Bush: No Economic Freedom For You!
Once again, government rises up to “fix” a problem they created and in the process directly take massive amounts of freedom from people. The Bush Administration has said that they, personally, do not like a number of financial agreements that are legal, binding, and voluntarily made by people. So they’re simply deciding by government fiat that you’re simply not permitted to have such agreements, and those people who have made agreements in the past, well, the Bush Administration will decide which ones are best for you and which are suddenly no longer allowed.
Now I’m sure many of you bleeding hearts (Liberal and Republican) are thinking that it’s “good” that Bush is crushing freedom by freezing interest rates. I’m sure many think it’s “good for the country” and the economy. Know what? It absolutely stinks for freedom.
How would you feel if I agreed to pay you $500 a month to rent your car from you for the next 10 years. We both agreed, thought the terms were good, and you might even have spent some of the money I’d given you. You might even have bought a car yourself, depending on my giving you your monthly payment. Then, just imagine the government shows up and tells you, “Gee, we don’t like this agreement. We think Ogre should only give you $175 a month because that would be good.” And you’re just out of luck.
It’s wrong, plain and simple. But hey, government’s doing it, so the odds of it being right are pretty low to begin with. This is what you get when you have government managing money with the private Federal Reserve System where the money isn’t backed by anything at all. Problems like this don’t happen when you back your money with something of value — like gold.
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I have made my point of view on the “housing crisis” very clear and at near stroke on the fact that the loser who don’t know how to manage money is now getting help because of their stupidity.
I am sorry, but I have a house I can afford and made sure we could afford it even if one of us lost our jobs before we decided to buy a new house.
Why am I now paying because some dumb ass was to gready to buy what they could afford?
Because that’s what today’s government does in most areas — it rewards the losers and punishes those who work hard. We need a new government.
Part of the problem that is not being addressed is the fact that the lenders who did all of the ARM mortgages did so against the laws and rules of the industry, and not everyone fully understood what they were being sold. The loan officers many times sold the mortgage to people, especially first time buyers, saying “hey this is a rate of 5.4%” and not fully explaining that it was a balloon and that’s what ARM meant. Countrywide is one of the worst for doing this practice, that comes to mind. These lenders should be prosecuted for what they have done because certain ones did use deception and broke laws doing those loans. Much like Enron, they need to be prosecuted for unethical practices. As for the people they have screwed, well they should be living and learning, it is not something the government should be bailing them out of. If they have been making their payments on time, there should be a lender out there that will work to give them a fixed rate mortgage. That is what makes no sense about the government jumping in and freezing rates. And if someone hasn’t been able to pay the lower rate on time over 2 or 3 years, they deserve what they get.
If the companies lied, then the contract is null and void and the customers should be off the hook for the loan. If the companies didn’t lie, then the customer should pay the money they voluntarily agreed to pay and shut up. If the customer cannot pay the money, they default and get punished.
There’s no reason for the government to get involved in any way, other than to help enforce the voluntary contract. In this case, government is doing the exact OPPOSITE — getting involved to DESTROY the voluntary, legal contract. That’s completely wrong, period.
I’m sorry to anyone who has a loan they cannot pay. I have been there and understand. But I don’t think everyone else should be punished (and we are, believe me) because a few people made some mistakes. When crap like this happens, I’m just encouraged to NOT pay my mortgage, and just wait for someone else to be forced to pay it for me.
Only thing Ogre, no one would be there paying it for you because you are a “tax paying American”.
I had an ARM myself due to balloon in June. I had to scuttle and do a lot of work to get it done, but I got a refi before it ballooned. So I have to wonder how many people are out there just “waiting for someone else to handle it”. They can work on getting a short sale to get out from under the default issue too. I don’t feel too sorry for them. You are supposed to learn from the situation and if you have some tenacity, do what you can to fix it yourself. I still think there are some mortgage companies that need to be investigated and prosecuted out there, but I’m with you Ogre, the government has no business bailing out overextended homeowners. I am of the opinion homeownership kills freedom anyway.
I current people don’t have any incentive to make arrangements themselves (other than a sense of self-worth, which liberals hate). In other words, since no one is responsible for their actions any more, why should they take care of the problem themselves? They have government to take care of everything for them. And they’re actually selfish bastards, if you ask me (government, government employees, Congressmen who support this “bailout,” and the people who are taking advantage of it).
I am so tired of people claiming that they didn’t understand what they were getting into with ARMs.
It is the consumers responsibility to understand what they are signing, read it for gods sake.
We took our contract from the bank to a lawyer to make sure there were no “hidden” crap in it, same with the contract to build our house.
There is no such thing as not understanding something, if you don’t understand it then you need to figure out how to understand it. It’s called personal responsibility.
I just don’t understand how someone can sign papers without reading everything or not understanding it. What if it said you had to give up your first child by signing it (I realize this wouldn’t happen) and when they demand your first child you say well I didn’t understand that is what I have to give up to get a loan. You sign it, you live by what it states. Period.
Personal Responsibility, while not actually outlawed by government yet, is indeed not supported by government in any way, shape or form. They permit you to have responsibility, but they sure don’t force anyone else to.
I think a lot of people are just dumb. They don’t understand the true potential of these loans; they come up with neat ways to pay the mortgage but the ways never come to life.
These mortgage companies DO tell consumers that they CAN afford exorbitant loans based on crazy ratios: they DO have CRAZY ratios…mix this with people who have little budget skill and we have this mess.
We have houses up in my area that were foreclosed on; they were subprime loan homes; no one can sell them. It’s bad for the local economy up here too…these mortgage companies cannot unload the properties at the prices they want.
I think Bush made a big mistake. No matter what though we’re all gonna pay one way or another. If we invested more in teaching people how to buy things they actually can afford these issues might not happen.
Government schools don’t teach the skills people need in everyday life, like understanding contracts and financing, budgeting, understanding interest rates, etc. That’s another part of the problem. Homeschooling gives one the freedom to teach kids more practical skills.
I think if more people actually suffered for making bad decisions, like taking out a loan they couldn’t afford, less people would make the bad decisions to begin with!
Certainly, government schools do not teach that, because that would be responsibility, and that’s not allowed in government schools. This is just another case where government CAUSED the problem (with backing of government securities, Fannie Mae, etc) and now they’re coming up with a solution — that will just cost money and cause more problems.