Posted on 02/24/2009 11:19:33 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
When CNBC’s Rick Santelli argued last week that President Barack Obama’s mortgage bailout plan would force hardworking Americans to pay for their neighbors’ mistakes, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs dismissed him as a know-nothing derivatives trader out of touch with Main Street.
But if the White House simply dismisses Santelli’s point, it may do so at its peril: A Rasmussen poll released Monday found that 55 percent of those surveyed thought federal mortgage subsidies to those most at risk of losing their homes would be “rewarding bad behavior.”
Santelli’s “Network”-style diatribe has already spawned a Facebook group and plans for “tea parties” protesting the bailout in major cities including Chicago and Washington.
Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey’s group FreedomWorks has spun off a site called angryrenter.com to organize those who don’t own their homes to oppose the mortgage plan.
And it’s not just Republicans who are complaining.
Although Obama still floats on air among Democrats generally, he’ll need to use Tuesday night’s unofficial State of the Union address to build support for his housing plan even among members of his own party. According to the Rasmussen poll, even 49 percent of Democrats oppose mortgage subsidies like the ones Obama has proposed.
Among them: Lynn Powers, 39, a Bethesda, Md., resident who describes herself as a “liberal Democrat” who has been hardworking, prudent and responsible — and now feels “like a fool.”
“We were in the market,” she says. “We put out eight bids and got outbid every time. It was very upsetting for us. I want to see some accountability and responsibility across the board. The only way for me to have an affordable home, and I’m not looking for a McMansion at all, is if we let the chips fall, in a sense. This is still the bubble — the prices have to come down. You can’t just subsidize some of the people. I don’t know how you deleverage. It is going to be painful, but this is also hurting the people who behaved responsibly.”
What does she mean by “responsibly”?
“People who didn’t overbuy. Who stuck to their guns. Who read their contracts,” she says. She and her husband wound up buying a 600-square-foot studio and moved to a rental when they had their daughter, now 18 months old.
“My husband and I paid for our cars in cash,” she says. “We have no credit card debt. We have no student loans. I don’t buy Starbucks, but that’s because they’re non-fair trade, nonenvironmental.”
When they tried to buy a house, she said, “We just felt outgunned.” And now, she says, “I feel very outgunned as a citizen.”
Another Maryland resident concurs: “I am an Obama supporter, campaigned for him, baked cookies for him; my husband and I are Democrats all the way, but this is the issue that gets our goat.”
Echoing Santelli’s complaint, a Silver Spring, Md., mom who did not want her name used adds: “I’m not sure why we should work and pay for someone else to have a granite countertop or an extra bathroom.”
When asked about people who hadn’t overreached but had lost their down-payment money when the value of their homes had dropped, she replies, “We put money in a 401(k), and we lost that money, and no one is going to give it back.”
Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa), who founded the House Populist Caucus, says the president has actually gone “to great lengths” not to reward people who have been irresponsible, and that the plan is really an effort to stem another wave of foreclosures in order to stabilize the housing market, which would be to everyone’s benefit.
Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm, also a Democrat, agrees: “This is not directed at those who didn’t play by the rules,” she says. “It’s directed at trying to fix a system so everyone can stay in their homes and so that everyone’s community is not negatively affected by the foreclosures that are popping up all over that neighborhood.”
Still, notes Braley, “I just don’t think that that message has been said often enough and loud enough that people are starting to accept it as a justification of this plan.”
Braley says he expects the president to “go into more detail about how average homeowners are going to benefit on this” during his speech to a joint session of Congress.
Like Braley, Alyssa Katz, author of “Our Lot: How Real Estate Came to Own Us,” a book due out in June about the making of the mortgage crisis, says she does not believe the message has come through clearly enough yet — and that the administration needs to do more to make sure it does.
“Ultimately, yes, it’s about homeowners, but it’s about the stability of the financial markets,” she says. “We have to give up this illusion that it’s about you and me. We have to accept, sort of blindly, the notion that we have to do this for the sake of the nation. Whether you’re lucky and get aid or you already lost your home and you’re screwed, we’re all in this together.”
“You can’t just subsidize some of the people.”
Maybe you can..... we’ll call it, Trickle up Poverty
“You can’t just subsidize some of the people.”
Maybe you can..... we’ll call it, Trickle up Poverty
*I* am Santellicus...
Examples of moonbats feeling betrayed by the big dud but they will bake him cookies and vote for him over and over again even if they are paying 80% of their income in taxes.
My god America is full of idiots.
‘Trickle up Poverty’
haha...
My god America is full of idiots.
Isn’t it just an overwhelming thought that we are surrounded by some of the dumbest people that have ever lived?
No specifics in this non-state of the nation campaign speech. Par for the course.
Every day, the Administration says specifics are just around the corner.
All the specifics are in the legislation crafted behind closed doors excluding Republicans.
Hold on to your hat for Hussein's "Omnibus Budget Bill". Already crafted yet unpublished by this "transparent Administration". However, there is no transparent Congress. And The Obammunist never says anything specific.
yitbos
These lyrics capture what American politics have become. A politician can promise anything or do anything as long as he or she phrases and articulates it eloquently.
I had to walk out because I was so disgusted. We are waltzing right into national socialism and Obama is smiling all the way to absolute power.
EVERYTHING the left projected onto President Bush is being shown in full effect now. I am watching my country being turned into a socialist police state from afar.
Now the left defines “patriotism” as “pay your taxes and shut up because you lost”. So when the left is in power, “patriotism” is unquestioning obedience and slavery to them. In the 80s, there was a bumper sticker that said “question authority”. Under Clinton, we learned that sticker had a rider: “except when the left is in power.” That rider is in full effect again.
When the left lost by landslides, they DEMANDED that the conservatives share power and the republicans let them have their way like idiots. Now the left has a near super-majority (with RINOs) and we conservatives are told to ‘shut up or else’.
Now we have an Administration that goes after ALL critics (plumbers to radio hosts to news anchors/stock traders) BY NAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yet the “anti-establishment” leftists are all for this. Why am I surprised, their playbook is right out of Marx/Hitler/Alinsky/Mao. Socialists all.
My tagline is proven yet again.
Folks the message of how people are being forced to bailout others so they can have houses with granite table tops has to reach young voters. We must visit their communication forums — this must be a major effort on the part of thinking conservatives — excuse me, convervative means you are thinking.
As more productive people realize they are going to have to give up nearly all of their hard-earned money to support the growing crowd of slackers, there will be bloody "change."
401k’s generate no money for the beast, property taxes do. Therefore it is in the beast’s best interest to keep property values high to generate more money for the beast. It’s quite simple really.
First of all, thanks for your service to this great country.
Second, join the birth certificate law suit and let’s oust this loser!!!!
If you thought the trillion- dollar-plus "financial-rescue plan" signed into law Friday had been stripped of the radical group ACORN, think again: The Chicago-based Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now's fingerprints are still all over the law.
ACORN's participation in "fixing" a crisis it helped create is flabbergasting. For decades, the left-wing activist group pressured lenders to give loans to lower-income borrowers who couldn't otherwise afford homes.
The grateful homeowners then become political recruits, serving as foot soldiers for ACORN's radical agenda.
Problem is, such mortgages are now going bad all across America. ACORN's answer: Pressuring the banks not to foreclose on bad risks. And now, with the "rescue" bill, they're getting ready to simply rewrite mortgages to make them affordable.
House Republicans removed one pro-ACORN measure from the rescue bill - torpedoeing a provision devoting 20 percent of all profits from the bailout to a housing slush fund - which would've funneled money to ACORN and similar groups.
In its place, however, ACORN's favorite lawmakers - led by Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Barney Frank (D-Mass.) - got ACORN-championed "foreclosure-mitigation" provisions into the rescue. This will radically expand the federal role in meddling with mortgage loans.
The key sections mandate that the Treasury "consent" to rewriting loans to prevent foreclosures - not only by reducing interest, but also by cutting loan principal. Stuck with a $300,000 mortgage you can't pay? Get the government to wave its magic wand and cut your debt to $150,000.
The deal is only for those who have fallen behind on their mortgages, of course - not for all you chumps who've been paying on time.
And it's a good bet that ACORN mortgage counselors will "help" decide which distressed borrowers benefit, and how. The group's housing arm, the Acorn Housing Corp., is already funded with millions of taxpayer dollars to renegotiate loans for low-income people who should have never received them in the first place. Loan modification is ACORN's bread and butter. And when the group doesn't get what it wants, it will sue, protest and shake down until business and government bend again.
Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) foresees havoc: "Liberals who manage these programs will give away millions of free or reduced homes in neighborhoods all over America to families who could not otherwise afford them. "The federal government now has the power to create federal housing projects, house by house, in neighborhoods all over America. Just imagine what that means for property values and the safety and security of your neighborhood."
All this comes on top of the $5 billion ACORN-backed housing bill passed in July, which hands $600 million-plus to ACORN and similar groups to bail out homeowners under water and help countless more risky loan prospects.
During the floor debate on Friday, Reps. Frank and Waters assured Democratic colleagues that they had personally lobbied Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson on these measures and would press him to consent to "do the kind of loan modifications we've been urging." Waters exulted: "We're in charge! . . . We own them now."
If the banks and others that collect payments on these distressed mortgages don't write down enough loan principal to keep Rep. Frank happy, he threatens hearings and new legislation next year. He'll have the backing of ACORN. ACORN President Maude Hurd warns that her "members plan to hold Secretary Paulson accountable and ensure he uses this authority to make streamlined loan modifications a priority for struggling American families."
What's next? Principal write-downs on credit cards and car loans? What incentive do responsible borrowers have left to pay their bills on time?
As independent housing-bubble analyst and blogger Patrick Killelea (patricknet) notes: "Nobody was ever forced to borrow money. People who borrowed too much money made a mistake.
If they can do that with impunity, they will keep on doing it . . . Every prevented foreclosure also prevents a deserving family from buying at a reasonable price." Thanks to ACORN, the bailout enshrines the homeownership-at-all-costs mentality that got us into this mess in the first place.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/10072008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/rescue_rewards_housing_hustlers_132399.htm
Husband And Wife Plead Guilty To Massive Florida Straw Buyer Scheme ("God's children" living the American Dream (sob)
Staff Reporter, 06/02/08
Juan and Rachael Torrens pled guilty to conspiracy charges in connection with their participation in a recent multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme in South Florida. The defendants acknowledged as part of their guilty plea that their scheme produced over $15,000,000 in fraudulent loans, and resulted in losses of over $5,000,000 to various lenders. With Juan and Rachael Torrens‘ guilty pleas, 15 of the original 31 defendants charged have pled guilty.
As previously reported by Mortgage Fraud Blog, defendants Juan Torrens, the de facto owner of Amsouth Trust & Investment Corp. (”Amsouth”) and president of Countryside Land & Development, Inc., Rachael Torrens, president of 1st Choice Realty of South Florida, Inc. and de facto owner of First United Mortgage USA Corp., Daniel Ramos, Alfonso A. Muxo, a State of Florida certified real estate appraiser and owner of Palm Bay Real Estate Appraisals, Inc., and Katherine Harris, former president and part owner of Floridian Home Title Corporation, were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and/or wire fraud for their participation in this massive mortgage fraud scheme.
The scheme involved fraudulent mortgage loans obtained for the purchase of 28 properties located in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, Florida, and in the City of Marco Island. All except Katherine Harris have already pled guilty, and are awaiting sentence.
The Indictment also charges defendants Mario E. Diaz, Aurelio Pozo, Oscar Barreiro, Lellany Rordriguez, Jose Asensi, Carlos Morales, Damaris Jimenez, Lizabeth Perez, Mario Blanco, Rene Rodriguez, Tamaris Angulo, Alicia Loaiza, Ester Crespo, Jesus Enrique Guevara, Janette Lugo, Priscilla Fleitas, Erick Clavijo, Luis DeJesus Planas, Moises Llorens, Milva Roque, Aurora Ramentol, Gladys Lens, Nancy Fundora, Yanny Cruz Pavon, Roger Rosario and Jacqueline Perez-Castillo ("the straw buyer defendants") with wire fraud for their participation in this mortgage fraud scheme. To date, guilty pleas have been entered by defendants Aurelio Pozo, Oscar Barreiro, Carlos Morales, Damaris Jimenez, Mario Blanco, Jesus Enrique Guevara, Janette Lugo, Priscilla Fleitas, Moises Llorens, Gladys Lens, and Roger Rosario.
According to the Indictment, Juan Torrens would identify sellers of residential properties who were willing to overstate the true selling price of their properties. Daniel Ramos and Juan Torrens would then recruit and pay the straw buyer defendants to pose as buyers and ostensibly participate in the purchase of the selected properties. Defendants Rachael Torrens and Juan Torrens would prepare fraudulent mortgage loan applications for the straw purchasers that included false employment verifications, pay stubs, income and funds on deposit, and IRS Forms W-2.
Thereafter, to support the overstated sales prices on the properties and the fraudulent mortgage applications, defendant Alonso A. Muxo would prepare fraudulent appraisals attesting to the inflated property values dictated by Juan Torrens. Roger Rosario, an employee of Regions Bank, assisted the fraud by providing, on at least one occasion, a fraudulent verification of deposit in connection with a mortgage loan application for one of the straw buyer defendants.
To effectuate the scheme, defendants Juan Torrens and Rachael Torrens, together with the straw buyer defendants, would create and submit to the banks and lending institutions HUD-Settlement Statement Forms, also known as HUD-1s, which falsely stated that the straw buyers brought their own funds to the closings. Once the mortgage applications were approved, the lenders would wire the loan proceeds to the title company, Floridian Home Title, for closing. At closing, Amsouth, a company owned and controlled by Juan Torrens, would receive a credit for the difference between the inflated price and the actual selling price of the property. Defendants Juan and Rachael Torrens would make the payments on the mortgage loans to maintain the loans afloat until the properties could be resold again, often to another straw buyer.
When the Torrenses failed to make payments on the loans, some properties went into foreclosure, resulting in substantial losses to the lending institutions.
And thank-you for your service.....
OK, that's a best seller T-Shirt right there. LOL!
I received the complaint that he was “racist” and not welcomed in that building ever again. HOWEVER, others in that room were bashing Bush and his supporters at the same time and THAT was deemed ok. That I witnessed personally and saw the blatant and true racism in that charge.
But that is how bad it is now and it WILL get worse.
Still, notes Braley, “I just don’t think that that message [the lie that this is directed to those have been responsible] has been said often enough and loud enough that people are starting to accept it as a justification of this plan.”"JUST the place for a Snark!" the Bellman cried,
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