The National Review destroys Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide Toxic Mortgage, Chris Dodd, Kent Conrad and our corrupt political system

This editorial was so good, so "spot on", and you know I never do this, but here it is in its entirety.

Folks, if this BofA/Countrywide Rescue bill goes through, and Bush stupidly signs it, then you'll know just how powerful the REIC is, how deep the corruption and bribery run, and how screwed the United States of America (and your kids, and their kids, and their kids) will be.

It's not just Angelo Mozilo who we now want to see hauled off to jail. No, now it's United States Senators and Representatives too.

Countrywide Corruption

By the Editors - National Review

The U.S. Senate is about to enact a massive subsidy for Countrywide Financial less than a week after revelations that the company’s “Friends of Angelo” sweetheart-loan program included two U.S. senators. It seems unthinkable, but it’s true. What’s worse? One of the two senators sponsored the bill.

The principal author of the Dodd-Shelby housing-bailout bill is Sen. Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, which has jurisdiction over the mortgage market. Last week, Portfolio magazine revealed that Dodd was one of two U.S. senators who benefited from a program under which Countrywide Financial gave loans at favorable terms to the influential and the powerful. The other senator was Kent Conrad, a Democrat from North Dakota.

The allegations against Conrad are damning enough. Though he denies having known he received preferential treatment, Conrad admitted to a Wall Street Journal reporter that he called Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo to ask for a loan on the advice of former Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson, another beneficiary of the program. (Johnson resigned from Barack Obama’s running-mate vetting team after his involvement in the program was revealed.)

But as powerful as Conrad is, the allegations against Dodd are more disturbing because he wields so much power over Countrywide’s fortunes and because he has used that power to benefit Countrywide. According to Portfolio’s calculations, the preferential loan rates Dodd received on two mortgages could end up saving him $75,000. (Like Conrad, Dodd denies knowing that he received preferential treatment.)

The troubling nature of this arrangement becomes clear when one looks at the fine print of the Dodd-Shelby housing bill. Under the bill, mortgage lenders — of which Countrywide is the largest in the U.S. — would agree to renegotiate their most troubled home loans in exchange for a federal guarantee on those loans. If the borrowers who took out those troubled loans end up defaulting, the government would cover any losses the mortgage lenders incur.

Under the Dodd-Shelby bill, a fee collected from the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would fund this program. The House version of the bill would fund the program with tax dollars. Either way, the program would be “a government buyout of problem mortgages disguised as a refinancing plan,” as David C. John of the Heritage Foundation puts it in his analysis.

Defenders of Dodd’s bill insist that it’s not a bailout, because the lenders have to write down 15 percent of the value of a troubled loan in order to qualify for the program. The lenders, they insist, are taking a loss and bearing the consequences of the irresponsible lending in which they engaged during the housing boom.

But this argument omits the fact that if a troubled loan goes into foreclosure — a most likely destination for many of them — the lender faces an average loss of one-third of the value of the loan. Faced with this kind of loss, many lenders have an incentive to work something out with borrowers anyway, and many already have, taking advantage of the Bush administration’s voluntary Hope Now program to do just that.

The kind of loans that lenders would dump on the government under the Dodd-Shelby bailout would be the most radioactive on their books — the ones likely to default anyway. So concluded the Congressional Budget Office, which found that up to 35 percent of the loans refinanced through the Dodd-Shelby program would eventually default. The lenders wouldn’t have any exposure to those losses — they would be paid back through the fund created by the Dodd-Shelby bill.

And this is where we come full circle, back to Sen. Dodd and his sweetheart deal from Countrywide. The Dodd-Shelby housing-bailout bill would be bad public policy under any conditions. Lenders are already under severe pressure to write down loans for borrowers who still have a chance to make it. The bill is overwhelming slanted toward protecting lenders, like Countrywide, that lowered their standards dramatically on a bet that home prices would never go down and subsequently find themselves holding a lot of bad debt.

Congress should launch a full investigation of Countrywide’s program to influence the powerful; that much should go without saying. But if the Senate passes the Dodd-Shelby housing bailout before such an investigation can run its course — especially if that investigation finds that members of Congress were improperly influenced — it will have allowed Countrywide to take the money and run.

HousingPANIC Quote of the Week

“The federal government should not be in the business of bailing out bad investments. This bail out comes at the expense of all taxpayers regardless of whether they were at fault for the housing crisis”

Senator Mike Enzi, R-WY, May 2008, speaking out against the Democrats' stupid and un-American Housing Gambler Bailout plans

Barney Frank wants the FHA to bail out failed flippers and mortgage fraudsters. Problem? The FHA thinks that's a really f*cking stupid idea.

Monkeys I tell ya. Monkeys.

You'd think Barney and the FHA would have had a little chat before he put together his housing bailout turd.

But that would be competent.

Thanks to Luke over at USNews for the tip. And thanks to Barney Frank for showing us just how well-deserved Congress' record-low approval rating is.

FHA Chief Criticizes Rescue Plan

While most government officials scratch and claw for more authority, Federal Housing Administration Commissioner Brian Montgomery is pouring cold water on a housing rescue plan that would make his agency the linchpin of an expanded federal effort to keep people in their homes.

The House of Representatives last week passed a bill championed by House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank that would enable struggling borrowers to refinance into more affordable loans guaranteed by the government. The legislation would require a significant expansion of the FHA—an idea recently endorsed by Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke.

But speaking to a roomful of real estate agents this morning at the National Association of Realtors Midyear Legislative Meetings and Trade Expo, Montgomery expressed his opposition to the legislation recently passed by the House:

"As one colleague described it, it is "on steroids" because it throws sound underwriting out the window.

"It moves us toward a federalization of the mortgage market, forces taxpayers to pay for bad loans, and doubles FHA's portfolio, adding hundreds of thousands of risky loans in a Byzantine process that will take years to sort out and create a regulatory nightmare."

Scenes of monkeys running around during the greatest housing crash in human history

Who says C-span is boring. I flipping love it!

Monkeys I tell ya. Monkeys.

Why wasn't this debate going on years ago, when it could have done some good?

Memo to DC: It's too late. Let the market correct. And try to make sure it doesn't happen again.

A HousingPANIC message to Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Hillary Clinton and any other fool who thinks American taxpayers should bail out Housing Gamblers

Barney, Chris, Hillary and Friends,

If you spend one penny of direct taxpayer money, or expose the American taxpayer to any more risk than we already have (Fannie, Freddie, FHLB, FHA, etc) THEN WE WILL HOUND YOU, WE WILL TAKE OVER YOUR OFFICES, WE AND WE WILL VOTE YOU OUT THE NEXT CHANCE WE GET.

WE ARE THE MAJORITY. The vast majority of Americans who rent, who OWN, and who didn't treat homes as lottery tickets these past few years. WE ARE THE HONEST ONES, THE RATIONAL ONES, THE SANE ONES. And we not allow you to bail out fools, flippers and fraudsters with our money. Period.

It was rampant fraud and wild speculation you corrupt monkeys. And we're pretty sure you know that. So why the rush to bail out Housing Gamblers? Is it your REIC masters, calling the shots? Is it because you "own" homes yourselves, and don't want their values to go down further? Is it because you feel propping up artificially high housing prices is good for America, or for future generations? Or is it because you are simply misreading the will of the people again, which would be par for the course since you've done such a terrible job serving the people these past few years?

One final message that we want you to hear today, on No Housing Gambler Bailout Day, loud and clear: PEOPLE WHO PUT LITTLE OR NO MONEY DOWN ARE NOT LOSING 'THEIR' HOMES. THEY ARE NOT THEIR HOMES, THEY NEVER WERE THEIR HOMES, THEY LIKELY NEVER WILL BE THEIR HOMES. And most likely they're better off renting (and not watching MTV Cribs ever again).

No Housing Gambler Bailout. WE'RE WATCHING, WE'RE THE MAJORITY, AND WE'RE PISSED.

Flood the White House folks. The only thing that can stop a massive taxpayer-funded Housing Gambler Bailout now is George W. Bush

Oh dear god. George W. Bush holds the fate of the nation in his hands.

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Phone Numbers
202-456-1111
202-456-1414

FAX: 202-456-2461

E-Mail comments@whitehouse.gov or vice_president@whitehouse.gov

Also make sure you sign the No Housing Gambler Bailout petition over at www.angryrenter.com, check out http://www.nobailout.org/ and also http://www.nationalbubble.com/stopthebailout/

Another new HousingPANIC Hero - Representative Tom Feeney from Florida, rising in opposition to the Housing Gambler Bailout Bill

Here's Representative Feeney IN A GREAT GREAT SPEECH railing against using taxpayer money to bail out speculators and mortgage fraudsters, who took out "options" to buy a home (i.e. put no money down) and lost.

The Democrats have a real loser on their hands with these Housing Gambler Bailout plans. The GOP should take this issue and run with it. Too bad their new standard-bearer, Flip Flop McCain, didn't stick to his guns.

The Housing Gambler Bailout is the new Terri Schiavo. Politicians who want to win in November need to get on board against this stinker.

Here's CNBC video of Barney Frank trying to explain away his Housing Gambler Bailout Bill of Stupidity

We're run by monkeys folks. Monkeys I tell ya. Fat, corrupt, brain-dead monkeys, all too willing to spend taxpayer money to bail out failed housing gamblers and mortgage fraudsters.

Thank god the Bestest Smartest President in the History of the United States, the honorable George W. Bush, is in the oval office today, ready to veto this turd.

Here's the video. Don't throw things at the screen.

HousingPANIC Quote of the Day

“Clearly, many people who were betting on rising home prices were hurt when the housing bubble burst, but we can not force taxpayers to insulate everyone from the costs of those bad decisions. If we use tax dollars to bail out everyone who makes a bad decision, we are setting ourselves up for an even larger housing crisis in the future”

- New HP Hero Grant Bosse, Republican running for Congress in New Hampshire, May 2008

(send a few bucks to Grant Bosse here)

George W. Bush is the greatest president in the history of the United States

I've changed my mind.

All this time, I thought W. was an incompetent boob.

But today - brilliance. Rock-solid genius.

George W. Bush - you are my hero. OK, just on this one thing....

Bush says he will veto housing-relief bill

As the House prepared to vote on a housing-relief bill offered by Democratic leaders, President George W. Bush on Wednesday told the lawmakers, in effect, not to bother.

"I will veto the bill that's moving through the House today if it makes it to my desk," the president said at the White House, after meeting with Republican House leaders. "I urge members on both sides of the aisle to focus on a good piece of legislation that is being sponsored by Republican members."

The president's remarks were not surprising, given that the administration issued a statement on Tuesday evening declaring its opposition and saying that White House advisers would urge the president to veto it.

But Bush's personal pledge to veto the measure championed by Representative Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who heads the Financial Services Committee, made it less likely that a bipartisan housing deal will be achieved soon, especially in this election year.

The president on Wednesday repeated his opposition to a bill "that will reward speculators and lenders" who have suffered because of their own foolishness. More modest measures are pushed by Republicans leaders, and Bush said those steps "will do the right thing for the American people."

"The government ignores the prudent ones"

"In all this discussion about all these poor people losing their homes, they never talk about people who didn't buy homes in this chaos. They said this is stupid, I'm not going to buy a house that is wildly overpriced. I'm going to wait until prices come down. The government ignores the prudent ones."

- Christopher Thornberg, April 2008


DON'T BE IGNORED. NO HOUSING GAMBLER BAILOUT.

Visit Stop the Mortgage Bailout

Sign the no-bailout petition here

Write your congressman here

Write a letter to your local newspaper

Or start something yourself. Take over an office. Disrupt an event. Mount a protest. Or just take it lying down like they want you to.

Ron Paul has a message for Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank and all the other mortgage bailout bozos

It saddens me to see the US being run by monkeys, who don't understand the sanctity of contracts, who don't understand moral hazard and who don't understand that destroying the US dollar is not good for America.

Ron Paul understands. And yet America refuses to listen.

Ron Paul Sees Bailout Writing on the Wall

"I think that if there is something on the floor between now and November [that] will be construed as something to help people getting out of their mortgages, nobody will consider that the responsibility of government is to honor and respect contracts.

They are going to go and violate everybody's contracts and tell people, "Just because you [received] this loan and you can't pay it [back], we are going to change the rules."

But if you and I had a contract like that, we could see that that's not right. You owe me that money, or I want my house back. It's so vague now—who owns these mortgages—they figure, "Well, somebody in China owns these mortgages, so we won't honor the contract."

Editorial: "Congress should just say no to housing bailout express"

Special post - here's the column, in its entirety. Note that The Heritage Foundation is one of the most prominent conservative think tanks in the world, the hero of the GOP and Fox News. And any Republican who supports a housing gambler bailout (like McCain) is going to be in a spot of trouble with the conservative base.

By J.D. FOSTER
THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION

Bailouts, subsidies and slush funds: Such are the main ingredients of the housing bill now stewing in Congress.

Bailouts to borrowers, many of whom bought homes at ridiculous prices hoping to flip them before the party ended. Tax credit subsidies to supplement the down payments of buyers looking for a steal on a foreclosed home. And a little slush fund for state and local governments to reward their favorite local builder or bank by taking empty properties off their hands at above-market prices.

And that’s the good news. Why good? Because Congress would only temporarily reward bad behavior and waste a few more billions. Policies like these, while infuriating, at least have no major long-term consequences. The really bad news is Congress is also trying to stick the Federal Housing Administration’s nose into private markets in a major way.

This could disrupt the processes already at work to resolve the housing crisis and, worse, expose taxpayers to hundreds of billions in losses. What’s going on here? Borrowers by the millions are falling behind on their mortgages. The problems are most severe in a few states. Some, such as Nevada, California and Florida, enjoyed a huge, multi-year speculative bubble that’s now popped in spectacular fashion. Others, such as Ohio and Michigan, are seeing home prices decline because of more fundamental weaknesses in their economies, in some cases significantly exacerbated by extraordinarily foolish state fiscal policies. Yet just about every state is experiencing a housing problem: unusual numbers of borrowers who are delinquent or soon will be, home prices falling a little or a lot, and contraction in construction.

Fortunately, the mortgage industry isn’t waiting for Congress to get its act together. Spurred on by the Treasury Department through a program called Hope Now, the industry - supported by services, counselors and community non-profit organizations - is actively seeking creditworthy borrowers who are or are likely to get into financial trouble. Why? To find a way to rework the mortgage or the payment schedule so the borrower can stay in the home.

Since last summer, the industry has successfully reworked more than a million mortgages, and is reworking hundreds of thousands more every month.

Congress wants to inject the FHA into this process. The FHA would guarantee these reworked mortgages, meaning that if they get into trouble again, the FHA (read: taxpayers) will be on the hook for any losses. In fairness, the FHA is better equipped today to assume these new risks and responsibilities. Only a few years ago, the agency was on the precipice of extinction, having seen its market share dwindle to almost nothing.

Recognizing its fate, the FHA went on a crash modernization program - just in time, if Congress carries out its threat. But neither FHA improvements nor market troubles justify Congress putting taxpayers on the hook for future losses from past bad behaviors.

And who pays for this bailout? Not ‘‘the government.’’ It’s all the responsible homeowners and renters who resisted the temptations of the housing boom, refused taking out a home equity loan to fund a vacation or new car, declined to buy a home with no down payment, ignored the low teaser rates dangled by shyster brokers. Meanwhile, the homeowners who yielded to temptation are offered an escape hatch. Who pays? In short, you pay - unless you’re getting a bailout.

Where does the bailout business stop? Simple. It stops at the beginning - by saying no to bailouts, subsidies and slush funds.



SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION TO STOP THIS STUPIDITY HERE



CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE HERE

HousingPANIC Quote of the Day

"At current levels, the average American still can't afford the average house. Despite the creativity of its new policies, Washington can't alter that math."

"The only mechanism to restore balance and get the credit flowing is for prices to fall steeply to a true market level, and for losses (for consumers and corporations) to be recognized and absorbed."

- Peter Schiff, March 2008

ATTENTION PEOPLE OF PHILADELPHIA - YOU NO LONGER HAVE TO PAY YOUR MORTGAGES! YOU CAN LIVE IN THE BANK'S HOME AND PAY ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

Housing Anarchy is here. And a big thank you to the monkeys running the show in Philadelphia. You have just lit the fuse, and you have just told the people to stop paying their mortgages. Amazing.

The credibility of the United States of America is now at risk. NOBODY in the world is going to have confidence buying US debt anymore. The monkeys running our government are now telling investors that loans no longer have to be paid in the good ol' USA. Crime pays. Mortgage fraud will not be prosecuted. Loans do not have to be paid back. And money will fall from the sky.

Head to the shelter ma. Storm is coming.

Philadelphia suspends sales of foreclosed homes

Authorities in Philadelphia will suspend foreclosure sales of homes whose owners have fallen behind on adjustable-rate subprime loan payments -- potential relief for tens of thousands of struggling debtors.

Sheriff John Green said on Friday he would halt sales of foreclosed properties in April and would seek a court order extending a moratorium for an unspecified period.

Philadelphia becomes the first U.S. city to halt foreclosure sales in the current crisis, although Cleveland and Baltimore are considering similar measures, said ACORN, an advocacy group for low-income families.

Bush & his buds are saying "no bailout" for housing gamblers, and supposedly no bailout for banks. Yeah, right.

Talk is cheap. And just like so many other things with this crew, they say one thing and then do another.

The Bush Administration has done and will do whatever they need to do to rescue the investment banks and toxic lenders, in addition to Fannie and Freddie. They're lying to the American people, again, and the taxpayer is gonna eat it again in the end.

But if you read these quotes, even though their banker buddies will get billions, they're pretty clear - the housing gambler ain't getting anything (except for his $600 check in a few days). Let's see how long they can keep up that front.

"It is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers.”

- John McCain, March 2008, ending his presidential campaign

"It is not the responsibility of the Federal Reserve -- nor would it be appropriate -- to protect lenders and investors from the consequences of their financial decisions."

- Ben Bernanke, in a bald-faced lie, August 31, 2007

"It's not the government's job to bail out speculators or those who made the decision to buy a home they knew they could never afford."

- George W. Bush, August 31, 2007, before sending $600 checks to everyone

"Housing prices need to fall further to permit shell-shocked housing markets to stabilize and policy-makers should not interfere with that process"

- Goldman Sachs CEO (oops, I mean US Treasury Secretary) Henry Paulson, March 2008

Wall Street or Main Street?

Watch this to be the BIG campaign theme in 2008 in local and national races around the country.

* GOP - fighting for Wall Street.
* Dems - fighting for Main Street.

Watch the Dems up the ante on foreclosure bailout plans. Watch McCain have no idea what to do. And watch Bush's popularity rating fall into the single digits as he goes Herbert Hoover.

I'm against ANY type of bailout plan using taxpayer funds, for bankers or housing gamblers, so I'm against BOTH the GOP and Dems on this one. They both want to spend our money, it's just a question of who gets it.

I will fight Obama when he stupidly promotes a bailout. And Clinton just offered another $30 billion today - watch her keep upping that number. Poor McCain just avoids the whole issue, since economics just ain't his thing.

But in terms of general theme, watch this 'Wall Street vs. Main Street' theme really take off now, and watch the housing crash be the #1 issue in November by far.

FLASH: Paulson and Bush reject Democrats' plans to destroy the profits of investment bankers (aka Housing Gambler Bailout or Foreclosure Rescue)

Gotta love Goldman Sachs' CEO Hank Paulson (i.e. the US Treasury Secretary) and banker best buddy George Bush wanting to protect the investment banks on one side, and the corrupt Democrats wanting to bail out failed flippers and housing gamblers on the other side.

KA-BOOOOMMMM!!!

How will this epic battle of evil versus evil end?

Got popcorn?

Paulson Dismisses Mortgage Rescue Plans

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is hardening its opposition to the chorus of Democrats, bankers, economists and consumer advocates calling for a big-money government rescue program for struggling homeowners.

In an interview yesterday, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson branded many of the aid proposals circulating in Washington as "bailouts" for reckless lenders, investors and speculators, rather than measures that would provide meaningful relief to deserving, but cash-strapped, mortgage borrowers.

HousingPANIC Quote of the Day

"Our job is not to bail out imprudent decisionmakers or errant bankers, nor is it to directly support the stock market or to somehow make whole those money managers, financial engineers and real estate speculators who got it wrong. And it most definitely is not to err on the side of Wall Street at the expense of Main Street."

- Richard Fisher, head of the Reserve Bank of Dallas in January 2008, who must be enraged that the other corrupt and clueless monkeys he hangs out with on the Fed are indeed intent on doing EXACTLY what he says the Fed's job is NOT.

The banks now want the taxpayers to bail them out. What message would you like to get out to the banks? Fire away, and don't be kind.

The banks, led by Rich Whitey himself, Ken Lewis at Bank of America, are appealing to Congress for the biggest financial bailout in the history of the civilized world, which will run in the hundreds of billions if not trillions.

So after they made hundreds of billions in profits and fees and commissions and bonuses these past few years getting us into this mess, they now want the taxpayers to bail them out, while they keep their ill-gotten gains.

Here's HP's simple message to the bankers.

BANKERS OF THE WORLD WHO WERE INVOLVED IN THE SUBPRIME/ALT-A/OPTION-ARM/CDO/SIV/ETC MESS, HOUSINGPANIC HAS A MESSAGE FOR YOU. GO F*CK YOURSELVES.

WE ARE ROOTING FOR YOU TO FAIL. WE ARE ROOTING FOR HOME VALUES TO GO DOWN TO REASONABLE LEVELS. WE ARE ROOTING FOR HOMEDEBTORS TO WALK WAY. AND YOU WILL NOT GET OUR MONEY, NOT WITHOUT AN EPIC BATTLE.

A ‘Moral Hazard’ for a Housing Bailout

A confidential proposal that Bank of America circulated to members of Congress this month provides a stunning glimpse of how quickly the industry has reversed its laissez-faire disdain for second-guessing by the government — now that it is in trouble.

The proposal warns that up to $739 billion in mortgages are at “moderate to high risk” of defaulting over the next five years and that millions of families could lose their homes.

To prevent that, Bank of America suggested creating a Federal Homeowner Preservation Corporation that would buy up billions of dollars in troubled mortgages at a deep discount, forgive debt above the current market value of the homes and use federal loan guarantees to refinance the borrowers at lower rates.

“We believe that any intervention by the federal government will be acceptable only if it is not perceived as a bailout of the bond market,” the financial institution noted.

In practice, taxpayers would almost certainly view such a move as a bailout. If lawmakers and the Bush administration agreed to this step, it could be on a scale similar to the government’s $200 billion bailout of the savings and loan industry in the 1990s.

The arguments against a bailout are powerful. It would mostly benefit banks and Wall Street firms that earned huge fees by packaging trillions of dollars in risky mortgages, often without documenting the incomes of borrowers and often turning a blind eye to clear fraud by borrowers or mortgage brokers.

A rescue would also create a “moral hazard,” many experts contend, by encouraging banks and home buyers to take outsize risks in the future, in the expectation of another government bailout if things go wrong again.