April 14, 2008

HousingPANIC joins the Stop the Mortgage Bailout effort


A few folks have taken it upon themselves to organize against the housing gambler bailout plans being drafted in the House and Senate, and now stupidly pushed by all three major presidential candidates.

I've been in touch with them to make sure everything is on the up and up, and they'll be getting their non-profit status paperwork this week. The group is led by a lawyer and was launched in tandem with Patrick.net and nationalbubble.

Since they're taking donations, I've asked them to use their funding for organization - which seems is what's really needed right now.


I see renters and responsible home 'buyers' who will have their tax dollars going to housing gamblers rising up. I see the bubble blog communities having a voice.

And I see our corrrupt Congress not giving a sh*t, unless this thing starts to snowball against them. Kinda like the Terri Schiavo mess - they thought they had a winner, and in the end, they found out different.

So, I encourage all of you to bookmark the Stop the Mortgage Bailout site, send them a few bucks, and watch this space.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

There will be no bailout and the "sheeple" won't vote for it.

they need to get in touch with all the people in places like Texas, Missouri, Kansas, Ohio and every other place in the rust/bible belts and explain to those voters that are living in 200-300k mansions that the bailout will be for specuvestors buying 5-600k 1BR condos in places like Cali, Las Vegas, Seattle, Portland...you know...all the places that conservative voters in the midwest and south that HATE the liberal "left coast".

Anonymous said...

Face it losers, the bailout is a done deal. You lose, again.

PS: thanks for your tax dollar funded new car I bought last year. I truly appreicate it.

Anonymous said...

If they're really going to be successful, they should setup a free FAX system like NumbersUSA uses to fight illegal immigration. Basically it allows any citizen to go to the site and send ready made Faxes for free. After registering a name, they just visit the site periodically or when they receive a call to action email, select the faxes they want to send, and the site automatically adds their signature and sends it off instantly. It also allows P.S comments to be added. Very, very effective stuff.

http://www.numbersusa.com/index

Anonymous said...

This is the best article I have read yet, on the MORAL HAZARD implications of Barney Frank's BAIL OUT plan--

http://seekingalpha.com/article/72040-barney-frank-s-subprime-relief-plan-may-make-a-bad-situation-worse?source=patrick.net

Ed said...

Keith:

30% of the population rents. 70% "owns". Why on earth do you think a politican will listen to the 30% at the expense of the 70%? Renters are viewed as 2nd class citizens. You may not like it, but it's reality.

And even more so, Florida, Nevada Arizona and Ohio have among the highest foreclosures. Any of those states ring a bell? Swing states anyone? Of course both parties will do whatever they can, spend as much as it takes to buy the votes of the FBs in those states. And McCain is deluding himself into thinking he has a chance in California...hence the sudden turnaround with regards to bailouts. Someone must have shown him a chart of foreclosures in Riverside last week.

You think sending a fax or calling your congressman will do anything? You think anyone gives a shit what you, think? And I don't mean you, Keith in particular. I mean any Joe Shmoe average voter.

Anonymous said...

Hey send us a few bucks.....

Blow me.....

Anonymous said...

DEAR ED,

WHAT PERCENTAGE OF YOUR 70% HOMEOWNER POOL DOESN'T HAVE A MORTGAGE?

WHAT PERCENTAGE BOUGHT IN 2003 OR EARLIER AND RESENT BAILING OUT THE LATECOMERS?

DEAR ED,

AD ALL THOSE PISSED OFF MOFO'S TO THE 30% RENTERS AND YOUR F#CKED BUYER POOL DOESN'T HAVE MANY FRIENDS LEFT...

DOPES!!!

Anonymous said...

Over and over I have said...

they need to get in touch with all the people in places like Texas, Missouri, Kansas, Ohio and every other place in the rust/bible belts and explain to those voters that are living in 200-300k mansions that the bailout will be for specuvestors buying 5-600k 1BR condos in places like Cali, Las Vegas, Seattle, Portland...you know...all the places that conservative voters in the midwest and south that HATE the liberal "left coast".

You mean all those folks living in the "Real America", the Heartland, the Homeland Security Land? You mean all those folks who voted for George because they dreamed of having a beer with such a plain talking, brush clearin, average, normal, ordinary guy, "he is just like my cousin Ned", Americans? TWICE????

You mean those Republican, Red State, Proud to be an American, immigrant blaming, yellow ribbon on the SUV, support dem troops Americans?

Yup, let em watch their liberal enemies receive all the money, as they worship at the altar of Terri Schiavo. LOL

Ya think, just maybe they might have one of those life changing, oops I was wrong, clarity moments?

Oh If Wishes were Fishes

JaneZ

Anonymous said...

Rail all you want HPers, this bailout cake is already in the oven. You can't stop it - deal with it - ride the wave. Do you geniuses really think Congress, the administration, and the Fed will stand by while the pillars of power crumble and fall?

The G7 meeting sealed the fate of anyone foolish enough to fight the Fed and bet on a financial meltdown. Here is what we'll see in coming weeks:

1) The UDX will stabilize at ~70
2) The Fed's bailout fund will be increased from $800B to $5T, walkin' around money
3) Central banks will wage war on gold
4) Market intervention (ala PPT) will be legalized by Congress. Maybe even a cabinet post for the new economic stability czar.
5) Debts will be nationalized, RE first, then others. Don't be surprised if the USD gets replaced with a new script good only in the 50 states.

The net effect will be inflationary, yes, but when has that ever stopped a good politician? Face it HP doomsayers, you all are DOPES!!

Oh and don't forget, Dow 17K by year end!

Anonymous said...

"...think anyone gives a shit what you, think?..."

Why pretend?

We've already made substantial preparations in Loyalty Enforcement.

Anonymous said...

All the bailouts in the world aren't going to keep home prices from crashing. All the bailout talk will stop after the elections.

"The net effect will be inflationary"

How about hyper inflationary.

Anonymous said...

No "bail-out" will work anyways, it will just put the US further into debt.

Public service fees will go up (stealing more from tax payers), but that won't help either.

We effectively screwed ourselves as a nation, and anyone out there who voted and supported this most damaging of all administrations should be thinking long and hard now about their choices, and the impact they now have on future generations.

Ed said...

Dopes,

If your neighbor forecloses and you have no mortgage, you lose money as your property value plummets. If the government give your neighbor money to not foreclose, you don't lose money as your property doesn't plummet. Therefore you will support a bailout.

Think it through, I know you'll figure it out eventually.

And what you are also forgetting is the makeup of the 30% and 70%. The 30% is generally your young, single and poor. Your 70% is your older, married and not as poor. Yeah I know, everyone here makes $250K a year and rents. You are the exception.

Young, single and poor vote in much smaller numbers than married and older. The 45 year old FB who needs a bailout will show up and vote. The 22 year old renter won't. Politicians know this and so are pandering to that crowd.

Anonymous said...

"Ya think, just maybe they might have one of those life changing, oops I was wrong, clarity moments?"

Yeah, and come 2011 the brie and chianti crowd in NYC and LA will feel just as foolish when they drop by the market and find the shelves are bare, their bank assets and 401Ks are frozen under a Presidential decree, and the curfew runs from dusk to dawn.

Those "simple" folk in the red states might have a chance of growing some food or hunting, what will the sophisticated blue-staters do, text each other begging for dinner? You liberal assholes with all the answers are going to find your own hell in the form of lawless cities and bread lines. Eating crow, literally, will just be the start of your moment of clarity.

LOL

Ed said...

Gallup Poll:

70% of Democrats support a bailout
55% of indepdents support
40% of republicans support it

Dems and independents are about 65% of the electorate. You do the math on which side of this issues politicians will come in favor of. Here's a hint: it's not AGAINST a bailout.

But you all keep phoning and faxing if it makes you feel good.

Anonymous said...

reaper said...

"Ya think, just maybe they might have one of those life changing, oops I was wrong, clarity moments?"

Yeah, and come 2011 the brie and chianti crowd in NYC and LA will feel just as foolish when they drop by the market and find the shelves are bare, their bank assets and 401Ks are frozen under a Presidential decree, and the curfew runs from dusk to dawn.

Those "simple" folk in the red states might have a chance of growing some food or hunting, what will the sophisticated blue-staters do, text each other begging for dinner? You liberal assholes with all the answers are going to find your own hell in the form of lawless cities and bread lines. Eating crow, literally, will just be the start of your moment of clarity.

I'm not a Liberal hee hee hee. I just think that it is life's greatest glory when people get what they deserve. You voted for it? You deserve it.

hee hee hee

JaneZ

brokersleaveyoubroke said...

Ed said:

30% of the population rents. 70% "owns". Why on earth do you think a politican will listen to the 30% at the expense of the 70%?

Ed, 90% of homeowners are NOT in trouble and don't want to bail out the ones who are in trouble. Why on earth would someone who pays his mortgage every month want to help out people who don't pay their mortgage?

Anonymous said...

Ed,

July 4th is only 2 1/2 months away; three weeks after that is summer recess. When the lawmakers come back after Labor Day, they will be too busy accusing each other not helping enough to pass any bailout legislation before the election. Once that is over, even the dumbist lawmaker would realiize that it's better to tank early in the term than late in the term when the next election comes up. Any bailout will only be a bandaid; the bleeding will resume within 12 months as any bailout large enough to prop up RE price for more than a few months will exacerbate hyperinflation leading to even worse economic conditions. So they may as well save the medicine for 2011. For the remaining few weeks of lawmaking time before November, the current lawmakers will just do a lot of postering and try to run out the clock.

Anonymous said...

Ed,

Myself and many others aren't swayed by your logic or your arguments for the bailouts to happen. The foreclosures are a natural part of the healing process that must take place in order to restore property values to their correct valuations in relation to rents and incomes. You can't have healthy communities and economies with astronomical housing costs.

In fact, the reason for all the foreclosures to begin with, outside of the blatant fraud, is people cannot afford to pay back money borrowed against their homes if they take out equity loans, because while prices roses incomes did not.

And, this older group of citizens that you refer to as the ones that are going to do the bailout vote, I think you're forgetting that they're not exactly happy about the increase in property tax rates they've been burdened with as a result of all this phony equity that they can't afford to pay back.

We'll just have to agree to disagree, but the rest of us are marching forward with "WE DON'T WANT NO STINKING BAILOUTS!" and we won't be silenced about it.

Ed said...

brokers, reality and dopes:

I agree in principle with all of you. However when it comes down to it, people put their ideology to the side if it hurts their wallet.

Older, responsible people don't want their homes to lose value. Which is why they will support a bailout.

What it comes down to is a choice. Option A is pay a few hundred dollars more in taxes for the bailout. Option B is no bailout and your home's value loses 50% as your neighbors foreclose all around you and your neighborhood turns into a slum. It's not a tough choice to make.

Anonymous said...

But you are missing the point!!

The main reason that we are in SUCH a DEEP housing crisis, is that it was a giant ponzi scheme that has ENDED.

In other words, all of the artificial run up in price was just that--ARTIFICIAL., so there is nothing left to support those price levels.

--The teaser rate loans are gone
--The huge borrower pool that those loans created is gone
--The easy money is gone
--The banks are not lending
--The banks are going, going, GONE!

PRICES have to return to the historical mean relating to wages and rents, or we will never get out of this MESS!!

All that wealth you thought you had in your house was not REAL--unless you were smart, and sold at a profit. When average people can once again afford a nice house without handing over 80% of their salary, we will see an end.

Anonymous said...

ed said: "Older, responsible people don't want their homes to lose value. Which is why they will support a bailout."

I see your point ed, but, hold on just a sec, let's do some math:

Total # of housing units in the US: 110 million

- Renters: 35 million

- Homeowner-occupied units: 75 million, to be broken down as follows:

1. Real homeowners (motgage paid off): 25 million
2. Multi-million dollar mansions: 1.5 million
3. Mobile homes + below-poverty level owners: 9.5 million
4. Units in trash and crime-infested hoods: 11 million
5. slow-pay motgage holders: 16 million
6. Homedbtors with solid credit: 15 million
7. slow-pay mortgage debtors: 19million

Who do you think Congress is more inclined to help? Mobile-home dwellers? Multimillion $ mansion owners? Homedebtors with solid credit? Slow motgage payers? Renters?

I doubt the mobile home guys will get a penny, nor will the slow payers or the 15 million law-abiding motgage holders, for as long as the multi-million buck mansions are not affected by this crisis-- and 99.99% are not-- Congress will pass only stop-gap measures, giving the appearance of "doing something" and buying time, until the next Congress, where they'd open a new round of endless hearings on the housing historic collapse, trying to determine why nobody did anything about it.

Any thoughts?

Anonymous said...

Ed,

I agree with you that there is a political pressure to engage in bailout. However, even the politicians understand that there is noway $2T tax can be raised anywhere in this country to carry out the bailout . . . that's the magnitude that would take to prop up housing prices. Any new money won't be going into housing at this point any more than newly minted money would go into dot-com in 2001. New money always seek out venues where there is no overhanging bagholders. Housing prices will only recover after practically everything else go much much higher in price first. Even the politicians can see that conundrum (or at least have adversers savvy enough to point that out to them). So they will continue to do a lot of talking . . . and do practically nothing. A massive cortizone shot will be administered to the vegetative body in 2010-2011, just in time for the next election. This year? we will just have a tepid bounce in the summer (a little more lively in the stock market than the housing market), then a gut-wrenching swoon in the fall and winter.

Anonymous said...

Scanning a post from April, 2008, someone said,"Face it losers, the bailout is a done deal. You lose, again."

Don't listen to pessimistic smugness. The bill is working its way through the Senate as we speak, and when the senators probably pass it, the bill will go for reexamination in the House and a Re-vote. The target audience of opposition to this bill is a group called the "Blue Dog Democrat Coaltion."

For those who don't know, these House members claim they are fiscally responsible. However, they all voted for a Federal (taxpayer) bailout of up to $300 Billion dollars, and an increase in the deficit of $22 BILLION. All these billions basically add up to this: Blue Dogs equal NOT fiscally responsible. What can you do?

Well, if about 2/3 of Blue Dogs vote against the bill in the House, the Bill will die! Call Kristen Hawn, the communications director for the Blue Dog Coalition at 866-887-5841, and tell her to tell her bosses enough is enough! Act for he good of ALL constituents, no just the 4% that defaulted on loans they couldn't afford in the first place. You did not vote responsibly the last time around. See if you can get it right this time.