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Ron Paul comments on the Housing Bill or "The Mother Of All Bailouts"
In addition to throwing economic fundamentals out the window, Paul points out the peculiarities that mortgage brokers must now be fingerprinted and that credit card transactions will now be reported to the I.R.S. CONgress ≠ PROgress.
The following is excerpted from Congressman Paul's Statement on H.R. 3221:
"Madam Speaker, For several years, followers of the Austrian school of economics have warned that unless Congress moved to end the implicit government guarantee of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and took other steps to disengage the US Government from the housing market, America would face a crisis in housing. This crisis would force Congress to chose between authorizing a taxpayer bailout of Fannie and Freddie, and other measures increasing government’s involvement in housing, or restoring a free-market in housing by ending government support for Fannie and Freddie and repealing all laws that interfere in housing. The bursting of the housing bubble, and the recent near-collapse in investor support for Fannie and Freddie has proven my fellow Austrians correct. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, instead of ending the prior interventions in the housing market that are responsible for the current crisis, Congress is increasing the level of government intervention in the housing market. This is the equivalent of giving a drug addict another fix, which will only make the necessary withdrawal more painful.
The provision giving the Treasury Secretary a blank check to purchase Fannie and Freddie stock not only makes the implicit government guarantee of Fannie and Freddie explicit, it represents another unconstitutional delegation of Congress’ Constitutional authority to control the allocation of taxpayer dollars. While the Treasury Secretary has to file a report with Congress, the lack of any effective standards for the expenditure of funds makes it impossible for Congress to perform effective oversight on Treasury’s expenditures.
HR 3221 also takes another troubling step toward the creation of surveillance state by creating a Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry. This federal database will contain personal information about anyone wishing to work as a “loan originator.” “Loan originator" is defined broadly as anyone who "takes a residential loan application; and offers or negotiates terms of a residential mortgage loan for compensation or gain." According to some analysts, this definition is so broad as to cover part-time clerks and real estate agents who receive even minimal compensation from "originators." Additionally, this database forced on industry will be funded by fees paid to the federal banking agencies, yet another costly burden to the American taxpayers.
Among the information that will be collected from loan originators for inclusion in the federal database are fingerprints. Madam Speaker, giving the federal government the power to force Americans who wish to work in real estate to submit their fingerprints to a federal database opens the door to numerous abuses of privacy and civil liberties and establishes a dangerous precedent. Fingerprint databases and background checks have been no deterrent to espionage and fraud among governmental agencies, and will likewise fail to prevent fraud in the real estate market. I am amazed to see some members who are usually outspoken advocates of civil liberties and defenders of the Fourth Amendment support this new threat to privacy."
(End of excerpt)
Full transcript of Congressman Paul's Statement
http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2008/cr072408h...
For more information on H.R. 3221 please visit THOMAS (The Library of Congress)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.03221:
In addition to throwing economic fundamentals out the window, Paul points out the peculiarities that mortgage brokers must now be fing... more -
Woman kills self before foreclosure
(TAUNTON, Mass.) — A 53-year-old wife and mother fatally shot herself shortly after faxing a letter to her mortgage company saying that by the time they foreclosed on her house that day, she would be dead.
Police said that Carlene Balderrama used her husband's high-powered rifle to kill herself Tuesday afternoon, shortly after faxing the letter at 2:30 p.m.
The mortgage company called police, who found Balderrama's body at 3:30 p.m. The auction was scheduled to start at 5 p.m. and interested buyers arrived at the property in Taunton, about 35 miles south of Boston, while Balderrama's body was still inside, according to Taunton police chief Raymond O'Berg.
Police did not immediately release the name of the mortgage company. O'Berg said Balderrama's fax read, in part, "By the time you foreclose on my house I'll be dead."
O'Berg also said a suicide note found next to Balderrama told her husband, John, and 24-year-old son to "take the (life) insurance money and pay for the house."
Joe Whitney, who works with Balderrama's husband, a plumber, said that Balderrama handled the bills and her husband didn't know about the foreclosure.
"John didn't even know about it, that's the surprise," Whitney said told The Boston Globe. "It's just one of those awful, awful tragic events." (TAUNTON, Mass.) — A 53-year-old wife and mother fatally shot herself shortly after faxing a letter to her mortgage company saying tha... more -
Why are Americans Slaves to Debt?
The New York Times has an article that tells the unfortunate tale of Diane McLeod and her love affair with debt. She started out "debt free" when she got married, but after a divorce she'd managed to accrue $25,000 in credit card debt. Despite not having a down payment or any assets, Diane was given a $135,000 mortgage. Over the next few years, illness, underemployment, and shockingly irresponsible spending combined disastrously with the bank's willingness to refinance her loan as her home appreciated (for a fee, of course). 5 years later, Diane owes $237,000 on her mortgage. She's in foreclosure now, and a recent sheriff's auction of the home did not draw a single bidder. A similar house down the street recently sold for $84,000 less than she owes on her home.
Why are Americans so willing to do this to themselves? The article explains that as few as 40 years ago, we were a thrifty nation full of "savers," and that banks were focused on whether or not you could repay your loan and not the "fees" they could get from loans before they were sold to investors. We know that there were changes to the financial system. What happened to our values? The New York Times has an article that tells the unfortunate tale of Diane McLeod and her love affair with debt. She started out "debt... more -
Federal minimum wage rises to $6.55 today
About 2 million Americans get a raise Thursday as the federal minimum wage rises 70 cents. The bad news: Higher gas and food prices are swallowing it up, and some small businesses will pass the cost of the wage hike to consumers.
The increase, from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour, is the second of three annual increases required by a 2007 law. Next year's boost will bring the federal minimum to $7.25 an hour.The new minimum is less than the inflation-adjusted 1997 level of $7.02, and far below the inflation-adjusted level of $10.06 from 40 years ago, according to a Labor Department inflation calculator.
Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have laws making the minimum wage higher than the new federal requirement, a group covering 60 percent of U.S. workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank. About 2 million Americans get a raise Thursday as the federal minimum wage rises 70 cents. The bad news: Higher gas and food prices ar... more -
America's "brain-dead" politics
This an old clip (March) from Fareed Zakaria. His message is still relevant and fascinating concept on our politics.
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Housing bailout bill - another $800 billion gift from the taxpayer to Wall Street
This bill will probably pass in Senate tomorrow. You, your children and generations to come will pay for this. All taxes will be spent servicing this debt.
Cost of 5 years of Iraq war: $560 billion
Cost of this bill: $800 billion
It will be spent bailing out the same fraudsters who got us into this mess. Call your senator now and demand they vote against this! If you don't, it will probably pass. If you care for your country and your children's future, vote this video up.
The clock is ticking... This bill will probably pass in Senate tomorrow. You, your children and generations to come will pay for this. All taxes will be spent... more -
Jobless claims rise to 406,000
The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits rose last week to the highest in almost four months, a sign the slowing economy is weakening the labor market.
Initial jobless claims increased by 34,000 to 406,000 in the week ended July 19, from a revised 372,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The filings exceeded economists' forecast and were the most since 406,000 in the week ended March 29.
U.S. employers are reducing workers as surging fuel costs, a three-year housing slump and a crisis in credit markets restrains demand. Rising joblessness reinforces concern that consumers will pull back on spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the economy.
``The underlying picture is one of a labor market that is weak,'' said David Sloan, senior economist at 4Cast Inc. in New York, whose forecast of 410,000 was the closest to the actual number in a Bloomberg News survey of 44 economists. ``The economy is growing slowly so you tend to see job losses rising. The weakness could increase further in coming months.''
Treasuries were higher, pushing yields down. The benchmark 10-year note yielded 4.09 percent as of 8:50 a.m. in New York, down 3 basis points from yesterday.
Near 2005 High The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits rose last week to the highest in almost four months, a sign... more -
US government immorality will lead to bankruptcy
David Walker warns America of its true threat.
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Burmese Farmer's Debt Trap
“THE thought of crop failure worries me so much,” said Win Tun, an elderly farmer, squatting on a bank in his unplowed field under the scorching sun. “I’m afraid the next cyclone that hits us will be the spiral of debt.”
Win Tun is not alone. There are thousands of farmers in the Irrawaddy delta whose land has been inundated with seawater and who have lost their traditional “machinery”—cattle and buffaloes—in the cyclone that struck on May 2-3.
An estimated 780,000 hectares (almost 2 million acres) of agrarian land was ruined and more than 200,000 cattle and buffaloes died in the cyclone.
Normally, a farmer’s greatest fear is that a crop fails or yields a poor harvest. Missing a season is unthinkable. A farmer would have to work for nothing and buy everything on credit.
According to farmers, there should be an interval between plowing and planting. Traditionally they wait for several days after plowing so that the fields are in the best condition for seeds to grow. The last opportunity for planting this year was around the end of June. Farmers without seeds or the ability to plow their fields before the monsoon set in will miss out on a harvest in November—with dire financial consequences.
The next headache farmers face is employing workers to help in the fields. So many people were killed or have relocated since the cyclone that there is already a drastic shortage of labor. Others are too traumatized by the disaster and are afraid to return to farms and villages near the sea.
“Even if we offer higher wages for working on our farms, we will still not get enough laborers,” farmer Tint Lwin said.
Farmers often prefer to pay workers by giving them a certain number of baskets of rice. Without any rice in storage, this will be impossible this year.
Then there is the lack of fertilizer. Traditionally, many Burmese farmers spread the manure of cattle or buffalo on their fields. Without livestock or money, farmers have no natural fertilizer and are forced, yet again, to borrow.
If farmers have to buy rice seeds on credit, they encounter an additional dilemma. The seeds the authorities provide may be inferior or might not grow well in the delta conditions. Most farmers are not confident about working with different kinds of seeds.
To compound their misery, many farmers believe they will not be given loans if they have no equity. Normally they can guarantee a loan with their farm or equipment, but farmers who lost everything in the cyclone have nothing of value to use as collateral. “THE thought of crop failure worries me so much,” said Win Tun, an elderly farmer, squatting on a bank in his unplowed field under the... more -
Wife accused over 'back from the dead' canoeist
"The wife of a "back-from-the-dead" man who resurfaced five years after vanishing in an apparent canoe accident convinced everyone he was dead, including her own children, a court heard Monday.
Anne Darwin faces fraud charges involving nearly 250,000 pounds over the alleged scam, which came to light after her husband John walked into a police station claiming to have lost his memory.
"She put on a great act... she kept up the facade that she was genuinely grieving for the death of her husband," said prosecutor Andrew Robertson at the start of the trial at Teesside Crown Court in northeast England.
"Anne Darwin clearly thought nothing of lying to her sons... and convincing them that their own father was lost at sea and dead in order to see this fraud through to its conclusion," he added.
Darwin was presumed dead after disappearing while canoeing in the sea in March 2002 near his home in Seaton Carew, northeastern England.
But he reappeared on December 1 last year when he walked into a London police station, telling officers he could remember nothing of the last five years, and believed himself to be a missing person.
His wife was tracked down to Panama City and initially claimed shock at his reappearance, before being confronted with a photograph of the couple from last year which had emerged."
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I guess this begs the question -- What would you do in "dire financial straits?" "The wife of a "back-from-the-dead" man who resurfaced five years after vanishing in an apparent canoe accident convinced everyone he ... more -
Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac in death throes?
Things are going from bad to worse. The US economy seems to be on the brink of collapse.
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Mortgage Crisis May Force Government Intervention
Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been hit hard by the housing crisis accumulating nearly $5 trillion in debt (half of the U.S. government). If the housing market gets worse, Fannie Mae may not have the funds to cover the debt and be forced to close.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hold 52% of all mortgages. They are an organization that allows for banks to make mortgage loans at lower interest rates and lower mortgage payments. However, if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are forced to close monthly housing payments will go up and the price of houses will decrease greatly. This fact may very well force the government to intervene and become responsible for mortgage loans. Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been hit hard by the housing crisis accumulating nearly $5 trillion in debt (half of t... more -
U.S. Considers Takeover of Two Mortgage Giants
Alarmed by the growing financial stress at the nation’s two largest mortgage finance companies, senior Bush administration officials are considering a plan to have the government take over one or both of the companies and place them in a conservatorship if their problems worsen, people briefed about the plan said on Thursday.
The companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have been hit hard by the mortgage foreclosure crisis. Their shares are plummeting and their borrowing costs are rising as investors worry that the companies will suffer losses far larger than the $11 billion they have already lost in recent months. Now, as housing prices decline further and foreclosures grow, the markets are worried that Fannie and Freddie themselves may default on their debt. Alarmed by the growing financial stress at the nation’s two largest mortgage finance companies, senior Bush administration officials a... more -
Financial market losses could top 1,600 billion dollars
Geneva - The global financial crisis could lead to losses of 1,600 billion dollars for financial institutes, according a report in the Swiss Sunday newspaper SonntagsZeitung. It quoted a confidential study by the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates as saying losses for banks holding risky assets could be four times greater than the 400 billion dollars previously estimated.
The hedge fund expressed doubts that the financial institutes would be able to drum up enough funds to cover the losses, something it said could exacerbate the crisis.
Bridgewater, one of the world’s biggest hedge funds, based its calculations on the state of risky debt-based US assets, such as mortgages, credit and credit card demands.
The value of such risky assets is 26,600 billion dollars, according to the hedge fund. The losses would amount to 1,600 billion dollars if these assets were valued at market rates and not in the form of securitization, the newspaper said.
Geneva - The global financial crisis could lead to losses of 1,600 billion dollars for financial institutes, according a report in the... more -
UAE to cancel Iraq's $7 billion debt
So they want to pardon them in a way, How will this affect oil prices I wonder.
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Even the rich are hit by debt
An attorney with a six-figure salary, Will Chen thought credit card debt was something that only affected people with low-paying jobs. But when the lavish spending inspired by his new job outpaced his paychecks, he quickly fell $100,000 into debt.
Credit-card debt is becoming even more prominent in the struggling state of the economy. The average amount per consumer rose to $6,900 in the last year, a 21 percent increase, according to Experian, a global information services company. The average number of past-due accounts also increased to exceed more than one per consumer.
And it's not just those with low salaries who are susceptible.
One common misconception is that credit card debt doesn't affect upper-income households, said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst for Bankrate.com
"It's not a function of household income, it's a function of household spending," he said. "People of all walks of life have been either guilty of overspending or the victim of some misfortune such as a job loss, an illness or a divorce."
Chen's financial trouble began when he bought a nice house, new cars and joined several country clubs before he finished paying off his student loans, he said.
"When you start working and you're in an environment when everyone is living the high life, you get caught up in that spending," he said. "People assume if you have a high paying job ... they don't understand why you won't go to the new, fancy French restaurant that just opened up."
By changing his everyday spending habits - moving closer to work, using public transportation and drastically cutting down on eating out - Chen got himself out of debt in about three and a half years.
Ironically, he found his debt easier to manage once he took on a lower paying job.
"In our culture, frugality is almost a dirty word," he said. "In a way, it's actually harder for people with good-paying jobs to live frugally."
Chen started a frugal living blog, WiseBread.com, to help those struggling with similar issues.
Of approximately 7,000 readers who responded to the site's demographics survey, 77 percent answered "yes" to having a college degree or higher, and 41 percent declared an annual income of $75,000 or higher. Twenty-three percent of the respondents said their annual salary exceeds $100,000.
An attorney with a six-figure salary, Will Chen thought credit card debt was something that only affected people with low-paying jobs.... more -
Bank Crisis and Your Credit Score
Something that we're not taught in our government-run, liberal indoctrination facilities (translation: public school) is the proper use of credit. Banks and credit card companies love this idea because it enables them to fleece the people of all the money they have and then claim that it's all part of the game. It's legal theft.
It's a situation compounded right now by the housing market being down and oil being artificially inflated due to speculators exploiting loopholes in the securities and exchange regulations. Then the problem is further exacerbated by liberals who want Congress to bail out the morons who don't bother to read the terms of their credit card agreements which are designed to exploit the ignorance of the public and rake in huge profits for the companies that issue those cards.
Having a credit card doesn't make you rich -- it makes you vulnerable. The best way to get out of credit card debt is to put the cards away and pay them off. Don't go taking out home equity loans -- you'll be sorry you did. Adjust your lifestyle so you can pay down those cards. You'll save money in the long run and you won't get phone calls from creditors berating you for missing a payment. Plus you just might get a good night's sleep again. Something that we're not taught in our government-run, liberal indoctrination facilities (translation: public school) is the proper us... more -
Stimulus rebate checks diverted
About $2 billion in economic stimulus rebate checks are being confiscated to pay overdue bills for child support, students loans and back taxes, the government says. Whew, I'm glad mine was a direct deposit. About $2 billion in economic stimulus rebate checks are being confiscated to pay overdue bills for child support, students loans and b... more
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Moving Out
Shawn McGinley is struggling to start his life over again after dropping out if school and relocating from Ventura, CA to San Diego, CA. Shawn started school at Brooks Institute last July and is now left with over $35,000 in debt after just one year at school. He must now go back to his old job of working in kitchens with the goal of starting a photography business in his future. Shawn McGinley is struggling to start his life over again after dropping out if school and relocating from Ventura, CA to San Diego, C... more
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So many issues...how can those in debt help?
Maybe I am just growing into this, but it feels like there are so many different issues going on right now and I want to help out, but which issue do I help with?
I mean look at it:
- The floods
- Tornadoes
- FEMA trailers
- The Red Cross is out of money
- Hurricane Katrina Victims are still struggling and now they are in danger of another hurricane this season
- Energy Crisis
- Gas prices
- Global Warming
- World Poverty
- Water is running out...especially in Southern California
and that's just a few here in the US...there are also huge global issues!
Ahh...why do I feel overwhelmed! What do we do...what is it you choose to do? I am not about to sit back and watch from a distance, I am ready to help, but I am also gaining about $30,000 of debt...
How do I make money enough money to pay my debts and rent while also helping out?! Does anyone have the answer? Maybe I am just growing into this, but it feels like there are so many different issues going on right now and I want to help out, but... more
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