Financial Crisis - Real Estate, Taxes and the Mortgage Crisis
Where is the moral outrage? Both presidential candidates are soaked in lobby money, one with a quasi Marxist agenda, the other with quasi free market agenda and both sleepwalking through a financial dilemma that attacks every property taxpayer and American.
Selling houses to people who could not afford those home let alone the property taxes was begun by legislation passed by President Jimmy Carter. His legislation encouraged home ownership to people who were high financial risks by making it easy for them to get loans.
President Bill Clinton put this bogus practice on steroids. He enacted legislation that punished mortgage lenders that would not comply. He deregulated risk by legislating against it causing a complete abandonment of conservative lending practices.
Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac bought these loans, repackaged these loans and sold them on the open market. They sent hundreds of millions of dollars by their lobbies to politicians that in order to continue this masquerade.
To insure these bad mortgages, AIG and other insurance companies evaluated the risk and sold insurance to cover these mortgages in case of default. Their leverage was set at a 12 to 1 ratio. They too threw millions of dollars into legislator’s coffers and asked for and got the permission to raise their leverage to a 30 to 1 ratio. This greatly increased their risk as well as dramatically increased their short term profits.
How can fraudulent financial wizardry that has banks and brokerage firms leveraged at 30-1 be endorsed by Greenspan and Bernanke? How could they have allowed this shell game to continue? Quasi-Marxist promoters of Acorn (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) and kindred entitlement steering organizations bamboozled lawmakers into giving away the farm to future deadbeats. What’s wrong with renting if you can’t afford a house or taking a bus if you can’t afford keeping a car?
The House Finance Chief, SEC Chairman, Banking Committee Chairman and any Congressman or public official accepting lobby money were shills for this con game. Prison and banishment from public office should be their reward for violating the public trust! Politicians accepting lobby money need prison and banished from public office. Lobby money is nothing more than a bribe. If you bribe a cop for not giving you a speeding ticket you go to prison. If a public official accepts a bribe, shouldn’t they be put in jail as well?
A balloon full of hot air eventually has to crash. Instead of letting the markets sort this out, bailout is the new mantra. The global credit boom is OVER. Throwing out 700 billion dollar band aids laden with lobby inspired pork on the hornets’ nest is meaningless. There is little the Fed or Congress can do to change it. Thanks to the weasels the Emperor has no clothes. The danger of ignoring economic realities is how we ended in this financial crisis. Where is the outrage?
The other news: Lower real estate prices has many towns raising tax rates to compensate for lower real estate assessment values. If you compare your home’s value to comparative values of recently sold homes there is a good chance you qualify for a property tax appeal. At least, you should look into whether you have a case.