Comments on: This is Pure Genius

By: thomas

thomas — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:57:10 +0000

I wish I was dumb enough to get myself in an overpriced house that I can’t afford. I could then blame everyone else and get the government to pay for my stupidity.

Damn me for being smart.

By: Kitty

Kitty — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 03:14:22 +0000

We are paying for other people’s greed or stupidity one way or another unfortunately. Be it with our tax money or with our net worth going down. Some unlucky people are paying with their jobs. Others cannot afford to buy anything. In my area, a young couple could probably only afford a one bedroom condo if they both work and earn above-average salary; a co-op if the do not. OK, I shouldn’t complaint, I made a bit of money by selling my old condo for a lot more than what I paid for it (sold a bit too early, though), but the fact is, the current problems would affect all of us one way or another.

A husband of a co-worker works for a mortgage company. He is a mathematician not a mortgage broker. The company announced recently, they’ll lay off about half of all employees. Now, this guy is not poor or young so he probably could afford to just retire. But there are so many people working for these companies who aren’t close to retirement or have money.

Wish I could believe this plan would help the economy though. More likely it’d be a huge waste much like the rebate (ok, I am not objective, I didn’t qualify). It’ll be accompanied by even more waste like sending everyone letters to tell them about the program.

By: Ernesto@InsuranceYak.com

Ernesto@InsuranceYak.com — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:56:34 +0000

Sandra,

Actually the original idea for this plan was floated by Rep. Franks (D-MA) who thought we could bail everyone out using FHA if the banks wrote down overpriced homes to 85% of market value.

The banks probably looked at that idea and said “Hmmm 85% recovery of our money is OK, let’s see if old W would bump it up to 95% or higher”

That’s where we’re at now. Accusing George W of an original idea, who do you think you are?

By: JOhn BoB

JOhn BoB — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:34:06 +0000

What is the big deal? A huge amount of our taxes goes to support lazy scumbags who don’t want to work or think for themselves and expect to spend their lives living suckling at “Big Government Mommy’s” teats.
Oh yeah….this MUST be the fault of President Bush.

To Sandra: I thank God every day that Abraham Boice enlisted in 1776 and risked his life to get us out from under the tyrannical rule of YOUR government.

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 03:26:21 +0000

I dont think they should write down the principal balance of the note…Thats just giving away free money.

At most, perhaps they should be given a reprieve and the rate they were originally qualified for on their ARM (and theoretically should have been able to make payments on) becomes the effective 30 year fixed rate. The homeowner should then be able to continue to make payments no problem, right?

And in the cases where they can’t, because a mortgage broker fudged the numbers to sell the loan, well perhaps they and the bank who underwrote the loan should be forced to pay the difference in the payment between what the homeowner can pay and what the actual payment is.

Just a few radical ideas to rant about…Probably not realistic as they have too many complexities to actually be realistic. In reality though, I dont agree with the plan, but we do need a way to slow down the foreclosure rate. Foreclosures are bad for everyone…tax revenue isn’t coming in, they make neighborhoods look bad, chances for vandalism increase, etc.

Tim
TheMoneyKings.com

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:56:56 +0000

Sandra Leegh (#5), you apparently don’t realize that Democratic plans would be far worse as far as a bailout is concerned. But what do you care? Anything you can blame on Bush is a good thing, right? It rained today, it’s Bush’s fault, right? Wanker.

By: Mrs. Micah

Mrs. Micah — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:31:23 +0000

I’m just waiting for the government to forgive all student loans…that might actually be useful for me. But I’m afraid we couldn’t accept that, it’d be ridiculous.

By: Todd

Todd — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:21:24 +0000

Although I’ve been out of community banking for almost a decade now, I give a lot of credit to community banks. Generally, they didn’t participate in the 0% equity loans. I realize 20% down on a house means you have to save for awhile, but, then the government doesn’t have to redistribute someone else’s tax dollars to bail out a sub-prime industry. Real equity can cover for a multitude of problems.

By: debtdieter

debtdieter — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:24:54 +0000

This is insane! Here in Australia we’re doing the opposite, raising interest rates & slowing things down to prevent inflation – seems much sensible to me than offering even more people with no capacity to pay ropes to hang themselves with down the line.

By: JLP

JLP — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:23:08 +0000

Shorty,

I saw that article too and thought the same thing!