Bush: No Bailout for Pinched Homeowners

[Terri]

By JEANNINE AVERSA
Associated Press
August 10, 2007

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush said Thursday concern should be shown those who've lost their homes but it's not the federal government's job to bail them out.

''Obviously anybody who loses their home is somebody with whom we must show an enormous empathy,'' Bush said. Asked whether he would champion a government bailout, Bush responded: ''If you mean direct grants to homeowners, the answer would be 'No, I don't support that.'''

New home foreclosures have climbed to record highs. Homeowners with poor credit have been hardest hit as higher interest rates and weak home prices have made it impossible or difficult for them to keep up with their home loans.

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[McGrats]

Bush said that he does support financial institutions working with distressed homeowners. He also suggested that some people may not have fully understood the terms of their mortgages. The government, he said, can help out by educating prospective home buyers.

Interesting. At first I thought Bush would start throwing money around ala Katrina. But by tossing the ball into the financier's court, he finally made a good decision. This places the burden on the shoulders of those creating the problem... certain greedy financial institutions.

Let them eat cake!

[Think About It]

George W is forgetting that he represents the legal citizens of this country not the large corporations who layoff qualified legal US citizens in favor of outsourcing jobs (and sensitive financial, healthcare, and security data) to other countries, but he is not alone. Politicians of both parties (for their own self-serving interests) are continually looking to special interests groups (including corporations) for their needs instead of looking at the needs of the average legal US citizen. I'm not for bailing out anyone, but a tax break for corporations that are already hurting the average legal citizen is a bailout of the largest proportions. Our elected officials need to wake up and quit wasting taxpayers interests and money.

[crescen7]

I hope I'm wrong, but I think GWB only ruled out grants directly to borrowers. He didn't rule out a broader based bail out that might include incentives (ie money) to lenders for not foreclosing.

This is too good for politicians to pass up. The political heroes can look like they are helping the poor guy down on his luck, while in fact they are bailing out lending institutions. More details at http://drilldown.townhall.c om my post of March 14.

I don't believe we've heard the end of this one!

[makamends]

President Bush said <snip> "it's not the federal government's job to bail them out."

Mr. President, it wasn't governments job to help put these folks in homes they couldn't afford. Will the tough talk above apply to the mortgage finance folks too?

June 17, 2002 Today, President Bush announced a new goal to help increase the number of minority homeowners by at least 5.5 million before the end of the decade. The President's aggressive housing agenda will help dismantle the barriers to homeownership by providing down payment assistance, increasing the supply of affordable homes, increasing support for self-help homeownership programs, and simplifying the home buying process & increasing education. The President also issued "America's Homeownership Challenge" to the real estate and mortgage finance industries to join in his effort to increase the number of minority homeowners by taking concrete steps to tear down the barriers to homeownership that face minority families.

SOURCE

I've posted on these pages that the Democrats are the better choice for voters as managers of socialism. Here's an example. Dems would unashamedly bail everyone out of this mess by getting in our wallet(spread the misery) while Bush is leaving his trusting participants hanging. The Dem majority may prevent the Presidents' intended socialist bailout of the mortgage finance folks with tax breaks. We see in this example why it is unwise for Republicans to venture into Dems territory. You get run over playing both sides of the street. Compromised conservatism doesn't work and you end up looking stupid. We need a real conservative in the WH in 2009.

[Genea]

Thank God. If I bought a home I could not afford, that's my tough luck. Let the buyer beware... Nobody bailed my parents out when they lost their first house because they couldn't afford it. It was sold, they lost money, we rented, they saved and years later they bought another house.

The government should not bail out anyone, that's not their job, albeit the dems think they have to do everything for us. I am tired of paying for other people's mistakes through taxes. You buy a home you can't afford, that's your fault, you build a home on the beach and something happens, that's your fault (unfortunately, we are forced to pay for that, even though in my wildest dreams I couldn't afford to live there myself.) The stock market is doing poorly right now, a nice portion of our retirement is in there, tough luck on me, it was our decision, we lose, I don't expect the government to bail us out. That's the way it is.

Just a sidenote. The financial institutions who granted these mortgages are hurting from this too. They don't want homes to go into foreclosure, they loose money on the deal as well.

[tgclark]

Take a guess at who the majority of foreclosures are for among the minority groups - illegals. Since they have been allowed to buy homes, cars and take over jobs from real Americans, what is your conclusion. Guess who is paying for all of this, we the taxpayer, the mortgage companies will not lose. This kind of thing has happened before and no one asked the government to bail them out. As it is we have TOO MUCH GOVERNMENT IN OUR LIVES WHY ASK FOR MORE TROUBLE.

[Cynical Pete]

Foreclosures is a utopia for the money changers. If a home had $200,000 equity, the lenders foreclose to gain this profit. In the midwest many years ago during a drought, many small farmers were foreclosed on with foreign owned companies buying the farm land. With the decrease in pay by outsourcing middle class jobs and hiring foreign born immigrants at a cheaper pay, this is only the beginning of more homelessness as well as the brutal destruction of the middle class Americans. there should be a way for homeowners to pay only the interest on loans until they become educated in a new field of employment.

[STDog]

I'm not for bailing out anyone, but a tax break for corporations that are already hurting the average legal citizen is a bailout of the largest proportions.

What I read was that the WH want's to remove the special interest backed deductions and credits, and lower the rates. So a smaller percentage of a larger base = the same money, but simplified tax code. And I'm all for a simplified tax code.

This is suppose to help make the US more competitive since we have some of the highest corporate tax rates in the world, and one of the most convoluted tax codes.

While he's at it, let get rid of the whole US tax code and start over. Clean slate. I'd love to go back to the system envisioned and enacted by the founding Congress, but I know that won't happen in my grand children's life times(and my oldest child is 13).

The stock market is doing poorly right now, a nice portion of our retirement is in there, tough luck on me, it was our decision, we lose, I don't expect the government to bail us out.

What market is that?
the DOW? +5% in 6 months, +20% in 1 yr, +50% in 5 yrs, +70% in 10yrs

NASDAQ? +2.5% 6 mo, +22% in 1 yr, +85% in 5 yrs, +60% in 10yrs

S&P 500? flat for 6mo, +4% over a yr, +60% in 5yrs, +60% in 10yrs

[Billary2004]

Bush recognized one thing right now. If he bails borrowers or banks out, the market will be flooded with cash, which will devalue the dollar even more.

I am not sure what ThinkAboutIt's line of reasoning is, but nobody should be helped by the fed gov't. Not the corporations or the public. I don't think this issue is that bad. The larger issue is that the fed gov't is able to print money on a whim. That money in turn is given out in the form of welfare, subsidized loans, research grants, fed pay for fed workers, etc. On the back end money is printed to bail out industry after industry and to pay for Congress to investigate some supposed wrong doing by the next Enron.

This can all be ended if the voters end entitlements and subsidies at the fed level and move to a gold standard. But nobody wants to let go of their piece of the pie. That idea that "I got screwed over, so there should be help for me" looms large over the heads of the electorate.