Posted on 04/10/2008 5:59:08 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
After saying last month that he was “prepared to examine new proposals” for addressing the mortgage crisis, John McCain instead came out on Thursday and unveiled a new plan of his own.
With yet another monthly government report showing more job losses — and some economists describing the country as already in recession — McCain’s stepped-up response reflects the political peril of not doing enough to respond to homeowners.
So in a speech at a window contacting business in Brooklyn, the presumptive GOP nominee rolled out a plan to aid those who have lost their homes or are in danger of foreclosure.
McCain’s proposal, which he called the “HOME Program,” would let some homeowners replace their mortgage for one that is more in line with the depressed value of their home. He said the plan, to be guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration, would be limited to those defaulting on only a primary residence and to those who could afford a new mortgage.
“There is nothing more important than keeping alive the American dream to own your own home,” McCain said in a mid-day speech at Windows We Are, Inc. “And priority number one is to keep well meaning, deserving home owners who are facing foreclosure in their homes.”
While McCain was detailing his initiative, his Senate colleagues in Washington were passing a housing package of their own.
But McCain offered criticism of that legislation, suggesting that it didn’t address the central problem.
“Tax breaks for builders, funds to purchase homes in foreclosure, and tax credits that are not targeted to where the need is greatest do not constitute the federal help that is warranted,” McCain said.
The Senate bill, which passed 84-12, contains all three: billions in tax breaks for the home building industry, $4 billion in grants to communities to purchase abandoned foreclosed houses and tax credits to people who buy homes in foreclosure.
None of the three presidential candidates showed up to vote.
But both Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama noted their Republican rival’s previous hesitation to offer solutions and hammered him for what they described as a plan both overdue and insufficient.
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a top economic adviser to McCain, said his candidate wasn’t being inconsistent.
“This plan is designed to reward deserving homeowners,” Holtz-Eakin noted. “He’s always said that.”
Plainly, though, McCain and his campaign aides are grappling with finding a middle ground between the interventionist approach favored by Obama and Clinton and the preference of most conservatives not to reward what they view as careless behavior on the part of home buyers who got in over their head.
In a speech late last month on the topic, McCain said he would evaluate new proposals based on the principle that it “is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly,” but he offered no concrete solutions.
After facing criticism for not addressing the problem, McCain issued an unusual statement that same week reiterating that he would consider proposals. But he only called on private lending institutions to help homeowners.
As on other issues, McCain is hearing from a wide range of voices on the credit crunch, which may explain his decision to unveil a plan today.
“He’s got to make a decision,” said one experienced Republican economist who requested anonymity to speak candidly. “He’s got a Phil Gramm on one extreme with the view of, ‘lets not get involved.’ But many of his other advisers would take the interventionist position.”
The pragmatists in McCain’s circle seem to have won out.
“He sounded like the old John McCain, the Teddy Roosevelt John McCain,” observed Georgetown University professor John Haskell of the candidate’s speech today. “That is, that an energetic federal government needs to be there as countervailing force to the market when the market doesn’t perform properly.”
But the issue highlights the balancing act McCain has to walk to avoid a laissez-faire tag in tough times while also not unduly angering his limited-government base.
“We’re going to be smart about it and not just throw money at the problem, but government does have a role,” is how Haskell characterized the third way.
McCain’s proposal today, though, has already raised the antennae of some in the libertarian wing of the GOP coalition.
“I do worry that he has instincts toward government activism,” said David Boaz, executive vice-president of the Cato Institute.
Citing an imaginary young couple making a combined $72,000 who bought a $500,000 home they couldn’t afford, Boaz said that “a lot of people out there who see this are saying what is this nonsense [about intervening]?”
The truer indicator of McCain’s intentions will come next week, when he is to give a major speech that Holtz-Eakin said would include both a broad vision for an improved economy and specific proposals for how to get there.
In his final sentence today in Brooklyn, though, McCain appeared to signal that his prescription for bolstering the economy would include at least a helping hand from Washington.
“But let me make it clear that in these challenging times, I am committed to using all the resources of this government and great nation to create opportunity and make sure that every deserving American has a good job and can achieve their American dream.”
Where is my bail out!!!
Why in Jan. I ordered my new Dodge Ram 4500 4X4 truck with 11’ dump body and diesel was in the $3.20’s. When I took delivery of it, diesel is in the low $4.10’s!!
Waaa Waaa I want my bail out of my monthly truck payments!!
Waaa Waaa The gov’t OWES me!! Waaa waaa I deserve a good truck and low payments!!! Waaa Waaaa.
This country is done for ... what a bunch of panty wastes.
Government is more likely to make things worse.
That the market did perform properly seems to be exactly the problem.
“Comments?”
McCain is an idiot. He has no idea how any of this works. He lives off his wifes fortune. He reminds me of the do-gooder wives of all the surgeons in town. On their own they could not afford their makeup.
Markets not "performing properly" translates into meaning "not performing the way a particular special interest group expects or prefers it to perform." Markets perform efficiently and effectively (i.e. exactly as they are supposed to perform) as long as there is NO governmental "countervailing force" jerking the market around at the whim of some ephemeral political expediency.
McCain caves to the media. He was getting bashed in the press for not offering enough government help for “struggling homeowners” like the more “humane” plans offered by Obama, Hillary, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and, unfortunately, President Bush.
Real leadership there, John.
McCain is a moron - as are his 534 cohorts in Congress. A free market always performs properly - by definition. It's only when the freakin' blowhards in Washington screw with it that things don't "perform properly". McCain is not only out of touch with reality, he is basically dangerous. His speech on this matter proves it!
All he has to say is why should the 96% of the people that pay mortgage or those that rent subsidize bad decisions of those that can’t manage their own money and over spend and over debt.
But, alas, I really don’t think he personally has a clue. He has a very rich wife and that is about the some total of his econ IQ!
THIS GUY JUST DOESN’T INSPIRE AT ALL: That’s why he’ll loose.
I saw a quotation by a fellow Freeper the other day that really just summed things up:
“The core of “liberalism” is to force those who make good decisions pay for (ie, remove) the consequences of those who make bad decisions.”
Couldn’t have said it better. And we’re seeing living proof of it here. And having a liberal media essentially forces Republicans to move to the left or face an absolute skewering by the media. Which is a problem having a guy like John McCain who has a deep love of seeing himself glowingly praised by the media.
There’s no reason for this. Until the market is forced to correct itself, we’re going to see the same mess over and over.
I think it is worse than you suggest. I think McCain is stupid and does not have the mental capacity to understand the mortgage market. He lives off his wife.
I like that. Can you remember who said it?
“Comments?”
Same old pandering McCain.
“I think it is worse than you suggest. I think McCain is stupid and does not have the mental capacity to understand the mortgage market.”
Well, I won’t argue you with you here. This is the same McCain who said in the Florida debates that he’d support any cut in interest rates and even more egregiously seriously said that he’d like to see “interest rates at 0%.” Nope. Not a joke.
Any man who makes such a statement has no idea how markets work. And after that debate, I watched as the people of Florida lined up and said that they supported John McCain more than Mitt Romney on the economy, and I just shook my head.
But to the point, it appeared McCain had someone whispering in his ear over this housing market fiasco, and I was okay with his immediate response. Times they are a changing...
Socialism is as socialism does.
Heh-heh. You're a persuasive noob. Welcome to FR.
I wasn't a McCain supporter initially in any fashion.
I find your comments very bitter on a lot of levels, however. To call a person stupid and question their mental capacity, most likely having never met them in person, is disingenuous.
Your comment that he "lives off his wife' strikes me as a class warfare, divisiveness type statement. So, she came from money, therefore he's evil. I bet he appreciates it a lot after living in the Hanoi Hilton for five years.
What kind of hardship have you been through in your life?
I don't like a lot of what McCain has on his platform, but thoughtful conversation doesn't involve words such as 'stupid.'
Hope he gets involved with my VISA bill! The Interest rates went up on that too! PAY MY VISA JOHNNY! Personal responsibility is soooo 20th Century! Gimme that Gubberment teet to suckle on!
Ms McCain is not evil. To infer I said that is reckless and prejudicial on your part. I merely stated a fact. BTW, I like rich people. I see nothing wrong with having a rich wife or husband. More power to him in his personal life.
However, McCain demonstrates he has no practical experience or intellectual interest in economics. I consider that a base-line mental deficiency for someone that considers themselves qualified to be President.
Being a POW is not a qualification for President. I respect his service, many of us have also served, that does not qualify us for President. The last two Navy men did not work out so well. In fact I’m a bit pressed to think of great Presidents of the USA that are Navy volunteers.
Understanding basic economics is an important quality and why I will resort to writing in Thomas Sowell. Do you know who he is? Things could change but McCain needs to find a VP with solid conservative market economic background and articulation and let him handle this.
BTW of the three HC is the only one with DEMONSTRATED economic savvy. Too bad she is ideologically a socialist. If you look at McCain he seems to be one by default.
We should judge Presidential candidates in the only way we can. And based on the evidence I do not think McCain gets economics or science. That is not good. If you have evidence he understands either topic I would like to see it.
We’re looking to buy our first house. I hope everyone holds off for just a few more months.
McCain is a loose cannon, in Navy terminology. If you are having trouble paying your mortgage you go the the POST OFFICE and get a government backed fixed mortgage you can afford!! WTF!!!!
McCain advisers tied to foreign lobbying
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080411/NATION/299288489/1001
[snip]
Two of Sen. John McCain’s top advisers and fundraisers are among several Republican and Democratic presidential campaign officials whose lobbying firms have been paid more than $15 million by foreign governments since 2005.
Other McCain campaign bundlers, who have committed to raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for the candidate, also have received lobbying fees from foreign governments. They include the following:
c Rob Allyn, head of the Dallas-based Allyn & Co., a public relations, advertising and political media firm, who was paid $720,000 by the Mexican government in 2006 to polish its image and call for a guest worker program for millions of Mexican nationals illegally in the United States.
The lobbying efforts came at a time Congress and the White House were debating comprehensive immigration-reform legislation, which was defeated in June. Then-President Vicente Fox was an outspoken critic of the proposed legislation.
Mr. Black and Mr. Loeffler also are listed by Mr. McCain’s campaign Web site as bundlers, expected to collect thousands of dollars in donations from several sources to bypass federal election laws limiting individual contributors to a $2,300 maximum donation.
With friends like this, who needs enemies?
Screw the GOP.
I just think McCain listens to who ever is whispering in his ear the loudest. I don’t think he can fathom what it is he is saying.
I’m shocked I tell ya! /s
http://blog.barofintegrity.us/2008/02/20/mccain-aide-linked-to-russian-billionaire.aspx
McCain aide linked to Russian billionaire
http://blog.barofintegrity.us/2008/02/09/mccain-meets-the-orange-revolution.aspx
McCain Meets the Orange Revolution
http://blog.barofintegrity.us/2008/01/26/john-mccain-rudy-giuliani-and-kazakhstan.aspx
John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Kazakhstan
On another thread, you were commenting about individual donors to campaigns.
Keyword here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1999826/posts?page=27#27
‘bundlers’
No doubt. Bundlers are how they get big bucks. But what happens is that the media reports big bucks/bigwig endorsements, and the lemmings all start contributing to the early frontrunners instead of evaluating on conservative principle.
Ron Paul was the exception, but 70% of his base is not conservative or GOP.
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