Is it just me or was there a serious flaw in Senator John McCain's plan (mentioned somewhat briefly during Tuesday evening's debate) to buy failing mortgages with taxpayer dollars? He also mentioned allowing folks (his words, not mine) to renegotiate the terms, including the principal, of their mortgage.
The big flaw there is that what you do for one homeowner leaves another sitting on the outside looking in. While I can (barely) pay my mortgage payments (even with the loss of my part-time gig and loss of hours at my full-time gig), I'd still love to be the recipient of a write-down of the principal owed on my home. A nice, round number like 23% (coincidentally the same percentage my 401k has lost this year) would be pretty damn swell with this Danish dude.
And as far as buying out failing mortgages, I'd be happy to be a 21st century property baron because what The Man does with my money is most certainly my business. I'd be cool having total oversight of the house that my future taxpayer dollars bought. I'd happily collect rent from the tenants on a monthly basis with a firm but fair hand. When it comes time for maintenance, my toolbox is mere steps away. Bring it on, this guy's itching to be a property baron and when more mortgages fail, I'd be all for the use of taxpayer dollars to add those to my vast property portfolio because I'd finally have oversight on how my tax dollars are spent.
Yes, you in the back, you have a question?
Oh, this isn't about me having any say in how my tax dollars are spent? It's all about the government having the potential to turn a few bucks because we're serfs in this country? Huh. No more of you talking, okay? That kind of harshed my vibe.
7 comments:
Oh! I thought that said... allowing folks to regurgitate the terms! My bad! :)
Since rates have bottomed out agqain I don't see why the banks didn't just renegotiate the notes instead of foreclosing in the first place.
I think it would have been a lot less painful if the banks had worked with the borrowers instead of just going down with the ship.
As far as the government goes...I think the perception is that so many fools took out loans they could never repay because of shady lenders and banks were complicit and gambled away shareowner and depositors money like drunken sailors, so the .gov thinks they know better.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels this way. Makes me mad I didn't go buy a "way out of our league" house and rack up the credit cards beyond belief.
I say stick with the basic dog training rule...reward positive behavior and do not reward negative behavior. How else do we learn by our mistakes?
Yes, I wish they would just say it -
so-sha-liz-em
I think all the bailouts are going to cause more problems then solve problems.
I trust the government as much as I trust the girl who wanted to borrow my toys when I was a kid and then I'd never see them again.
It was a scary thing to hear - especially since my profession is real estate.
What happened to responsibility? On the part of the government AND the people? I don't get a break, b/c I MADE my payments?
I just don't get it...
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