61% NOW Say “Government, STAY OUT!" of Housing Markets
The latest Rasmussen Reports poll says it all . . . ultimately, that infamous creature H.L. Mencken called “Boobus Americanus” gets exactly the sort of government it deserves. Clearly, the great unwashed masses called for and deserved Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and all the progressive Republicans and Democrats now poisoning our system and they got ‘em. When it comes to politics and government, ignorance is NOT bliss and for far too long the Boobus Americanus has willfully remained glued to their sitcoms and IRreality shows and ignorant of economics, politics, the Constitution and political history.
According to the latest Rasmussen poll, 61% of Americans say it is better for the economy when the government stays out of the housing market. That’s an eight-point jump since September and only 21% believe the economy is helped by the government using taxpayer money to subsidize new home buying as is currently the case through government programs begun last year. Much more importantly, 95% of Americans do NOT realize that the government has been guaranteeing mortgages to Americans who can NOT afford them for thirty-three years now – that is the government has been forcing banks and lending institutions to knowingly make bad loans since the passage of the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA ’77) under Jimmy Carter. The latest programs from Obama are scheduled to end over the next six months during the first fourteen months under Obama, these programs have made the housing market even worse then they were and currently foreclosures are higher than they ever have been.
Look at those statistics: 61% believe it’s best when government stays out of the housing market altogether. 21% think the government helps the housing market and 17% don’t know what effect government interference boondoggles (GIBs) like mortgage guarantees bring. Only abject ignorance can account for these statistics. In September, only 53% doubted GIBs make the housing market stronger. Americans willfully stay ignorant and then they’re shocked, absolutely shocked when things go wrong: that’s the sad history of Boobus Americanus.
A year ago President Obama announced a national mortgage assistance plan and Americans did NOT jump up in arms knowing that four different mortgage guarantee programs by the government, or more correctly by progressives in the government (those who believe we must “progress” beyond the Constitution) were the driving forces of the sub-prime lending crisis that brought us to our knees. Americans continue to show little short- or long-term confidence in the housing market, and belief that the family home is a wise investment has fallen to its lowest point ever in our history. 64% of adults say it is at least somewhat likely that government intervention in the housing market has made it possible for people to buy homes that they can’t afford. That figure includes 32% who say it is very likely (the only intelligent people in the survey?) while the most foolish 28% believe it is not very or not at all likely that the government programs encouraged people to buy “too much house.” What rock have they been living under for the last 33 years?
The New York Times in April said “the Obama administration’s $75 billion program to protect homeowners from foreclosure has been widely pronounced a disappointment, and some economists and real estate experts now contend it has done more harm than good (DO YOU THINK?). … Treasury officials appear to have concluded that growing numbers of delinquent borrowers simply lack enough income to afford their homes and must be eased out.”
The New York Times has been backing progressive causes and progressive politicians since John the Baptist first took swimming lessons and only now do they tell us that government interference in housing is a bad idea? What, pray, NYT do you think about government interference in every other non-government sphere of our lives?
Let’s first look at the sad and deplorable history of this GIB (government interference boondoggle) called ‘mortgage guaranteeing.’ Since World War II the United States’ already high rate of home ownership tends to vary from 61-65% depending upon the economy, the highest in the world. The CRA ’77 under Jimmy Carter, forced banks to make bad loans in the inner cities to potential buyers they would have rejected in a heartbeat for earnings or credit history. In ’92 Freddy Mac and Fanny Mae, the two semi-federal mortgage companies were forced under the CRA program to help guarantee such mortgages, Bush #1 was not crazy about the idea but an election was coming up and he would NOT veto.
Under Clinton, in ’95 and again in ’98 forced loan expansion continued within CRA continued. The ’98 expansion put the whole system on steroids and with the help of ACORN put us into our present debacle. ACORN with lawyers like Barack Obama (he worked for them in ’94- 96 at least) shaking down banks and other lenders forced terribly ill-advised loans to people with no rental home address; no ID; no job; horrific credit ratings; and even to tens of thousands of illegal aliens. Americans have shown no interest in this problem . . . and the mainstream media has only been too glad to keep them in ignorance about this monstrous progressive gutting of our financial stability. Let’s look at reality a bit more closely.
Since the USA had the world’s highest rate of home ownership (typically 64%) then the free market system must NOT have been broken. Congress’s “repair of the free market system was a huge attack on the landlord class. That is, an attack on the self-made man or woman . . . those most exemplifying the American Dream. Most Americans are too busy keeping up with the Joneses these days to truly understand the American Dream.
Most Americans foolishly believe that millionaires got their money from mummy and daddy and live flashy lives with mansions, glitzy cars and a jet-set lifestyle. This may be true for some Americans but it is NOT the way millionaires are made and it’s definitely untrue of most millionaires. The typical self-made millionaire family consists of two married teachers or a teacher married to someone with a profession. They are frugal and keep their debts ultra-low. They might try a bit of investing in the stock market, but most typically they buy a bit of rental property (houses, condos, townhouses and apartment buildings) and become landlords and landladies. These are the people that CRA ’77 and its expansions targeted: the very best in America. Almost surprisingly they wind up with assets of two or three million dollars . . . and what exactly is their crime? They provide low-income workers and transient workers (some of whom are not low income) with affordable housing. For this service they are vilified by the progressives who pass laws to make their financial existence perilous.
Back to Rasmussen’s polling: 67% of Americans believe if someone cannot afford to make increased mortgage payments, it is better for them to sell their home and find a less expensive one, a 10-point increase from December 2007. Just 23% now say it’s better for the government to assist them in making their payments. In December 2007, 54% placed the blame for the mortgage crisis on “individuals who borrowed more than they could afford” -- while this is true, in their ignorance Americans put no blame on ACORN; no blame on progressive politicians who passed four ever-increasing GIBs; no blame on shake-down artist lawyers like Barack Obama; no blame for the mainstream media that conveniently never chose to cover this story; and, most importantly of course, no blame for themselves for NOT staying informed and for NOT voting against progressive policies and politicians while always looking eagerly for the next free lunch (GIB or GSB**) from them. In other words Americans either still remain ignorant of the truth or they are willfully denying our reality and their role in creating it.
And one last bit of statistics from the Rasmussen Reports story: Four percent (4%) say they or someone in their family received government help in the past year to buy a home or meet mortgage payments. Ninety-three percent (93%) say they did not. Six percent (6%) of Democrats and five percent (5%) of voters not affiliated with either major party say they or someone in their family benefited from government housing help in the past year, compared to one percent (1%) of Republicans (you know them, the self-made millionaires). Rajjpuut would add that the single best way to help the poor is to ensure that you never become one of them and end up competing for their resources. The second best way to help the poor is to step out of the free market’s way (by cutting taxes Ronald Reagan created 21 million jobs in his eight years in office). The third best way is to cut government spending.
Here's something else most Americans don't know . . . . Our progressive president Woodrow Wilson left us with a depression as great as the one inherited by the much-ballyhood progressive Democrat FDR who inherited a mess from Progressive Republican president Herbert Hoover . . . but no one ever heard of that depression. Why?
President Warren G. Harding and his Vice-President Calvin Coolidge (after Harding died in office) cut BOTH taxes and spending by roughly 50% and the problem cleared up by mid 1922. within 19 months of them taking office. In contrast, Roosevelt who ran under pledges to act like Harding and Coolidge and cut both taxes and government spending acted instead like Barack Obama and proved himself a liar when he made those pledges, thus extending the Depression to almost a dozen years until the war bailed him out. Not to mention FDR’s stealing American’s gold by forced confiscation at $20.76 an ounce and than inflating the American currency to $35 an ounce . . . an almost 70% overnight inflation. Europe and the rest of the world had a Depression, American suffered a “Great Depression” thanks to Roosevelt’s GIBs and GSBs. Think about this Roosevelt created 40 brand new federal agencies with 40 new laws. BHO with his Obamacare – one law – created almost 390 new agencies. Enjoy your free lunch, Americans!
Ya’all live long, strong and ornery,
Rajjpuut
** Government Spending Boondoggles (GSBs) and Government Interference Boondoggles (GIBs) UNIFORMLY hurt the economy and the taxpayer but they are UNIFORMLY popular because no one has read or understood these simple, brief truths:
and, of course, the man who wrote “Dreams FROM My Father,” Barack Obama did not mention that his birth father’s dream included 100% taxation . . . and the media never investigated and/or told us either:
and you’ll note that politico.com like the NY Times above is a very liberal and even progressive source . . . so perhaps there's hope for America.
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