I have a tremendous admiration for George W. Bush, the President of the United States. My reasons are legion, and the rest of America will have to wait for historians to explain to them just what a great man they have so completely scorned in their well-scored chorus. But Phil Boas of the Arizona Republic gave us all sufficient reason to revere this president in just a few words:
American presidents for three decades have kicked the can of global terror down the road for some other poor sucker to deal with. George W. Bush did not. And that’s why, even when it’s utterly unfashionable to say so, I still greatly admire his leadership and courage. Thank you, President Bush.
Even so… The man is a politician, a currier of favor and a courier of tyranny. “No child left behind” will assure that no poor child will ever again get ahead. The Patriot Act should give nightmares to any patriot who can envision yet another President Clinton. Government never grows so large as it does under the cultivation of allegedly anti-government Republicans. And now… Full-blown Banana Republican bail-outs, as a reward for financial error.
From Cafe Hayek:
Today’s Washington Post brings a nice example:
“President Bush will announce this afternoon an agreement with major mortgage firms to freeze interest rates for five years for financially troubled homeowners — a plan advocates say will help forestall a major foreclosure crisis but some conservatives say amounts to a bailout of people who made bad financial decisions.”
Bush, the so-called conservative who supposedly believes in the "ownership" society where people take responsibility for their own actions and act responsibly because they bear the costs and reap the benefits, is going to bail out people who acted irresponsibly. I love the end of the WaPo quote—"some conservatives say." The implication is that other conservatives and liberals disagree. But isn’t it a bail out of people who made bad financial decisions? Would anyone disagree?
I like this part, too:
“But it appears no tax dollars will be used to subsidize the freeze on interest rates. That cost would be borne primarily by lenders and investors, and by homeowners who may have to pay a fee to modify their loans. The details will be released today.”
Quiz: Will the costs really be born by lenders and investors? Will homeowners really only pay that additional fee? Bush likes to call his brand of conservatism, compassionate conservatism. Do you agree that this is compassionate? In your answer, ignore the damage to the rule of law that comes from government pressuring a private industry to invalidate the contracts that they signed with their customers.
Technorati Tags: investment, real estate, real estate marketing
Michael Cook says:
Am I the only one that thinks this will be incredibly ineffective and a huge waste of tax payer dollars? I could see this from Democrats (the party which I belong to), but Republicians? I guess its unfortunate that the mortgage meltdown happened in an election year.
December 6, 2007 — 11:35 am
Damon Pace - Incredible Agent says:
Wow, Bob Dylan and GW in one day. We do agree on some things. History will judge GW on both the war on terror and his handling of the mortgage meltdown. Not CNN or Fox News. We need to keep the economy strong so we have growth in order to pay for all those pet projects the politicians (Dems and Reps) have lined up.
December 6, 2007 — 1:44 pm
Georgia New Homes says:
Micheal,
You are not alone…. I agree with you 100 %.
Good blog!
December 6, 2007 — 1:51 pm
Shailesh Ghimire says:
I don’t see why this is a bad idea. Which ever way you look at it someone would have to lost money at some point – homeowner, lender, investor – everyone is set up to lose. What Bush is doing only softens the landing.
I disagree that this freeze will be ineffective. Smart homeowners will hopefully take steps to get themselves into a better situation. For lenders it helps them manage the problem over a longer time horizon and take smaller loses. Helps with profits.
Bush has already demonstrated he is not a traditional conservative – and by no means can he be called a fiscal conservative. So, there is no reason to fault him for betraying anyone.
I’m fully behind him on this one.
December 6, 2007 — 3:01 pm
Lane Bailey says:
Five years is absolutely ridiculous. The people that are affected CHOSE to get an ARM… ADJUSTABLE rate mortgage in order to get a lower rate. Now they are locked at the lower rate they got to offset the risk. So, those that got a fixed mortgage… because it is responsible… get screwed.
The idiots that went out and leveraged their homes for a bass boat and a Suburban are saved from actually suffering for their stupid decision…
That blows.
December 6, 2007 — 3:53 pm
Derek says:
Most of my classmates (future historians since we’re all history majors) tend to take the view that Bush is a great politician but an evil man.
I always laugh at how much the Republicans complain about how the Democrats have not yet gotten anything done recently.. Bush has vetoed nearly everything they have put on his desk!
No child left behind is a joke.
December 6, 2007 — 4:02 pm
Chris Lengquist says:
Wow. Bob had a bad credit history and wasstill rewarded with a home loan. Now, Bob is rewarded again by not having that loan reset.
Meanwhile, Joe over there worked 2 jobs to make sure all his bills were paid. He’s still paying his bills on time even though that means he doesn’t get to eat out with Bob.
Bob gets weekends at the lake on his jet ski that was purchased with the ARM loan savings per month. But poor Joe has to work on Saturdays because he took the fixed loan option and the extra PT work helps to pay the difference between what he has and the ARM he could have had.
Sounds like the Ant and the Grasshopper and in this case the Grasshopper skates by.
December 6, 2007 — 4:42 pm
Corey k says:
“I have a tremendous admiration for George W. Bush, the President of the United States. My reasons are legion, and the rest of America will have to wait for historians to explain to them just what a great man they have so completely scorned in their well-scored chorus”
I think the best term that describes this statement is “LOL”.
All great men in history were tremendous liars weren’t they?
December 6, 2007 — 5:37 pm
Brian Brady says:
Mike:
You are not alone:
http://www.miamiherald.com/business/AP/story/335036.html
(thanks, Dan)
December 6, 2007 — 7:26 pm
Dave Barnes says:
And, I despise The Shrub for not admitting that we need to have troops in Iraq for the next 60+ years.
How long have we had troops in:
Cuba: 100+
South Korea: 60+
Germany: 60+
Japan: 60+
UK: 60+
And we had troops in the Philippines for over 60 years, but they still managed to have an attempted military coup a few weeks ago.
December 6, 2007 — 7:33 pm
Rhonda Porter says:
I just think this all sounds great while we and other American’s watch the boob tube. I don’t see how this is going to actually work…these people signed contracts and who holds the mortages now? When you try to figure out exactly who is eligible to have a frozen mortgage, it seems pretty narrow.
Bush said “We should not bail out…those who made the reckless decision to buy a home they knew they could not afford”…isn’t that a majority of the subprime borrowers?
December 6, 2007 — 7:38 pm
Robert Kerr says:
George W. Bush has been a terrible disappointment, perhaps the worst President of my lifetime, and I’ve lived through Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Carter.
Unless a miracle happens, Dubya’s legacy will be a confluence of Johnson’s war effort and Nixon’s / Ford’s / Carter’s economic ineptitude.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Dubya woke up tomorrow and decided that wage and price controls are what America needs.
He’s a complete moron, who’s surrounded himself by other morons. And I voted for him. Twice. I’m embarrassed to admit that.
December 6, 2007 — 7:58 pm
Derek Burress says:
I voted for Gore the first time around and decided neither was deserving of my vote in the second election, so I skipped that one completely.
I am not sure who I am voting for next time, but I doubt if the Republicans take North Carolina like they normally do. North Carolinians tend to always vote Democrat in the state and local elections and Republican in the national election. We have John Edwards in there running, but North Carolina has started turning towards electing women a lot after having voted in two Supreme Court justices and then Elizabeth Dole to the Senate. Now we’re shooting for a woman Governor so, go figure!
December 6, 2007 — 8:31 pm
Will says:
Wow. I’ve agreed before with things you’ve said and I’ve disagreed before with things you’ve said but always chucked that up to differences in regions. But never have I lost respect for what you were saying…. until today. Your respect and admiration for Bush only serves to show how much you live in your own little world and really need to get out more. Expand your horizon, turn your back from the shadows on the wall and look to the light outside your cave (yes, it’s Plato). Turn off Fox News, CNN, and open up to the fleecing before you.
You disliked Clinton? Much of the world never understood what some Americans so vehemently could have disliked about that man. And not only has Bush taken the goodwill and budget surplus built up by him and squandered it on an uneccessary oil grab but he has also helped to screw the domestic economy up with cuts, or broken promises, to some primary social services (education, healthcare, military pensions). This bogus bailout is just one more example.
Greg, may I suggest you refrain from politics on this blog.
December 6, 2007 — 10:50 pm
jon says:
I was so stupid to refi into a fixed rate loan when rates went down, I should have taken the gambling route and taken the arm, then wait for taxpayers to bail me out.
Instead of looking for the government to take care of me in my retirement, I have agressivly saved all I can, and put it into my 401k, now my coworker who has the same investment firm finds out on her statement she had exposure to the cdo market, even though she had marked the most conservative and safe course was what she wanted.
It seems she was lending money to people who now arent going to pay her back.
I havent got my statement, but on my plan I had checked a more aggressive plan, so hopefully I am more invested in stocks versus cdo’s.
I cant believe this will stand with the American public, when did being financially prudent become stupid, and taking crazy gambling chances smart, to be subsidized by taxpayers!
They took stupid risks, and some got rich doing it, gambling is a double edged sword, and if they cant read a contract that is not our collective problem.
Oh and I voted for that clown also, how stupid.
December 7, 2007 — 12:22 am
Todd Carpenter says:
>”Bush has vetoed nearly everything they have put on his desk”
Derek, you may want to ask for a refund on your tuition.
I think the program will help. A little. But ARM resets are not the primary problem.
December 7, 2007 — 1:14 am
Corey k says:
This is what happens when the FED pumps in over $700 billion in new money into an already inflated system. Bernanke is clearly under the direction of the neo-cons, who else would want to add even more inflation to the equation? The M3 number is published anymore, for good reason I’m sure. They don’t want the Fundamental economists to see them and respond with a healthy “WTF!”
If Dallas was our Economic system, we could use a postage stamp to represent true assets.
December 7, 2007 — 12:35 pm
Derek says:
Okay Todd, so you do not agree about Bush having vetoed nearly every bill the Democrats have placed on his desk?
I admit I haven’t kept up with it, but I know there has been a large number of Democratic vetos. Mostly they seems to bea political game (trade off) where Bush seems to veto everything unless the Democrats will agree to give him more money for Irag and Afgh.
And concerning the comment that Greg refrain from discussing politics… Well my they always said there are three things you never discuss in North Carolina; politics, religion and BBQ!
December 7, 2007 — 9:39 pm
Brian Brady says:
Corey,
I’m not sure of the significance of M3; both Eurodolllars and repos are zero sum propositions.
The Eurodollar is hedged and the repo is well collateralized.
December 7, 2007 — 10:43 pm