Are we missing the outrage for being sold down the river by a band of numbskulls in the mortgage crisis? Even our choice for presidential candidates show heavily embedded lobby and financial interests for a Marxist socialist solution or a watered down free market solution. Both are sleepwalking in lobby money and favoritism.
Unqualified buyers were encouraged into mortgages, the root cause for the financial meltdown. Our financial subprime woes started with Jimmy Carter who, though well meaning, dumb-headedly enacted legislation to make easy loans to people who were bad credit risks. Purchasing a home and paying property taxes was sold as the ultimate dream for financial happiness and getting ahead. His administration began distancing itself from conservative lending and accounting principles.
With the Clintons in the White House, the problem skyrocketed. They passed legislation punishing the mortgage companies if they did not lend to high-risk borrowers. They put laws with teeth in them thus encouraging easy credit with eyes shut to risk. Sound lending practices were thrown out the window.
Who bought these phony high risk loans? Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac. They, furthermore, became a root for sending political contributions to politicians encouraging this bad credit homeownership cancer to keep growing. Mortgage company lobbies’ threw hundreds of millions of dollars to politicians’ greed in order to perpetuate this circus even as residents of high-foreclosure neighborhoods suffered additional pain from high property taxes.
Insurance companies insured these bogus loans. AIG and others evaluated this risk. Their leverage was originally set at 12 to one. They too threw million in lobby money at Congress, then the asked for a 30 to 1 leverage and further increased risk. This pumped up and spectacurlary increased their profits by large proportions while the real estate market was going up.
This fraud was given the stamp of approval by chief economists Greenspan and Bernanke and the ship of fool’s balloon took off. Socialist organizations such as Acorn (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) and other related groups pressured banks into giving even more misguided loans.
Banking Committee Chairman, The House Finance Chief, SEC Chairman and other top-ranking government officials allowed this cancer to perpetuate because of the lobby money they received. The greed for lobby money twisted sound reasoning and perpetuated complete nonsensical thinking. The only solution for not tempting elected officials to sway their votes from socially responsible to sociopathic dimensions is to banish those accepting lobby money from government service as well as requiring prison terms.
When the hot air balloon runs out of fuel used to create the hot air, the balloon crashes. When the easy credit real estate market turned and foreclosures ascended, the balloon was punctured and stopped climbing; it crashed. Humpty Dumpty and the 700 billion dollar bailout that was weighed down with pork project bought and paid for by additional lobby money show how corrupt these weasels are. Where is the ethical outrage?
Across the nation, real estate prices have fallen and municipal and state governments have raised their tax rates to compensate for the shortfall. If, when you get your property tax assessment bill, you need to compare your home to the assessments of similar sold homes, you may find that you are overtaxed and could profit from a property tax appeal. It’s worth another look.