I’m not buying it.
Back in January of 2009, newly inaugurated President Obama warned America that we needed to support his $750B bailout. He warned that failure to take “dramatic action” on the package as soon as possible would have devastating long-term consequences for America
Two and a half years later we have seen the Obama administration deliver devastating long-term consequences for America, but not because of TARP. Uncontrolled spending and the appointment of radical ideologues has taken America down a financially disastrous path. Now we are being warned that failure to raise the debt ceiling will be “like ‘Star Wars’”
Funny thing, we’ve seen scare tactics before. Hank Paulson said back in October 2008 about the proposed $700B bailout, “I am convinced this bold approach will cost American families far less than the alternative — a continuing series of financial institution failures and frozen credit markets unable to fund economic expansion.”
Did that happen? Of course not. What did happen is that hundreds of banks received billions of dollars and the common man paid the bill without getting anything for it. Credit markets are still tight, borrowing money is as difficult as ever, and there is no end in sight to the president’s desire to spend even more under the guise of saving America via big government.
America has lost all confidence in its leadership. Politicians on both sides of the aisle have spent us into a dark corner and there is no easy way out. From the mouth of our charismatic uniter, the champion of hope and change, all we seem to get is a stern lecture and down the nose condescension the likes the American people have never, ever received from their president before. Instead of guidance and direction we get scare tactics and stern yet hollow words from an inexperienced president in way over his head.
I don’t want to sit through the Sunday news shows and listen to people claiming that words said behind closed doors are the justification for the continued destruction of our economy. Damn it, you people work for us!,If you want our support you better open those doors. Break out some transparency before we open up another can of whoop ass in the voting booth next year. There is no shorter leash than the one around every neck in Congress right now.
And here’s a tip. We need real evidence. Show us charts, cite your sources, and speak in terms that real people can understand. Paulson, Pelosi and Dodd tried to scare us into supporting the $700 billion TARP package. What convincing evidence did Americans see? Nothing. We were told to trust Congress. We were told that behind closed doors some really powerful people were shown very scary charts and that the whole situation was perilous. too perilous for little ol’ taxpayers to get a glimpse at. Funny thing, the $700 billion TARP figure was not even based on any analysis or facts. A Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes magazine “It’s not based on any particular data point, We just wanted to choose a really large number.”
Really? A really large number? Why not eleventy fiveteen twenty seventy? Give me a break people, if you want voter support you better bring something to the table better than a wild-ass guess. So until I see some actual data, some real fact-based consequences, I’m not buying the “debtastrophy” horror movie script you are selling us. IF you provide compelling and realistic data, I’m willing to listen. Until then you have no more credibility chicken little.
An interesting article presented by the University of Virginia sheds some light on the current housing market. Specifically, the study shows that “66 percent of potential housing value losses in 2008 and subsequent years may be in California, with another 21 percent in Florida, Nevada and Arizona, for a total of 87 percent of national declines.”
66% of the financial losses occurred in California. Two thirds of the failing mortgages that President Obama and others are demanding that taxpayers bail out are in California. The other three states make up another 21%. Here is another quote from this study:
“Potential losses in housing values from 2008 foreclosures in all 50 states — if values decline to 2000 levels — were less than one-third of the $350 billion provided to banks and insurance companies to cope with losses in mortgage-backed securities…”
“Damage to the balance sheets of large banks and AIG occurred not mainly from losses on foreclosed residential mortgages, but because of borrowing short-range to buy long-range derivatives and from selling credit default swaps insuring derivatives backed by mortgage payments,” Lucy and Herlitz said.
In other words, the banks that are being bailed out lost billions thanks to risky investments and lack of management/oversight. The housing bailout is not nearly as expensive as we’ve been led to believe. We’ve been asked to support giving banks $700B yet they only need about $100B to cover their mortgage-backed risk?
For another perspective take a look at the following maps.
Do you see what I see? three of the four “mortgage crisis” states are blue, as in Democratic. The only reason Arizona is red is because that’s McCain’s state. He won his own state 54:45 by less than two million votes. If Romney had been the candidate I bet that AZ would have also gone blue.
My point? Democratic leadership sucks. Liberal policies focus more on making things fair, making everyone equal, instead of looking at legitimate financial issues and holding citizens accountable for their own actions, including their ability to pay for a mortgage. But, we don’t hear this in the press now, do we? Where is the hype over the fact that President Obama wants to give billions of dollars to in essence bail out four of our fifty states? ::crickets::
This is the sort of info you need to have top of mind when talking to liberals AND moderates that are less than energetic about learning the truth. We’ve got three years to educate five million voters so that conservative values have a fighting chance in 2012. Spread the word, be a loud talker.
As I opined last August, bailing out home owners is a bad idea. I still have not seen a single instance of what the left calls “predatory lending.” I have seen plenty of examples of buyer and lender greed, along with an equal if not greater amount of apathy and/or ignorance.
The New York Daily News has a feature article today on Marlo Saab, an “ideal candidate” for assistance under the president’s new plan. Reading the details makes me want to start skipping my mortgage payments. This home owner bought a $555,000 home three years ago with no money down with an $80,000 salary. I’m not Stephen Hawking, but even my simple mind can see that the math doesn’t work out. Factor in the cost of living in New York City and it seems even more unimaginable that Mr. Saab could afford this home.
In 1996 with a $45k salary I qualified for a mortgage of around $250-300k. Did I overextend myself and get the most house I qualified for? No. I was taking home about $2500 a month, I felt that I could allocate half of my income to a mortgage. This resulted in me purchasing a modest starter home for $108k, with a mortgage payment of $1,200 or so. Fast forward to 2007: My family relocated and we rented a house for more than two years until we could find one that met our needs and our budget. When we were ready to buy again it took us six months of tedious searching to find something that we liked, met our needs, and most important: was within our budget. Thanks to a good down payment and my diligent search efforts I now have a home with a similar mortgage but I make much more than I did back in 1996.
Thanks to MichelleMalkin.com and www.makestickers.com for this image.
Now President Obama is asking me to help pay the mortgages of thousands of people that didn’t do the research, take the time, or just didn’t care. What motivation do I have? What motivation do others have not to repeat the negative behavior that got them into trouble in the first place? As a parent, it is not my job or responsibility to keep my children happy at all times and at all costs. Sometimes the answer is a firm “no.” Other times we have to do things that the child does not like. For the good of America President Obama needs to learn how to say “no” to the mental children in our society that can’t act appropriately.
I think this quote sums up my feelings appropriately: “Which is most blameworthy. those who see and will steadily pursue their interest, or those who cannot see, or seeing will not act wisely?” (George Washington to David Stuart – March 28, 1790)
