An enormously costly mortgage bailout bill passed the House 272-to-152, with strong support from liberal lawmakers. It will soon pass the Senate by an even bigger margin and become law. President Bush, following the advice of Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, has wimped out and dropped his threat to veto it.
The bill will bail out the mortgage giant Fannie Mae, which has used intimidation and deceit, and spent millions of dollars on high-priced lobbyists, to thwart efforts to rein it in, even after its management engaged in a massive accounting scandal that rivaled Enron.
The bill will add at least $42 billion in new expenses to the federal budget, including $16.8 billion in new taxes for taxpayers, and new deficit spending, according to the Wall Street Journal. It will include billions of dollars in new pork for “community development” and “mortgage counseling,” enriching groups like the scandal-plagued ACORN, which engages in vote fraud, and La Raza.
As John Berlau notes, such funds may end up being used to seize homes for the benefit of politically-connected developers, a controversial practice permitted by the Supreme Court’s 5-to-4 Kelo decision, over a dissent by four conservative justices. (Some slums came into being after the government seized homes from working-class people as part of misguided redevelopment efforts that failed, as government planning often does). The final version of the bill negotiated with House banking chairman Barney Frank of Massachusetts strips out protections for private property rights that were in an earlier Senate version of the bill, substituting much weaker language.
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Meanwhile, Congress wonders why it has a 9% approval rating, the GOP wonders why its base is so thoroughly disgusted with yet another example of profligate vote buying that it will lose even more seats this year, and Bush the Panderer in Chief will support waste, fraud and abuse of the GSE’s, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and a bunch of irresponsible buyers and lenders by screwing the taxpayer and further devaluing the dollar.
Here’s your sign.
And the hell of it is that it won’t make the slightest difference in a $20 trillion wipe-out of the housing market, the losses from which are also wiping out the entire global financial system. Time to get your cash from the bank, while it’s still there. The first 10% will get their cash. Those who come after will find to their horror it isn’t there.
I know how all of us that were responsible homeowners can fight back against this terrible bailout bill. Take all the money you have in your bank and get it out. I am taking every dime out of my bank on Monday. Unfortunately, this is the only power we have left.
I heard a couple on the news last night say that they had 5%, it went up to 7% and are negotiating a bail out at 3%. I think it is good if people get to keep their homes BUT what about us, the responsible home owners who were smart enough to get a fixed mortgage. WHY can’t we get 3 percent also. NOT FAIR!!!!
The politicians are rewarding bad behavior. Should we be suprised? I saved up for years to buy my home. The passage of this bill has made me sick and not figuritively. There was a time not long ago in this country that a stigma was attached to taking charity. Those days are long gone.
“Bailout Signals Death Kneel for US Democracy”
President Bush did not veto the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac bailout, because it effortlessly permitted him by the stroke of pen, to watch the majority of Congressional and Senate Liberals “cut their own throats”!
This bill, which “in just one weekend” doubles the the US Federal Budget and enslaves my daughter to pay for it for the rest of her life is indeed “the final atrocity” of a misguided America in this “Decade of Shame” and signals a final death kneel for a US Democracy as it resounds to the world that “yes, our form of government has finally failed the people forever and indefinitely”.
In the end, “Doubling Taxation with Misrepsentation” was the final loophole which brought the once greatest form of government for it's people to it's drowning death! The land of milk and honey will now be shoulder to shoulder with buzzards!
Don't Forget to Eat Your Cake,
Jean-Paul Cassone
Fremont, CA
This is too much nonsense and too much politics, and obviously we are those directly affected in this all political mess. Is it that impossible to set some more order? I have the feeling they are doing this on purpose to confuse us.
http://www.mortgagecalculatorplus.com/
Did the final bill include moneys for ACORN, La Raza, and the rest of these crooked organizations??? I'm not sure if your article above, where it refers to “It will include billions of dollars in new pork for “community development†and “mortgage counseling,†enriching groups like the scandal-plagued ACORN, which engages in vote fraud, and La Raza.” means that they will indeed receive funds to continue engaging in their fraudulent activities. I've asked my congressman and senators, and even wrote to the White House and McCain, but have received no answer. I have not found a posted copy of the bill anywhere in the search engines of the Internet. Please help me clarify: did the bill include or not moneys for ACORN, La Raza, or other slush funds?
Wonder what else was attached to the bill that we don't know about yet? We all might need a little help with our mortgages coming up eh? Even up in the north we are scrambling to figure out our payments.
http://www.mortgageCalculator.net