Thank You Freddie

Aside from the oppressive and monstrous porkulus package signed this week, President Obama introduced his plan to deal with home foreclosures. He said that“in the end, all of us are paying a price for this home mortgage crisis, and all of us will pay an even steeper price if we allow this crisis to deepen.” Once again, PBHO uses fear-mongering to promote his liberal cause to further the growth of government to unprecedented levels. He will also not let a crisis go to waste. Unfortunately, there are only a few media outlets out there that are willing to report the truth behind why we are in this crisis to begin with.

There are two types of people in this world, when it comes to shelter: Homeowners and renters. In the past, a young couple would shack up with mom and dad or rent a small apartment while socking away some cash in the hopes of someday having enough to put down on a starter house. When the perfect house was found, the couple would walk into their neighborhood bank or mortgage company, plop down their 20%, and sign loan documents. From there, the couple would graduate into one, two, and three or more homes as their family grew. All the while having gained equity in their former home to have well over 20% for the next one. Then came pressure from our government and minority groups.

Banks were being challenged by our government through pressure from groups like the ACLU, NAACP, and the Rainbow Coalition to prove that they were not lending discriminantly. The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 basically transferred the role of mortgage lender to the government. Its tenet was that politicians knew better than the mortgage lenders who to make loans to. This act, signed under Jimmy Carter, didn't have much teeth. The purpose was to keep banking localized and enforce community lending. The real beginning to the meltdown came with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), under Bill Clinton.

The intent of the push was to increase the number of homeowners in America. Although this seems a noble cause, the results have been anything but. HUD began to harass banks, with the help of community organization groups like ACORN, to prove that their lending practices were fair to lower-income families. They pressured lenders to create and devise alternative methods to make loans to these type of people. In the name of 'fairness', essentially quotas were put into place to ensure that there was no racial bias.

This ridiculous notion that every American has a right to a home was perpetuated into Dubya's presidency as well. In his 2004 State of the Union address, he said that home ownership was at the highest levels ever. That, thanks in part to the loose lending standards forced down the throats of lending institutions and the backing from Fannie and Freddie (pseudo-government programs). Creative financing became the norm in the late-nineties into the millennium with terms like sub-prime, adjustable-rate, no-money-down, and flipping.

So yes, the mortgage meltdown we are now in comes as a direct result from mortgage-backed security trading, but government has yet to admit any culpability. Guys like Chris Dodd and Barney Frank, who had some control in both Fannie and Freddie want to go after the banks and limit there pay structure and bonuses rather than point the finger at themselves. And now, PBHO wants to let foreclosed homeowners off the hook.

As mentioned before, there are homeowners and then there are renters, and speaking from experience, even the renters can be horrible. But there is no way that I am going to let anyone benefit from doing something stupid. Why in the hell should the money extorted from me in the name of taxes go to help some dumbass stay in a house that they were never able to afford in the first place. And how on God's Green Earth can a bankruptcy judge reduce the principal value of the house next door to me, further reducing my house's value, in the name of fairness.

Earlier this week, CNBC's Rick Santelli let loose in a rant against PBHO's plan, rarely seen on the lame-stream media. I think that there will be much more of this type of revolt in the coming months. More and more people are feeling disenfranchised with the direction our country is heading and it's only a matter of time before enough is enough. I just hope that it's not too late.