Speaking Larry Kudlow, Jon Hilsenrath, WSJ, and Patrick O'Connor, WSJ, re the POTUS camp gambit to offer discount mortgages to the sandy states needed for the Electoral College, Nevada, New Mexico, Florida. Clever and cynical. POTUS does not need to get the Congress to comply (it won't); but he does need to demonstrate that he cares and is ready to hand out (bail-out) the aggrieved "homeowners." A more cynical voice might observe that this is more bail-outs for the banks holding the mortgages that were then resold to the black holes of Fan and Fred. The politics of bail-out. McCain campaign tried a gambit like this is 2008 and was laugh at; but then John McCain wasn't POTUS with the power of patronage to back up the big talk. The equation has not changed in three years. Do you want to pay for your neighbor? And if you do not own a home that is underwater, are you responsible for the fail? And how does bailing out the failed mortgages move the underlying story of the housing start jobs crash?
Shameless, and superficial. Potus promised more transparency. This is about as transparent as it gets. Rick Perry: "Sometimes it's just fun to poke fun at the President...where are your grades, where is your birth certificate?" I would add "Where is your common sense?"
This is actually a good idea, lowering rates for those with underwater mortgages may help them survive the next 4 or 5 years. REFI to a lower rate makes it more affordable. Fannie and Freddie still have the risk anyway, we need to mitigate the default rate.
As long as those morons in the WH keep tinkering with the electorate's poor to keep them in their house and voting Democratic, the housing maket will never clear. The Dems and their fellow travelers have to get out of the way and let these homes wash out of the system so people can move to the jobs.
-->we need to mitigate the default rate.
We have to get past the problem of problems which are hard to watch. It's hard to watch people get put out on the street, but let's face it, we all know people who are cut out to be renters rather than homeowners. You know, the people who spend it all on new cars and big shiny TVs oblivious to the fact that the roof will one day need replacing or that one day unemployment may pay a visit.
As long as we permit/ encourage for these renters the unnatural act of homeownership, our economy and our society will suffer. The economy because these people will be made immobile by the handcuffs of an underwater home they can't afford. Our society because people (our children and grandchildren) who had no part in creating this mess will get stuck with the bill when Fanny and Freddy find themselves holding yet again a bunch of worthless 30 year notes paying 3.5% at the same time as the Fed has gone turtle and the yield curve has inverted and short rates have returned to 5%.
This problem is getting so bad I wonder if it'll sort itself out before I shuffle off. I'm starting to wonder if Pat Buchanan is optimistic in his assertion that we'll commit national suicide by 2025.