2010-03-24

amer'dreaming on the job!

3.24: news.pol/amer'dreaming on the job!

. some news bit just said the same as here:
US Sees 'Explosion' of Extremist Groups, Militias
"(The U.S. has seen an "explosion" in the number of
radical anti-government groups and armed militias
[due to] the election of the first black president
[and] the bank bailout ... .
)
. amer's are hostile about both a black pres
and the bailout ?
what do those have in common ?
. the housing and finance collapse was basically due to
unconditionally guaranteed gov't loans
-- via Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac --
and weren't those the liberal's attempt at
giving capital to the minorities ?
. this is similar to my euro-christian history apologist idea
of having the gov' buy businesses
to be handed out to blacks and natives
instead of welfare .
. owning a house would have my idea's effect only if
they lived in their car and rented their house out;
but, home ownership is still capital
that grows in value when you maintain it
--- it gives you a part-time job at
being your own landlord .
. I was wishing they would do this
without realizing they actually were!
and wow you have to be careful what you wish for,
because if it's heavy
then a sarcastic bureaucracy is likely to
drop it on your foot !

. here is a summary of wiki
showing how democrats are perceived
in the bailout picture .
Fannie_Mae
Subprime_mortgage_crisis
United_States_housing_bubble
Sales_Prices_of_New_Homes_Sold_in_United_States_1963-2008_annual.png

1938: Fannie Mae was established for New Deal:
. to make mortgages available to low-income families.
. added to the Federal Home Mortgage association,
a part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal
in order to facilitate liquidity within the mortgage market.
1968:
. the government converted Fannie Mae
into a private shareholder-owned corporation
in order to remove its activity from the annual balance sheet
of the federal budget .
Consequently, Fannie Mae ceased to be the guarantor of
government-issued mortgages,
and that responsibility was transferred to the new
Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae).

1970: Freddie Mac created .
(Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation)(FHLMC),
to compete with Fannie Mae
for a robust and efficient secondary mortgage market.
HOUSES AVERAGE: $27k

1977: Carter's Community Reinvestment Act (CRA 1977)
. an affirmitive action plan for banks
giving small business loans and home mortgages
to blighted inner cities .
HOUSES AVERAGE: $54k

1999: Clinton's Fannie Mae CRA push .
. in response to the affirmitive action push,
primary mortgage markets pressed Fannie Mae
to ease credit requirements,
enabling them to make subprime loans at
higher than conventional loan interest rates .
HOUSES AVERAGE: $200k

1999: public awareness (New York Times)
"( Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk,
which may not pose any difficulties during
flush economic times.
But the government-subsidized corporation
may run into trouble in an economic downturn,
prompting a government rescue
similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980s.)

2000: HUD's anti-predatory lending rules
. HUD disallowed risky, high-cost loans
from being credited toward affordable housing goals.

2002: Bush's "Renewing the Dream"
. the Single-Family Affordable Housing Tax Credit Act.
$2 billion in tax credits over the next five years
to develop affordable single-family housing in distressed areas.
HOUSES AVERAGE: $230k


2003: Bush's fix for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
. Fannie Mae's risk feared to be much larger than believed .
. Fannie Mae is prescribed outside supervision
to set capital-reserve requirements for the company
and to determine whether the company is adequately managing
the risks of its portfolios.

2003: Democratic opposition to Bush's plan:
ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee,
Barney Frank of Massachusetts:
"These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac --
are not facing any kind of financial crisis,"
"The more people exaggerate these problems,
the more pressure there is on these companies,
the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."

2003: Bush's American Dream Downpayment Act
. a new program that provided grants to help home buyers with
downpayment and closing costs.
The act authorized $200 million dollars per year
for the program for fiscal years 2004-2007.
. also tripled the funding for Habitat for Humanity's
that help families help themselves become homeowners
through 'sweat equity' and volunteerism in their communities.
Substantially increasing, by at least $440 billion,
the financial commitment made by the government-sponsored enterprises
involved in the secondary mortgage market
specifically targeted toward the minority market.

2004: layered-risk loans race
[. high-risk loans were allowed again
with the intention that high risk actors
be given affordable terms .
. instead, house loans layered the risk:
their payments would remain affordable
only if multiple factors remained positive:
interest rates had to remain low,
and unemployment had to remain low .
. because these loans couldn't be covered by Fannie Mae,
the banks bundled the loans into products
that would be sold as high interest bonds .]

2004: Alan Greenspan warns of market conspiracy
. the markets appear to believe that the U.S. Government
would never allow Fannie Mae (or Freddie Mac) to fail .
HOUSES AVERAGE: $274k

2005: public awareness of "layered-risk" lending .
Alan Greenspan praised the rise of the sub-prime mortgage industry
and the tools which it uses to assess credit-worthiness .
HOUSES AVERAGE: $297k

2005: Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act (S.190)
2005: Federal Housing Finance Reform Act (H.R. 1461)
. an effort to reform the existing GSE regulatory structure
in light of the recent accounting problems
and questionable management actions
leading to considerable income restatements by the GSE's.
After being reported favorably by the Senate's
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs in July 2005,
the bill was never considered by the full Senate for a vote.[18]
. The House Financial Services Committee had crafted changes
and produced a Committee Report;
it was passed by the House in spite of opposition by
Democrats, Bush, and other Republicans;
and the Senate ignored it .
2006: Sen. McCain's becomes a cosponsor of S.190
. Fannie Mae's regulator reported that profits were
"illusions deliberately and systematically created
by the company's senior management" .
HOUSES AVERAGE: $306k

2007: HOUSES AVERAGE: $310k and falling
. the collapse of the U.S. housing market
and subprime mortgage crisis .
. many with adjustable rate mortgages (ARM)
were unable to pay their mortgages,
precipitously increasing home foreclosures
causing supply to exceed demand
and a decline in prices .
. also, stricter lending standards made it more and more difficult
for borrowers to get mortgages.
This depreciation in home prices
led to growing losses for the GSEs,
which back the majority of US mortgages.
. widely held subprime mortgage securities
lost most of their value,
resulting in a massive tightening of credit
around the world.

Democratic senators
such as Senator Charles Schumer of New York
were already proposing a federal bailout
in order to save homeowners from losing their residences.
Opponents
asserted that a government bailout would
set a bad precedent, create a moral hazard,
and worsen the speculation problem in the housing market.

2009: HOUSES AVERAGE: rising again
after a 32% dive from 2006 peak .

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