Bush and the neo-cons: just as guilty as the Dems

[runstowin]

President Bush is determined to end the prejudice against people who want to buy a home but don’t have any money. Since he became president the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has spent more than $120 billion. HUD public-housing projects continue to devastate poor neighborhoods. HUD largesse to local governments continues to finance the confiscation and demolition of private homes, and HUD programs continue to spur fraud and corruption around the nation.

Bush has done almost nothing to reduce HUD’s damage to America. Instead, he is devoting himself to expanding home giveaways. He proclaimed on June 16, 2003,

    Homeownership is more than just a symbol of the American dream; it is an important part of our way of life. Core American values of individuality, thrift, responsibility, and self-reliance are embodied in homeownership. In Bush’s eyes, self-reliance is so wonderful that the government should subsidize it.

Bush could be exposing taxpayers to tens of billions of dollars of losses, luring thousands of low- and moderate-income people to the heartbreak of losing their first house, and risking wrecking entire neighborhoods. Bush’s housing initiatives – especially his “American Dream Down Payment Act” to give free down payments to selected home buyers – were key planks in his reelection campaign. He is also pushing Congress to enact a law to permit the feds to give zero-down-payment mortgages.The Bush “Dream Act” and the zero-down-payment plan are modeled after “down-payment assistance programs” that have proliferated in recent years. These programs, often engineered by nonprofit groups, routinely involve a home builder giving a “gift” to the nonprofit, which provides a home buyer with money for the down payment. The price of the house is sometimes increased by the same amount as the builder’s “gift.” Almost all the mortgages created with down-payment assistance end up being underwritten or guaranteed by either the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) or Ginnie Mae (the Government National Mortgage Association).Free down payments carry catastrophic risks. The default rate on mortgages from the largest down-payment-assistance organization, Nehemiah Corp., is 25 times higher than the nationwide mortgage-delinquency rate, according to the HUD inspector general. The default rate on Nehemiah mortgages quadrupled between 1999 and 2002, reaching almost 20 percent. The I.G. warned that permitting the Federal Housing Administration to insure mortgages made with gifts from down-payment organizations is “endangering the FHA insurance pool.” HUD currently has no idea how many of the loans that the FHA is underwriting are closed with down-payment gifts.

Bush began pushing his American Dream Down Payment plan in 2002. The administration’s rhetoric echoed the 1968 Housing Act, which nullified state and local restrictions on where blacks and other groups could live. A June 17, 2002, White House Fact Sheet declared that Bush’s agenda

    will help tear down the barriers to homeownership that stand in the way of our nation’s African-American, Hispanic, and other minority families by providing down-payment assistance. The single biggest barrier to home-ownership is accumulating funds for a down payment.

http://blog.vdare.com/archives/2008/11/23/media-ignoring-bushs-jihad-against-down-payments/

[tombogan03884]

Bush began pushing his American Dream Down Payment plan in 2002

Gee, wasn't that the year the Dum's took control of Congress ?
Think you need to brush up on your research skills, since the loosening of restrictions you attribute to Bush actually happened during the CLINTON administration, when Maxine Waters and Barney Frank maintained that verifying income of loan applicants discriminated against poor people, the Bush administration attempted to TIGHTEN regulations but was defeated by that Dum Congress you conveniently ignore in your attempt to bash Republicans.
If you are going to bash Bush, bash him for things HE actually did, (bailouts for example) not things that were done by his predecessor, or the enemy Congress, it makes you look partisan and foolish.

[Rastus]

Bush did a poor job of administration...he allowed the Republican controlled congress to spend wildly and enjoyed the loose purse strings with his own projects being swayed by the dems not unlike his "Read My Lips..." old man who sold us out on taxes and spending...at least he didn't raise taxes.

Bush sold us out on the illegal hordes that stream across our border.

Bush may not have hurt us on guns....but he didn't help...remember the Supreme Court decision and who he appointed to represent the government which was so onerous Cheney sided against the administration.

[CJS3]

Whenever I see the term "neo-con" or "neo-cons", I always bypass the article because I know without reading it that the Ideas presented, will have the aroma of a sewer treatment plant on a long, hot, humid, summer day 

[runstowin]

Whenever I see the term "neo-con" or "neo-cons", I always bypass the article because I know without reading it that the Ideas presented, will have the aroma of a sewer treatment plant on a long, hot, humid, summer day 

Prejudice.

[Sponsor]

[runstowin]

Bush began pushing his American Dream Down Payment plan in 2002

Gee, wasn't that the year the Dum's took control of Congress ?
Think you need to brush up on your research skills, since the loosening of restrictions you attribute to Bush actually happened during the CLINTON administration, when Maxine Waters and Barney Frank maintained that verifying income of loan applicants discriminated against poor people, the Bush administration attempted to TIGHTEN regulations but was defeated by that Dum Congress you conveniently ignore in your attempt to bash Republicans.
If you are going to bash Bush, bash him for things HE actually did, (bailouts for example) not things that were done by his predecessor, or the enemy Congress, it makes you look partisan and foolish.

Gee no, at the time of the passage of this bill the numbers were Representatives: Republicans, 229, Dems 205, independents,, 1.
The Senate:Republicans, 51, Dems, 48, independents, 1.

[runstowin]

This from the White House web site:

December 16, 2003

President Bush Signs American Dream Downpayment Act of 2003
Remarks by the President at Signing of the American Dream Downpayment Act
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Washington, D.C.

Play Video  Video (Real)
Play Real Audio  Audio
en Español  En Español

     Fact sheet In Focus: Home Ownership

1:57 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Thank you for coming. Thanks for the warm welcome. It's great to be back at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is not my first time here, nor will it be my last. (Applause.) I am here today because we are taking action to bring many thousands of Americans closer to owning a home. Our government is supporting homeownership because it is good for America, it is good for our families, it is good for our economy.

During the signing ceremony of S. 811, The American Dream Downpayment Act, President George W. Bush delivers remarks at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2003. "One of the biggest hurdles to homeownership is getting money for a down payment," said President Bush. "This administration has recognized that, and so today I'm honored to be here to sign a law that will help many low-income buyers to overcome that hurdle, and to achieve an important part of the American Dream." White House photo by Paul Morse One of the biggest hurdles to homeownership is getting money for a down payment. This administration has recognized that, and so today I'm honored to be here to sign a law that will help many low-income buyers to overcome that hurdle, and to achieve an important part of the American Dream.

I appreciate Alphonso Jackson agreeing to step up and become the Acting Secretary of the Housing and Urban Development. I look forward to his Senate confirmation, a hasty confirmation. (Applause.)

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/12/20031216-9.html

[walangkatapat]

Democrats in Their Own Words
Freddie and Fannie Hearings
Barney Frank Doing Fannie

[runstowin]

This from the newsletter The Daily Reckoning:


*** George W. Bush said last week that he had to kill capitalism to save it:

"We abandoned free market principles to save the free market system," he is quoted as saying.

Let's see, how does that work...perhaps you could try a little hanky panky, with your neighbor's wife in order to save the sanctity of your marriage? Or rob a bank in order to prevent theft? Or eat a few extra desserts at Christmastide in order to keep slim?

We just don't get it.

At least, France's president Sarkozy is more honest about it: "Laissez-faire, it is finished."

Yes, dear reader. Laissez-faire, we hardly knew ye. But now, free market capitalism is less respectable than rap music. State-directed capitalism is the new thing. In the space of barely six months, the U.S. government has taken effective control over the banks, the automakers, and the mortgage industry.


http://www.dailyreckoning.com/

[walangkatapat]

and CONgress which is Democrat controlled has gone right along with the Prez who seems to be more worried about his legacy rather than the economics of our Country.