of Detroit)... We're thinking of having a Chicago tea party in July. All you capitalists that want to show up at Lake Michigan, I'm gonna start organizing. If you read our founding fathers, people like Benjamin Franklin and Jefferson, what we're doing in this country now is making them roll over in their graves."

Can I get a resounding amen to that?

The basic bones of Obama's plan is three-fold. The first part would - get this - "help homeowners who are still current on their payments, but who are paying high interest rates and cannot refinance because they do not have enough equity in their homes." (NYT, Feb. 28, 2009) Don't get me wrong... it would be a huge bummer to be in this position. I do have a measure of sympathy for people who feel stuck like this. But the fact is that nobody forced people to buy the biggest and best house for which they could qualify. What about the Americans who purchased a house and left that equity alone... lived a modest lifestyle in a modest home because it was easily within their means? Why should those people have to fork over money to the folks in the next neighborhood over who decided to take their equity and upgrade their house and lifestyle off it? Why punish the responsible? The savers of society? Why reward the debtors? What sort of message does this send?

The second part of the plan is supposed to "provide incentives to lenders who alter the terms of loans to make them affordable for troubled borrowers." This is basically the portion of the plan that will help folks "at risk" of going into foreclosure. I assume this to mean that this portion of the plan is for people who are currently behind in their payments but have not been served with a foreclosure notice yet. 

Then, there's the third part of the plan - and this might be the best part yet. Get this... we're going to give $200 billion to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Can I take you back to September of 2008? Remember when the Treasury Department announced it was going to effectively take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? They were "critically wounded, government-sponsored mortgage behemoths." September 8, ABC News online had a story that said, "The federal takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will likely lower the cost of a mortgage for buyers with good credit, but it will also likely stick U.S. taxpayers with a bill in the tens of billions of dollars, analysts have concluded." Isn't it strange how just a few short months ago, we were wringing our hands over "tens of billions" and today we're shrugging off two hundred billion? 

So we've come down the road far enough that the government has a $275 billion dollar mortgage rescue plan. But, according to the NYT, "analysts and administration officials alike cautioned that it would not come close to halting the tidal wave of foreclosures. Nor would it provide much help to millions of homeowners who are 'under water,' or holding mortgages that are bigger than the market value of their houses." 

Obama said in his speech, "This plan will not save every home, but it will give millions of families resigned to financial ruin a chance to rebuild." Okay... so then what is the point, exactly? We do still live in America, right? The land of opportunity? I'm pretty sure we all need to "rebuild" a bit... and it's high time we take responsibility for doing so. For if we don't, the consequences will be disastrous. We will pay for our "prosperity" with our freedom. And mark my words... once freedom is gone, prosperity will follow it out the door.

Dumbfounded, But Entertained

I'm dumbfounded. 

Henrietta Hughes in Florida was at a "town hall meeting" with Barack Obama. When she had her turn at the microphone she said with trembling in her voice, "I have a urgent... need. Unemployment and homelessness. A very small vehicle for my family and I to live in. We need urgent... and housing authorities have two years waiting lists and we need something more than a vehicle and parks to go to. We need our own kitchen and our own bathroom... Please help."

Obama's response? He got her name and then said that they were going to do everything they could to help. He then gave her a kiss... and after he kissed her, you could see a lady off to the left mouthing, "I love you, Barack." Ewwww....

Then there's the McDonald's guy. Have you heard this? Julio Osegueda was the last question of the meeting... "Oh, it's such a blessing to see you Mr. President! Thank you for taking time out of your DAY!! Oh, GRACIOUS GOD, thank you so much!" No, I'm not kidding. This is really what the guy said. Obama responded while chuckling lightly, "Alright, what's the question?" Julio asked, "Mr. President, my name is Julio Osegueda and I'm currently a student at Edison State College in my second semester and... okay. I've been at the same job which is McDonald's for four and a half years because of the fact that I can't find another job. Now, with the fact that I've been there for as long as I've been there, do you have any plan or any idea of making one that has been there for a long time receive any better benefits than what they've already received?" Sadly, Julio is majoring in communications and would like a career in radio or television. Let's  hope Edison State is capable of taking that one on...

Obama says that the fact that Julio is working as hard as he's working at a job that doesn't always pay as well as other jobs is a source of pride for him (Julio). Never mind the fact that Obama has no clue how hard Julio works while he's at McDonald's. And never mind that one can get a pretty reasonable idea as to why Julio can't find another job simply from listening to him speak... Obama says that Julio will actually benefit from the tax breaks that they're passing. Obama says he wants to reform the health care system for Julio. And Obama wants to make it easier for Julio to go to college by giving him a refundable tax credit for his tuition. Uh... earth to Obama. Julio is already IN college.

A retired school teacher asks Obama what he's going to do about getting out a stimulus to the American people who are notoriously impatient. Obama hopes that the American people expect from him the same thing that he expects from himself. He just wants us to feel like he and his staff everyday are thinking about us and our lives. They're talking to the most knowledgeable people, they're making the best decisions for what's good for working families and middle class (not just the wealthy, powerful and well connected), they're open to any idea (whether it comes from Democrat, Republican, Vegetarian...-Obama's humor, not mine), and that they're working as hard as they can to solve our problems. 

I know that people aren't just going crazy now... they must have been crazy before, too. But it does seem like all the crazies are coming out of the woodwork... and they're going to Obama's town hall meetings. Like I said, I'm dumbfounded. But on a positive note, it certainly does provide for some good, free entertainment.

Attitude Adjustment Needed

There's an article in the New York Times today on which I just HAVE to comment. Possibly quite extensively.

Titled, "In Florida, Despair and Foreclosures," I went into the article expecting a bleak picture, to be sure. And don't worry... I wasn't disappointed. So many devastating quotes to choose from: "221 families waiting for free bread at Faith Lutheran Church..." "...laid off construction workers in flannel shirts scavenged through trash bags at a home foreclosure, grabbing wires, CDs, anything that could be sold..." "homes are selling at 80 percent off their peak prices" "Only two years after there were more jobs than people to work them, fast-food restaurants are laying people off or closing." "Crime is up, school enrollment is down, and one in four residents received food stamps in December..." 

According to the article, there are a "host of troubles that follow unemployment" and hunger is chief among them. Okay... I can bite on that, I guess. Truly, though, it doesn't help that the pictures and video they show are a bunch of fat people sitting around a table. Yes, I know that chubby people get hungry, too... but it's just hard to swallow that there's a starvation epidemic out there at this point when America is still quite enlarged. But they go on to say, "The organizations offering food in Lehigh Acres have seen demand increase by as much as 75 percent in the last year. And the people being served are no longer just the chronic poor." They then go on to list some of the newer arrivals to the food line:

Fred Csifortos, 62, living on $650 per month in disability payments, was there because the free food "left more money for his medications." But, see... Fred's situation has probably not recently changed (except in that he now has access to free food where before he did not). 

Luis Oquendo, 38, has been coming for free food since last fall when his full-time construction work "disappeared." 

But the kicker is Megan Brown who was waiting in line for the free food with her two daughters, aged 2 and 4. Why was she there? Because she "feared the worst." According to her, her husband still had his job but "things are getting more and more tight." Seriously??? Her husband is still working, they still have income, but she doesn't have as much spending money so she's in the food line? Don't people have any pride anymore?

Of course, all that said the people running the food line consider themselves to be successful "not just because it has helped more families but also because organizers believe that the links they are forming will be the foundation of a tighter community." No offense, but I don't think that forming links with a bunch of freeloaders is the way to a tight community... at least not any community of which I'd care to be a part.

Team Rescue, the group organizing the food distribution, is "trying to figure out how to curb the spread of desperation." But "Most recently the group has been struggling with a growing wave of families that either visit multiple food pantries using aliases or return the food to supermarkets for money or other items." Oh, yeah. That's tight.

So now the group is blacking out the UPC symbols on cans so grocery stores won't accept them as returns. But the lady running things says that she can't be sure she wouldn't do the same thing if she were a single parent and her kids were hungry... HUH? Why in the heck, if your kids are hungry, are you going to return stuff to the grocery store to buy something else? Don't people think anymore? No pride... no common sense... scary.

Then there's a very telling paragraph: "And then there is Ms. Chilson. She lost her house partly because of the boom (if not for easy credit, she might not have refinanced her mortgage a few years ago), the bust (which led to her husband being laid off from his pest control job) and overspending (which led to more than $20,000 in credit card debt)." No this isn't good. And I guess there's a part of me that feels really bad for the lady. She gave in to her want-it-gotta-have-it feelings and now she's paying for it. It's a hard lesson to learn. 

But it tells something about the general character of America at this time. People aren't willing to suck it up and learn the lesson. They aren't willing to pay the ultimate piper right now, just as they weren't willing to pay their bills they saddled themselves with before. And everybody is out looking for some kind of handout. Yes, even people who have not yet lost their jobs -- they're in line with the rest of them because they're so worried they might need to be there later. 

What's up with that?

Making Work Pay... and Pay... and Pay

Jog my memory, will ya?

During the election cycle, there was a massive bailout passed over the objections of most Americans. Am I right? Did this happen? I remember being so irritated that McCain couldn't even muster up an aversion to it - because it would have helped swing things his way. Instead, he sat there during the "debates" and calmly said that the bailout was the right thing to do. Never mind that the American people were completely opposed to it. 

But Obama, in his first week in office, has "stepped squarely into the fractious effort in Congress to assemble an $825 billion economic recovery package..." Yes, again. See, apparently, the first $850 billion didn't do the trick. And the Democrats are hoping that throwing more money at the problem will save the day. 

Also at issue this first week was Obama's view that those who pay no income taxes should be receiving "refunds." Obama and No. 2 House Republican Eric Cantor squared off on the issue. Apparently, Mr. Cantor outlined the Republican line of thinking on giving refunds to people who have not even paid, and Obama's response was, "You're correct, there's a philosophical difference, but I won, so we're going to prevail on that." And he's right. He did win. And they will prevail. 

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell says, "Anyone who belittles cooperation resigns him or herself to a state of permanent legislative gridlock. And that is simply no longer acceptable to the American people." But I'm an "American person," and I am totally okay with some gridlock. Even permanent gridlock. There are some things that should not receive cooperation. I think this is where the Republican party has gone wrong, actually. They appear to have no backbone... no resolve. 

The Obama administration has said that the "Making Work Pay" tax credit (where refunds are given to people who don't pay taxes) is "nonnegotiable." So the Republicans' attempt to introduce legislation that doesn't include this is being stomped down. They had wanted to reduce the two lowest income-tax brackets from fifteen percent to ten, and from ten percent to five. According to Bob Williams from the Tax Policy Center, those "are not the right kinds of cuts. You want to put money into the hands of people who will spend it." Apparently the only people we can trust to spend money these days are those who don't pay taxes. 

Conservative Thought = Anger & Angst?

It's no secret by now that I tend to lean heavily conservative, both politically and morally. My definition of "political conservativism" would include a desire to see our country adhere to the Constitution of the United States and the intent of our founding fathers. It would be a desire of mine to see others brought around to my point of view (obviously - who wouldn't want to see other people begin to think like themselves?), and I've been spending some time pondering how this would be most effectively done. I've come to a few conclusions:

One, we're not doing it right. And when I say "we," I'm talking about the general atmosphere of many of the conservative spokespeople out front. John Hawkins (of Townhall.com) has two articles titled "A 'You Suck' List." The first line of the first article reads, "Just consider this to be constructive criticism aimed at idiots who are too dumb to ever take it." If there is anybody from either side of the spectrum who can explain to me how this is "constructive," I'd love to hear it. I can see why it would sell - things that are vitriolic and shocking often do - but I don't see the benefit to anybody from writing such a thing beyond a monetary benefit to the author. 

Ann Coulter is another conservative who is absolutely brilliant in her marketing strategy -- and yet I have a hard time believing that she is an effective voice for converting others to conservative thought. She's famous for making cutting remarks about liberals such as, "If Democrats had any brains, they'd be Republicans." While such comments are found funny by a segment of the population and sell like crazy, they're not very conducive to starting an effective conversation on the issues. Don't get me wrong, Ann Coulter has some very interesting things to say in many of her columns - and she has an incredible amount of insight. It's just sometimes hard to dig past the angst and cynicism in her writing to get to it. 

I think, though, what bothers me the most about some of these authors' style is that they're purporting to be not just conservatives, but Christians as well. Ann Coulter, Mike Adams, Doug Giles... they very plainly write about their Christian beliefs as well as their political beliefs. But they do so in such a way as to completely lambast their opposition rather than convince them. I don't know if this is because they feel there is no hope for people who don't think and believe like they do or if it's simply an attempt to sell more of their product (which is, I guess, themselves). But regardless of the motivation behind their style, I believe it's counterproductive.

It's a little bit like the difference between a Christian who goes out to those who are hurting and ministers to them... helping to heal their wounds, loving them where they're at - and the Christian who prefers to stay in a pew on Sunday morning, listening to a sermon on how evil all the others in the world are. I'm not saying that either of these people are not Christians, only that one of them is not being very productive in their Christianity. And sometimes it takes stepping outside our comfort zone... maybe not trying so hard to be entertaining (or looking for entertainment)... Maybe we should focus on seeing the "others" as people, created by God, whom we are called on to love and treat with respect regardless of any differences we might have.

What If I Just Threw Up?

Seriously, folks. All the Obama stuff is getting out of hand. I understand that he's the first black president of the United States and all... and I really think that's a good thing. A different skin color is fine, no matter the color. I'm still not okay with Obama's policies, but I can deal. What I'm about to toss my cookies over, though, is all the HYPE. 

As soon as Obama won the election, I started being inundated with television commercials for Obama coins, Obama plates, I started seeing Obama Christmas cards and Obama - well, everything. That was already too much for me. But the fact that Marvel Comics put out a new Spider Man comic "starring Barack Obama" is (to put it mildly) over the top. Apparently, I'm on my own little island in this opinion, though - the magazine already sold out. Yes, it sold out in less than a day. But never fear, folks!! You can still get a copy -- they're coming out with a second edition. 

Is my family really so alone in our feelings? I just can't imagine that the entire country is in adoring-fan mode. What's to worship? I can't help but see Barack Obama as a narcissistic individual who has spent oodles of time posing in front of a mirror to get his camera face ready. 

Puh-leeze stop putting that practiced face on plates, cups, shirts, hats, buttons and coins. Please stop trying to sell me "Hot 4 Barack" hot sauce (Really??? For real?). 

"I Kiss Barack" lipstick, Barack Obama wine, Barack Obama post it note holders, Obama dog tags, Obama wristbands, glow-in-the-dark fridge magnets, paper weights, lighters, wristwatches, Obamabears, novelty cash... you get the idea. Of course, the one that takes the cake... the Obamarella (patented by New Thomas Technologies). This lovely umbrella lights up, displays Barack Obama, and (upon pushing a button on the handle) says, "We all agree with Barack Obama that the United States is in desperate need of change. Let's SUSTAIN in the RAIN and finally, finally, let's get it on!"

I suppose... perhaps I'm suffering from a case of sour grapes... I'm disappointed in the outcome of the election. On the other hand, I had no way NOT to be disappointed in the outcome (since I was disappointed in all my choices). So my grapes can't be all THAT bad. Ah, well... I guess now is the time to suck it up and simply be entertained by the insanity that is my world. 

Happy shopping, America!!

A Pointless Post

I am not posting at all regularly lately for a variety of reasons. First of all, I'm really, really, REALLY sick of the news. This might come as an enormous shock to the people who know me well, but alas - 'tis true. Glenn Beck has been off CNN for a while now (although I understand that he's coming to FOX News) and he was the most entertaining doomsayer out there. I've never been able to stand Sean Hannity, and even Bill O'Reilly has not been yanking my chain. When I turn on the news, all I see is Sarah Palin or Barack Obama. (I don't know if it's just because I've never liked him -- but I'm REALLY tired of seeing him already. And did you see the new Barack Obama coins?? I'm NOT KIDDING!)

The second reason for my lack of blogger activity is that I've started homeschooling again. Actually, I should say that I've started homeschooling. Period. I haven't tried since the kids were in second and third grades and that only lasted a couple weeks. But since this time it needs to stick (the middle school here is completely unacceptable), I have been giving it my all. This generally doesn't leave a lot of time for digesting current affairs, forming an opinion (which, I admit, is the part that comes quite naturally for me), and writing it all down. 

The third reason would be the season. Yes, the holiday season! Between homeschooling my son, keeping up with my daughter's school activities (including her involvement in "Yankee Doodle's Dandy Christmas," which included the need for a costume making her into an early settler - and I don't sew), Christmas shopping (which, I must admit, I've only begun thinking about at this point), having relatives over for the Thanksgiving holiday (probably the most relaxing Thanksgiving I've had as "hostess" - you gotta love low maintenance people!!), and volunteer work at the elementary school... well, I guess you can probably understand.

I was told that my last post was just ICK with no real point. Most people prefer a point. I don't think I really have much of a point today, either -- in all honesty. Not really. Except maybe to say that I've found there are things in my life that have become more important that what goofball is going to be sitting in the oval office next, what congress has decided to do with the money we don't have, and how much the economy is going to tank before it gets better. These things would be my kids - my family. My local life, the here and now... where I have an influence and can do something positive. 

It's Christmas. Positive is good.