Son Of Bush

What I just read on CNN does not mention any taxpayer bailout...just a more or less "voluntary" program wherein lenders keep some folks' rates frozen  . . . and true, you or I might be savvy enough to handle money or credit better than some . . . but if the lenders are conning people, lying to folks, or doing a bait and switch on terms at the last minute . . .what then?  Too bad? 

But the larger question of free markets vs. regulation is interesting to most people.

Take the stock market for example . . . are we better off if there was no regulation?  or no SEC ?  I would think we would get robbed by brokers right and left . . . they would sell you stock that they knew was worthless, or that their own company held and needed to get rid of . . . or perhaps did not exist . . . then you alone take them to court or sue them?  Wild and loose habits with the market in the Gilded Age of 1920's led to its collapse.

What about banks?  Free market?  No agency to insure your deposits?  Simply up to you to find a credible bank that won't forclose?  During the Reagan years many bank regulations were relaxed or not enforced.  The result was billions of losses to individuals including those who invested in Lincon S and L, headed by John McCain's personal buddy, if you recall.

A current example is that of consumer product safety.  The head of it was a lobbyist for the industry and is not working to inspect much of anything or enforce anything (like the environmental agency) . . . so the Q is whether the importation of dangerous toys for kids is just "caveat emptor" and too bad if you don't know how to test your kids' toys for lead paint or date rape drugs.

Of course I could go on . . .but as someone said long ago (I dunno who):

"Free markets work best when well-regulated."

Write on

--KZ

Amen MoronInCharge. 

You write "The fact is that unscrupulous lending tends to prey upon the uneducated, from the lower socioeconomic classes."  

   I posted a comment just posted on Humpty Dumpty   Economicshttp://www.voiceofarizona.com/Humpty_Dumpty_Economics-5031-2-3627.htm   

"...  Formal education of our people in personal financial matters in middle and high school would help reduce the ignorant.  Greed, stupidity and gullibility, on the other hand, are harder to eliminate.  

Our economic system is built partly on ignorance to make it work.  Caveat Emptor is the placard on the standard that goes before the economic legions, and anyone that doesn’t read it and get out of the way (or join the legion) is sooner or sooner going to get speared." 

"Now if the plan the government has announced also involves the compensation (bailing out) of the lenders, then that is a crime."  Oh, oh ... how ... But but ...  Surely you jest:bail out the big boys? 

Lets's pick the pepper out of the fly s*** here.  You seem to be clumping the communal answers to a chronic problem (Christ told us that "The poor you will have with you always") with an obviously critical problem for the BIG Boys - helping the poor and unfortunate is not the same as covering the ass' of the greedy, stupid and gullible amongst us.  The uneducated, maybe.  We as a society are largely responsible for the ignorance.  But the poor that are inately greedy, stupid and/or gullible - NO!

I'm with you on this one AZ.

Why is it my problem?

·        That greedy realstate agents forced people into homes they could not afford.

·        That greedy want to be investors jumped in at the top of the market.

·        That people like you say less responsible (I will call them ignorant) made bad decisions and didn’t think of the consequences.

 You are right now we get to pay. Its really a shame I didn’t even get to live in any of these nice homes I now get to make payment on. Wouldn’t it be nice if every time you fked up every one got together and bailed your ass out?

What really kills me is that Arizona is known for its retirement communities and when the so-called investors inflated our housing market they killed off the retirees coming to Arizona. Why sell your home in San Diego for $600k and move here to by the same house for $450k. A few years ago they could buy the same house here for $250k and have $350k to live on.

The bright side of the story is, the 200,000-realstate agents we had 2 years ago will probably drop to 2000 and hopefully only the smart ones are left. You know the ones that didn’t listen to the lenders creative ways to get people into homes they couldn’t afford so their bigger clients could dump them at ridiculous prices. The manipulators of the market once again will walk away richer.

HO HO HO  

MoronInCharge, you ask “Are you being asked to pay for this proposed Foreclosure Relief Plan?”  To coin a phrase, "YES!".  My advice is to keep a sharp eye on your wallet.  Even then you won’t see the sleight of hand.

We don’t know what they don’t want us to know.  A slightly smaller rate of interest on your IRA CD?  On Your money market account?  An inflation of your credit card interest rate (hard to tell – it is already usury pure and simple, so it could be substantial and most would not notice it)?  More points on your new loan?  An eighth of a percent higher rate of interest on your next loan?  Higher annual fee?  Parking meters at the banks’ ATMs?

And who knows what is going on over the back room discount counter (tax supported) between the government and the financial institutions?  You can rest assured that you are going to pay for this.  Not only that, some BIG Boys somewhere along the line are going to turn it to their advantage and reap a rich harvest in the process.

“Anyway, I thought this was supposed to be a "Christian" nation?”  I guess.  I am a Christian in the making, and I question my motives continually in the light of Christ’s teachings.  My position may be wrong.  I may have to change my position as this situation percolates in my mind.

Indeed “It's always easier to ignore people in distress when it looks like their problems don't affect you, or are partially of their own doing.” Your point is well taken.  As for myself I have considered that in taking the position that I have taken.  Christ teaches responsibility as well as charity.  I am not concerned that I myself am in any detectable jeopardy from this farce.  Nay, my argument is that it is bad for you, me and our nation.

It is a question of fairness.  What about those people that fall through the net because they cannot make the payments even with an interest rate freeze?  Do you feel they should be helped as well by the Bush plan?  That would be fairer.  Christian charity it would seem to me dictates that all those in need of help should get it if any do.

This whole thing is the debris falling from the rickety collapsing Bush Regime.  It will do nothing noticeable to save the economy.  That claim is malarkey.  All it does is further divide us as a people.  The great ‘Uniter not a Divider’ has struck again.

Mron
Answer to your question.
Are you being asked to pay for this proposed Foreclosure Relief Plan?
Yes we all are and I am sure your kids will be paying because this isn't over yet.
Banks are perched ready to raise every ones interest on their credit cards. Why you ask maybe they are trying to recover their losses before they start happening. Not only are home loans in jeopardy so are car loans and other large purchase loans.
So will the government step in and cover bad car loans? Would it make you happy if they paid my BMW payment?
These are my opinions and I'm sure you are smarter than I, but I seem to have pretty good foresight.

Hey fellas - when the Zahn Principle was violated, it liberated a whole bagful of cats!  JC's social views notwithstanding, I don't recall any biblical parable that addresses getting the now-fat-and-feral felines back into that bag once they've stripped the shelves of Puss In Boots and threaten to bring down the whole store! 

We're there - we're into it!  Stabilizing the economy is the paramount objective.  Since everyone gets hurt with nearly all of the Bush administration's policies, any stabilization strategy must not only minimize the overall economic damage but must also take into account the differing abilities of homeowners to absorb the financial damage.  And, record foreclosure levels already indicate that some are going to lose their asses.

Aside from Mody's poverty:greed index, is there any strategy that would be more successful or  more equitable than the one Paulson has set in motion?