Because you can never have enough scandal or corruption in this administration. Everything is a personal slush fund in the GOP whether it's Iraq or doling out federal contracts.
Jackson has faced calls for his resignation after lawmakers have said he behaved improperly in awarding federal contracts.
The Federal Housing Administration, overseen by HUD, runs the largest government program to aid home buyers and is seen by many lawmakers as the key to a federal effort to stem foreclosures.
What's worse between a 9% drop and a 12 year low for new homes? Either way, the Bush/GOP economy continues to falter and we're all stuck with the lousy results. How many times have we heard "record low" about another failed GOP economic policy in recent months?
Foreclosure filings double in September from last years results. In September 2007 there were 223,538 filings across the US. This is what McCain and the other GOP candidates think represents a booming economy. If you are unable to recognize a problem - and Americans definitely see problems with the economy - how are you supposed to fix it? Could this group of nitwits be any more removed from the concerns of the American middle class? They just yuck it up, talking about how wonderful everything is and saying "USA #1" instead of seeing the problems that Americans see and offering a plan. Keep it up guys and run with that in the election. I'm sure it will be a real winner.
Not so surprisingly Countrywide Financial, the largest mortgage lender in the US, just announced a 44% decline in mortgage loans in September.
What an impressive display of Republican economics. At least we all still have eBay. Hooray! We'll all be rich!
You mean we didn't win? I thought Afghanistan was the cornerstone of Bush's success in the never-ending war on terror. Republicans bragged about this success story and have always been so sensitive to criticism of that other failing venture. So tell me again where Bush actually has had success in this supposed war? Heck, tell me where he has succeeded with anything, foreign or domestic. Just as he used to brag about our victory in Afghanistan, he used to brag about US home ownership standing at record highs, thanks in no small part to his brilliant team so I guess we should expect to hear him accept some responsibility for that Hindenburg-like catastrophe as well, right?
As this self-made Wall Street mess continues to unravel, stories about individuals losing their houses are popping up on a daily basis. I am sure that there has been no shortage of predatory practices in the industry but with vast majority - 89% according to the Center for Responsible Lending - of the subprime loans made to existing home owners, it is a fair question to ask, "what were they thinking?" Congress is now talking about putting in place regulations, years too late to have any impact on the economic crisis that this is triggering, but having regulations in place for this sector is basic common sense.
So now that this flimsy system is crashing under its own weight, everyone is looking around and wondering what to do. Should buyers who heard what they wanted to hear and lived well beyond their means get relief? Should the subprime lending companies get bailed out since they represent well over $300 billion in the economy? Should the Wall Street names such as Morgan Stanley, who loaned the money for a quick buck and just reported 70% profit increase, be held accountable? Should tax payers and those who didn't fall for these schemes pay?
Ultimately these lending "get rich quick" problems are the problems of those who participated, both buyers and sellers. It sickens me that those who should have known and could have done something - Republican Congress, SEC, Wall Street, Greenspan and the Fed - did nothing while this was building up. All Americans (and well beyond in our global economy) are going to pay a price for this as the hard landing hits. Housing prices will stagnate, jobs in construction, banking, etc will all suffer which will be another problem on an economy already burdened with an expensive war.
Bush and the GOP loved selling America on the home ownership boom which was based on pie-in-the-sky economics and get rich quick ideas from top to bottom but like Iraq, they failed the American public by ignoring obvious problems. Too many buyers bought into excitement of riches and failed to think about the hard realities and what-if scenarios. If anyone is going to foot the bill for this, let the buyers, the lenders and those who financed the lenders work it out but there is no reason at all to involve everyone else who either did the right thing and borrowed what they could or who stayed on the sidelines. I hear Morgan Stanley did pretty well with their investments which included subprime money, so go ask them. Maybe Greenspan can help out since he has so many ideas and seems to be cashing in these days.
I can deal with someone who was cheated by their mortgage broker, banker, or whomever. Someone who was literally lied to about how much their mortgage was going to cost them now, in two years, in five years, in ten years. But what I can't deal with are all of these heart-tugging news broadcast and Joe and Suzie who simply wanted the American dream for their children, so they risked their entire family's livelihood on a gamble that they could sell a house they couldn't afford before the "real" mortgage rate kicked in. Sorry, Charlie, but those people knew what they were doing. They gambled. They lost. I had the same choice they did, and I said "no," things were simply too expensive. So now they get a bail out and I get nothing because they wanted money for nothing? I don't think so. Again, if they were affirmatively lied to, then they deserve redress. But if they were idiots willing to risk it all for some easy money, then we do them no favors by bailing them out.
