Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Homeowner Bailout?

President Obama is putting up $75 billion to try and save four to seven million families from having their homes foreclosed. Fine, I don't want to see folks thrown out on the streets. But I do want to know just what the rules are going to be.

The home market crisis occurred because lenders and realtors got carried away and assured people they could handle mortgages out of their range. Also, lending institutions and realtors drove up the market, creating an unrealistic price ceiling, that has come crashing down.

What I want to know is what is going to happen to the lending institutions and realtors who lied and manipulated the public to make a big profit? Are these people going to be held accountable for the crimes they committed?

Are home buyers going to be forced to take a class about the reality of the economic situation before being allowed to buy a house? Things like using your base salary - no overtime or bonus, etc - to see what your actual monthly income is and what one third is, which should be the maximum amount of monthly income devoted to a mortgage.

We got into this crisis due to greedy and stupid people. We are now being mandated - no one asked me if I wanted my tax dollars going to mismanaged lending institutions and families who did not take the time to do the math - to save these foreclosures at our expense. Fine. But I want guarantees that in the future the government will have a plan in place to insure that this kind of greed and stupidity never destroy the housing market again.

Its Common Sense!

1 comment:

Ajaz Haque said...

We are standing on the edge of precipice right now. If the Government does not help, the economy could tank even more resulting in loss of several million jobs, bankruptcies galore and an economic disaster. By providing funding to a disaster after disaster like banking, housing and auto industry, US is printing money which will eventually come back to bite through a crashing dollar and high inflation. It is a question of choosing lesser evil and bailouts may do the trick over a short while, but after the economy turns back, tight controls on spending strict budgetary controls will be required for a good number of years. The banks will also need to be brought under discipline to prevent them from being reckless again.