McCain dismisses Clinton plan to fix housing crisis
Santa Ana, CA — Sen. John McCain called for a cautious approach to the current economic situation, criticizing Democratic proposals for increased government intervention as he laid out his economic principles before a group of Golden State business leaders.
“I have always been committed to the principle that it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers. Government assistance to the banking system should be based solely on preventing systemic risk that would endanger the entire financial system and the economy,” McCain said in a speech before about 300 small business leaders before taking questions from the group. “Any assistance for borrowers should be focused solely on homeowners…(and) must be temporary and must not reward people who were irresponsible at the expense of those who weren’t.” (Full remarks below)
While noting that he is open to “any and all proposals” and he will not “allow dogma to override common sense,” he dismissed Sen. Hillary Clinton’s proposal for the creation of a $30 billion federal fund to buy out troubled mortgages.
“I am open to ideas. That idea, I believe, is a very expensive one. I don’t believe it works. And I’d like to know how its paid for,” McCain told reporters after the event.
McCain also expressed optimism during the roundtable that he is “hopeful that the worst is over,” noting that yesterday’s housing reports showed a “little glimmer of hope.”
“I believe I can tell you that I think that perhaps we are seeing the worst of…(the) subprime lending crisis which then led to the collapse or dramatic fall..in home values,” he said. “I think we may be seeing the beginning of the end of that.”
Among the immediate policy proposals McCain called for Tuesday:
- the nation’s top mortgage lenders to meet and “do everything possible to keep families in their homes and businesses growing.
- top accounting professionals to assess current systems.
The initial remarks took on a more formal feel than most McCain campaign events–with the AZ Senator delivering prepared remarks using a teleprompter.
At an availability later Tuesday, Clinton responded to McCain’s speech as a plan for “further inaction.”
“It sounds remarkably like Herbert Hoover and I don’t think that’s a good economic policy. We have a framework of regulation, it needs to be updated and modernized. The government has a number of tools at its disposal that are well-suited for just this situation,” she said. “I think that inaction has contributed to the problems we face today and I believe further inaction would exacerbate those problems…I don’t think it’s an adequate response to say the government shouldn’t be helping either banks or people because I think that would be a downward spiral that would cause tremendous economic pain and loss in our country and I don’t see why we should wait by for that to happen.”
TRANSCRIPT OF McCAIN REMARKS:
Thank you for joining me here today. I just returned from a trip overseas that included assessing the state of affairs in Iraq, the Middle East, and Europe. I will have more to say on those important issues in the days and weeks to come.
While I was traveling overseas, our financial markets experienced another round of upheaval. This market turmoil leaves many Americans feeling both concerned and angry. People see the value of their homes fall at the same time that the price of gasoline and food is rising. Already tight household budgets are getting tighter. A lot of Americans read the headlines about credit crunches and liquidity crises and ask: “How did we get here?” In the end, the motivation and behaviors that caused the current crisis are not terribly complicated, even though the alphabet soup of financial instruments is complex. The past decade witnessed the largest increase in home ownership in the past 50 years. Home ownership is part of the American dream, and we want as many Americans as possible to be able to afford their own home. But in the process of a huge, and largely positive, upturn in home construction and ownership, a housing bubble was created.
A bubble occurs when prices are driven up too quickly, speculators move into markets, and these players begin to suspend the normal rules of risk and assume that prices can only move up — but never down. We’ve seen this kind of bubble before - in the late 1990s, we had the technology bubble, when money poured into technology stocks and people assumed that those stock values would rise indefinitely. Between 2001 and 2006, housing prices rose by nearly 15 percent every year. The normal market forces of people buying and selling their homes were overwhelmed by rampant speculation. Our system of market checks and balances did not correct this until the bubble burst.
A sustained period of rising home prices made many home lenders complacent, giving them a false sense of security and causing them to lower their lending standards. They stopped asking basic questions of their borrowers like “can you afford this home? Can you put a reasonable amount of money down?” Lenders ended up violating the basic rule of banking: don’t lend people money who can’t pay it back. Some Americans bought homes they couldn’t afford, betting that rising prices would make it easier to refinance later at more affordable rates. There are 80 million family homes in America and those homeowners are now facing the reality that the bubble has burst and prices go down as well as up.
Of those 80 million homeowners, only 55 million have a mortgage at all, and 51 million are doing what is necessary — working a second job, skipping a vacation, and managing their budgets — to make their payments on time. That leaves us with a puzzling situation: how could 4 million mortgages cause this much trouble for us all?
The other part of what happened was an explosion of complex financial instruments that weren’t particularly well understood by even the most sophisticated banks, lenders and hedge funds. To make matters worse, these instruments — which basically bundled together mortgages and sold them to others to spread risk throughout our capital markets — were mostly off-balance sheets, and hidden from scrutiny. In other words, the housing bubble was made worse by a series of complex, inter-connected financial bets that were not transparent or fully understood. That means they weren’t always managed wisely because people couldn’t properly quantify the risk or the value of these bets. And because these instruments were bundled and sold and resold, it became harder and harder to find and connect up a real lender with a real borrower. Capital markets work best when there is both accountability and transparency. In the case of our current crisis, both were lacking.
Because managers did not fully understand the complex financial instruments and because there was insufficient transparency when they did try to learn, the initial losses spawned a crisis of confidence in the markets. Market players are increasingly unnerved by the uncertainty surrounding the level of risk, liability and loss currently in the financial system. Banks no longer trust each other and are increasingly unwilling to put their money to work. Credit is drying up and liquidity is now severely limited — and small business and hard-working families find themselves unable to get their usual loans.
The net result is the crisis we face. What started as a problem in subprime loans has now convulsed the entire financial system.
Let’s start with some straight talk:
I will not play election year politics with the housing crisis. I will evaluate everything in terms of whether it might be harmful or helpful to our effort to deal with the crisis we face now.
I have always been committed to the principle that it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers. Government assistance to the banking system should be based solely on preventing systemic risk that would endanger the entire financial system and the economy.
In our effort to help deserving homeowners, no assistance should be given to speculators. Any assistance for borrowers should be focused solely on homeowners, not people who bought houses for speculative purposes, to rent or as second homes. Any assistance must be temporary and must not reward people who were irresponsible at the expense of those who weren’t. I will consider any and all proposals based on their cost and benefits. In this crisis, as in all I may face in the future, I will not allow dogma to override common sense.
When we commit taxpayer dollars as assistance, it should be accompanied by reforms that ensure that we never face this problem again. Central to those reforms should be transparency and accountability.
Homeowners should be able to understand easily the terms and obligations of a mortgage. In return, they have an obligation to provide truthful financial information and should be subject to penalty if they do not. Lenders who initiate loans should be held accountable for the quality and performance of those loans and strict standards should be required in the lending process. We must have greater transparency in the lending process so that every borrower knows exactly what he is agreeing to and where every lender is required to meet the highest standards of ethical behavior.
Policies should move toward ensuring that homeowners provide a responsible down payment of equity at the initial purchase of a home. I therefore oppose reducing the down payment requirement for FHA mortgages and believe that, as conditions allow, the down payment requirement should be raised. So many homeowners have found themselves owing more than their home is worth, because many never had much equity in the house to begin with. When conditions return to normal, GSEs (Government Sponsored Enterprises) should never insure loans when the homeowner clearly does not have skin in the game.
In financial institutions, there is no substitute for adequate capital to serve as a buffer against losses. Our financial market approach should include encouraging increased capital in financial institutions by removing regulatory, accounting and tax impediments to raising capital.
I am prepared to examine new proposals and evaluate them based on these principals. But I think we need to do two things right away. First, it is time to convene a meeting of the nation’s accounting professionals to discuss the current mark to market accounting systems. We are witnessing an unprecedented situation as banks and investors try to determine the appropriate value of the assets they are holding and there is widespread concern that this approach is exacerbating the credit crunch.
We should also convene a meeting of the nation’s top mortgage lenders. Working together, they should pledge to provide maximum support and help to their cash-strapped, but credit worthy customers. They should pledge to do everything possible to keep families in their homes and businesses growing. Recall that immediately after September 11, 2001 General Motors stepped in to provide 0 percent financing as part of keeping the economy growing. We need a similar response by the mortgage lenders. They’ve been asking the government to help them out. I’m now calling upon them to help their customers, and their nation out. It’s time to help American families.
More important than the events of the past is the promise of the future. The American economy is resilient and diverse. Even as financial troubles weigh upon it other parts of the economy hold up or even continue to grow. I have spoken at length in other settings about the need to keep taxes low on our families, entrepreneurs, and small businesses; to make the tax code simpler and fair by eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax that the middle class was never intended to pay; to improve the ability of our companies to compete by reducing our corporate tax rate, which today are the second highest rates in the world; to provide investment incentives; to control rising health care costs that threaten the budgets of our businesses and families; to improve education and training programs; and to ensure our ability to sell to the 95 percent of the world’s customers that lie outside U.S. borders.
These are important steps to strengthen the foundations of the millions of businesses small and large that provide jobs for American workers. There is no government program or policy that is a substitute for a good job. These steps would also strengthen the U.S. dollar and help to control the rising cost of living that hurts our families. These are important issues in this campaign and the debate with my Democrat rivals. But I will get my chance to talk further another day. Now I look forward to hearing from our small business owners — the very lifeblood of our economy.
Tags: barack obama, California, economy, hillary clinton, john mccain, mortgage
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This is the Sheriff…
Anyone who disagrees with Mormonism, Mitt Romney, the practice of polygamy, or sex with sheep is gonna be cuffed, and subsequently, frisked by me…COUNT ON IT!
I’m not a fan of McCain by any means,but that comment was the biggest non-sequitor I’ve ever read.What in McCain’s remarks in the column above would prompt such an attack?
I actually agree with something McCain said. I thought modern day “conservative” Republicans loved to bail out big business. I guess he does still want to grant amnesty to illegals.
http://www.goodoleboybumperstickers.com
THOSE OF YOU WHO DON’T WANT ANOTHER BONEHEAD BUSH IN THE WHITE HOUSE!!!
DON’T VOTE FOR OBAMA OR JOHN McCAIN WHO ARE BOTH BONEHEADS!!!
- OBAMA:
By not DISOWNING his pastor and instead DEFENDED him is like another BUSH AND CHENEY who inspite of some problems caused by their decisions are still defying the will of the people…
Do we need to wait for another series of outrage by this Pastor AND BAD JUDGEMENT OF OBAMA before WE will finally say it is enough!!!
Right now we can tell what kind of JUDGEMENT Obama has for standing with someone who is creating divisions to Americans by being a Racist who is Condemning America and even accusing American Goverment for Creating HIV Virus to Plague Black People…
Obama himself admitted that this man distorted American History yet he can not DISOWN him because he said HE IS PART OF HIM!!! - WOW!! - BONEHEAD!!!
- McCAIN:
JOHN McCAIN WILL HAVE US HOSTAGE BY STAYING FOR 100 YEARS MORE IN IRAQ!!!
- BONEHEAD!!!
VOTE FOR HILLARY CLINTON ‘08
I will support McCain for any reason the biggest because we don’t need a racist in the White House. I think he is the best choice we have.
Whew! Something from McCain that wasn’t totally whacked…. We shouldn’t be bailing out banks and businesses.
However, I think if he wants to persist with the 100 year war because he’d rather do that than come to understand the Middle East dynamic, well, 30 billion dollars is small change to the amount of money he’ll have to print from out of nowhere to fund his war.
Of course, you know printing money means that the dollar in your pocket will be worth less and less….
McCain has no plan except not to help the home owners!
McCain you are useless, even when your economic advisors give you the speech to read you still mess up.
At least Hillary R. Clinton, the next president of America, has solutions, has working policies on all issues on the table, you Mr. McCain like Obama have the war in Iraq.
Obama: I never voted for the war in Iraq…. Please you were not qualified in the senate to vote, Go home to Chicago and help solve the problems in your church, they need your help….
McCain: The serge is working in Iraq I will win the presidency… Go home to Arizona and take your pension.
Both of these candidates is not worthy to run against President Hillary R. Clinton….
In response to “An American in Canada”.
Spoken like a true bleeding heart. “Slick Hilly”, I mean Hillary is no more experienced to run this country than Simon Cowell from American Idol. Maybe she’s experiencing Bosnia War flashbacks from that invisible bullet that struck her Gucci bag as she departed from the helicopter surrounded by children.
The country has been fooled by her power-hungry tactics long enough. John McCain is the most experienced of any candidate, without question.
As for being an American in Canada, I sincerely hope that is not bragging.
Personally, I think Glenn Beck would make an excellent running mate for President McCain.
Comment by Christines
March 25th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
McCain has no plan except not to help the home owners!
***** And do you actually think Obama does?
Right on McCain, we don’t need more government intervention, we need less of it. The more government gets involed with anything we see irresponsiblity because why not mess up if the government will help you out. Its the responsible citizens that pay in the end.
RJ: What do you think we should do about the war in Iraq? Leave them to die or drafted by extremist that would gladly bomb America again.
Comment by Christines
March 25th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
McCain has no plan except not to help the home owners!
**** We had crooks giving out mortgage loans to people who had no business getting them. For this reason the housing market has slumped. You might also blame the 12 million illegals takings who are stealing jobs from Americans. They will ruin this country and return home once they are finished trashing our country, you’ll see.
Finally, something that I can agree with McCain on. If you cannot afford a house or it is to expensive for you to make the payments, DON’T BUY IT!!!! No one forced you to buy it and I shouldn’t be force to pay for your ignorance. Go to an accounting class and learn how to balance your checkbook and then take a class on interest rates. Then, if you are not paying just the minimum on your credit card maybe you can consider buying a house. The government is not your mama!!!
Man, Ed Feeney, just when I thought you had stopped with this nonsense and made a nice comment towards our troops on the other story blog, you go and prove that you are a ridiculous child. You are already exposed for the one who is going under my name and saying these things. So buddy, when are you going to stop? It is okay Ed Feeney, you can do this to me as long as you want. I will never change my screen name because a gutter rat keeps posing under it. We know you are back on the bottle again and I can only ask you to stop. You have probably already ruined everything with your family and now all you have time for is to make up things under my name. That is a shame. But again, I am not leaving and will remain the true American Conservative.
Bush-III
Would you like some fries with your McIdiot?
Take responsibility for your own actions what’s McCain thinking
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McCain doesn’t care how long the troops are in Iraq ,he seems to think that is where our money should be spent. I don’t why but for some reason he just appears to be “out there somewhere”, in other words a little on the spacey side. He is so soft spoken it is almost like it is unreal that anyone could be so calm. I am sure there is another side to him as I have heard he has quite a temper.
Way Kool JR. - That’s a little overboard.
June, as a war vet, I think McCain does care about the troops. Just because he doesn’t want to surrender doesn’t mean he doesn’t care. Think before you speak please.
McCain is right. Mommy government should not clean up your mess. We’re all grown up now. Time to take care of our own problems and not pass them onto other people.
Dust:
You need to understand that the American presence in the Middle East is Osam Bin Laden’s greatest ally. REPEAT: Our current course of action is Bin Laden’s greatest ally. We are playing right into his hands.
If our leaders would BOTHER to hear what Bin Laden actually has to say about this — and he IS a man of his word — like it or not — they would maybe get a clue.
It is NOT our freedom that they hate. It is our PRESENCE.
So we can either commit to a total bloodbath without regard to the enormous numbers of American and civilian casualties or we can stay the course and slowly bleed to death over there while bankrupting America.
OR we can get out and let them deal with the mess we made.
We all know the USA does not have the will to commit to the first alternative. Neither of the others are great options but that is where our government has put us….
To all concerned “Ever Proud Americans” (Democrats and GOP alike)
This is the most DANGEROUS TIMES in the history of our country! Knowing that the most charismatic candidate WHO MIGHT WIN this election has ties with the ENEMIES OF OUR COUNTRY.
-OUR COUNTRY HAVE WITNESSED HOW OBAMA SHOWED AMERICANS HOW HE WILL REACT AND MAKE JUDGEMENT TO PROVEN ACCUSATIONS TO HIS FRIENDS WHO IS CLOSE TO HIM…
-HIS WILLINGNESS TO STAND, EVEN PRAISED AND DEFENDED A “DEMAGOG” FRIEND WHOM HE ADMITTED DISTORTED THE AMERICAN HISTORY AND PREACHING RACISM, SEGREGATIONS TO HIS CONGREGATIONS AND HARBORING HATES TOWARDS WHITE PEOPLE, ETC…..
-AND DOING THIS IN FRONT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE THROUGH NATIONAL TELEVISION IS SO ALARMING AND SCARING TO ALL…
These are SOME NOTED SUPPORTERS OF BARRACK HUSSEIN OBAMA:
1. - RACIST PEOPLE - Blacks who harbor a disease of hate and racism who waits for the right
time to do HARM and VENGEANCE TO WHITE PEOPLE… (Ex. Rev, Wright, Sharpton, Jackson)
2. - THE BLACK PHANTERS…(Revolutionary group who hates white people)
3. - THE USA COMMUNIST PARTY OF SEVERAL STATES…
4. - FARRACKHAN - (ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS GROUP WHO WANTS TO DESTROY AMERICA)
5. - MR. ODINGA - (Kenyan, Obama’s Pal uses “Rape as a Weapon”)
6. - ARAB NATIONS…(Who don’t like Hillary for her open support to Israel)
7. - PEOPLE WHO SUPPORTS RADICAL MOVEMENT, ETC.
and the lists go on and on…. they will all surfacing after Obama’s oath taking… watch out!!!
-For your updates: Obama is now throwing all his money and outspending Hillary Clinton in the rest of DNC primaries and planning to do the same thing to John McCain. Conniving with some big News Media Networks by giving them a huge amount of money to support him and destroy the images of Clinton and McCain??? This is not surprising at all knowing that Obama parasites (Supporters) are now contributing to Obama Campaign in order to promote and advance their propaganda…
-According to some insider - The Obama Camp were so happy and already shouting Victory!!! for the nullifications of the delegates from Michigan and Florida. Insider further said that Obama is EXPECTING that those DNC Leaders who hates the Clintons will not do anything to finally nullify the votes of these delegates… (there is conspiracy w/in DNC Leaders against the Clintons). Obama will call the press as planned to tell them that “HE WILL RESPECT THE RULING OF DNC LEADERSHIPS”…(Knowing already their plans to scrap the results and one even suggested Obama to remove his name on the ballot to have a reason to nullify the results, this was after the polls result that Hillary willcarry this two states… )
- OBAMA IS SO HUNGRY FOR POWER THAT HE IS VERY WILLING TO SPEND MONEY TO BUY THE PRESIDENCY WHICH HE IS NOW DOING TO THE DNC SUPERDELEGATES - THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO CAN STOP HIM FROM HIS VAIN AMBITION TO RUIN AND DESTROY OUR NATION FOR HIS OWN GLORY AND THE GLORY OF OUR COUNTRY’S ENEMIES AROUND THE WORLD.
-DEMOCRATS MUST RALLY SUPPORT AND MUST VOTE FOR HILLARY CLINTON…
-SHE MUST WIN THE REMAINING PRIMARIES BY A “LANDSLIDE VICTORY” TO ERASE OBAMA CAMP ARGUMENT AS TO WHO REALLY WON THE MAJORITY BOTH IN DELEGATES AND POPULAR VOTES…WHICH HE IS GOING TO USE IN BLACKMAILING AMERICAN DNC ELECTORATE …
-SOME OBAMA SURROGATES ARE EVEN SUGGESTING TO CREATE A SCENARIO… THAT IF SUPERDELEGATES WILL NOT SUPPORT OBAMA… “THERE WILL BE A RIOT AND CHAOS ALL OVER THE COUNTRY… TO PROTEST OBAMA’S DOWNFALL… THESE PEOPLE ARE WILLING TO CREATE HAVOC JUST TO FORCE PEOPLE TO ELECT THEIR LEADER - BARRACK HUSSEIN OBAMA!!!
- THE ONLY WAY TO DEFEAT THESE OBA-MANIACS….. IS A LANDSLIDE VICTORY FOR SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON IN THE REMAINING DNC PRIMARIES…
- WE ARE CALLING ALL CONCERNED CITIZENS OF AMERICA TO DO SOMETHING TO STOP OBAMA IN WINNING THE WHITEHOUSE TO AVOID A SURE DEFEAT!!! BY EXTREMIST WHO HATES AMERICA…
- AMERICA WAKE UP!!!
- LET US FIGHT THIS ANTI-AMERICA WHO WILL DRAG OUR COUNTRY TO SHAME AND DESTRUCTIONS…
- SENATOR CLINTON NOW KNEW THE REAL OBAMA AND WILL NOT PICK HIM AS HER VP ACCORDING TO INSIDER…
- AND INSTEAD WILL ASK SENATOR EDWARDS A REAL “EVER PROUD AMERICAN” TO BE HER RUNNING MATE…
- SENATOR EDWARDS WILL THROW HIS SUPPORT TO SENATOR HILLARY AFTER “PA” PRIMARY TO HELP HER WIN SC… THIS IS A START AND A SIGN OF THE DOWNFALL AND BACKLASH OF OBAMA (parasites) SUPPORTERS…
- OBAMA IS NOW FEELING THE HINT OF THIS EVENTUALITY THAT IS WHY THEY ARE NOW THROWING ALL THEIR MONEY TO START MUD SLINGING AGAINST SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON AND JOHN McCAIN USING BIG NEWSMEDIA NETWORKS TO FOOL AMERICAN ELECTORATES… (FOR A BIG AMOUNT OF MONEY)… AND NOW OFFERING HUGE AMOUNT OF MONEY TO CONTROL AND BUY SOME POWERFUL BIG NAMES OF UNDECIDED SUPERDELEGATES. (The lowest offering is $500T according to obama camp insider…)
- AMERICA LET US STAND TOGETHER TO FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE OF OUR BELOVED
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA…
Sincerely yours,
Concerned Obama Camp Insider
Look people, if we pull out of Iraq before butting an end to the terrorists who have filled the ccounrty up(from all different countrys),we will be leaving them an oil rich country, And once they have killed all those we abondened, they will use that oil to sponser their terror on us all Americans, and Isreal,I think (being a parent) that the first George Bush should have finished the job,but we pulled out and now his children and your are dealing with it again, we should stay and not abondon those poor people who have put faith in us. I don’t want to leave the problem of Iraq to my children.
Freedom has never been free,people have always suffered and died for the sake of freedom.
Please vote for Hillary Clinton. She will repair the wrongs George Bush has brought upon us!
John McBush would like to know how Clinton’s proposal would be paid for. That’s an easy one to answer - with the billions of dollars we’d save when you get us out of Iraq. Oops, I forgot you’re going to keep us in Iraq for a hundred years.
An American in America said “Personally, I think Glenn Beck would make an excellent running mate for President McCain.”
Let’s start by running them out of the USA.
Love war? Vote for John McBush. A vote for McBush is a vote for continued and continual war.
Paul from Kissimmee said “Time to take care of our own problems and not pass them onto other people.”
Unfortunately, we don’t want Iraqis to think that way about themselves.
McCains comments where thought out and as usual sensible.
Clintons reply was classic stupid Democrat.
Why don’t you blogging idiots stick to the blog subject? Maybe because your just idiots, I think. You fill these blogs with trash.
I think McCain hit it right on. Why should the tax payers pay for the people that could not afford the house in the FIRST place. We have wayyyy to many goverment regulations!! Why is it that the dems just want more and more regulations…..it makes no sense. The goverment is not meant to pay for health care, get us out of trouble with our mortgages ect…….maybe we shouldn’t be a FREE country anymore….MORE REGULATIONS thats the way the dems want it.
Comment by Sandy
March 26th, 2008 at 3:39 am
An American in America said “Personally, I think Glenn Beck would make an excellent running mate for President McCain.”
Let’s start by running them out of the USA.
Love war? Vote for John McBush. A vote for McBush is a vote for continued and continual war.
**** Yes, and a vote for Obama means more American deaths on American soil.
Eric, are you kidding me? Where was our presence on 9/11? They hit the USS Cole for what? They tried to take down the world trade center before. Clinton did nothing, I repeat, nothing. Cowardly acts will not protect us. If we leave, do you think they’ll like us? Never praise death to Americans? That is a dream world cooked up by the Democrats. The fight is over there, not here. If we leave now, eventually, it will be among us in our own front yards.
Comment by Paul from Kissimmee
March 26th, 2008 at 8:53 am
Eric, are you kidding me? Where was our presence on 9/11? They hit the USS Cole for what? They tried to take down the world trade center before. Clinton did nothing, I repeat, nothing. Cowardly acts will not protect us. If we leave, do you think they’ll like us? Never praise death to Americans? That is a dream world cooked up by the Democrats. The fight is over there, not here. If we leave now, eventually, it will be among us in our own front yards.
**** The democrats will say anything to get votes. It’s to bad that only some of us get really grasp what is truly going on in the world and what we need to do to keep America safe.
Oh what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive! Now who “are” doing the deceiving today? I didn’t now he was a black liberation theologists! I had bullets flying over may head (look how brave I am, leadership material), yes right, what a complete fabrication.
McCains ideas are basically founded in economy free of government interference. It is economics 101. The market should dictate the conditions and the government should stick to making sure that we are following the constitution and protecting its people.
Watch a financial show and get educated Mr Obama and Ms. Clinton. Government pay this and government pay that! Who do you think funds the government? I should have to pay for greed in the mortgage industry and people who buy a house they cannot afford with no money down? That is just like renting, if I have no skin in the game I can just walk away.
Sorry, not a good idea for government to mess with a supply side economy folks.
One more thing I love about McCain! I didn’t want a lousy mortgate and I sure as heck don’t want to be bailing out the fools who made stupid loans or borrowed money they knew they couldn’t pay back.
The current housing bust is good for four reasons:
1. The real estate bubble will finally burst.
2. All those illegal immigrants who have been making money hand over fist in the construction industry are going to be out of work and headed back to Mexico.
3. Non-loanworthy morons will not be able to get credit for a few years.
4. Predatory lenders are getting what they deserve.
Capitalism is at its best when the government stays out. A couple of years from now we will be stronger than ever if we just let peole feel a little pain in the present.
Does anyone have link to information on Hillary’s social security and medicare plans. Looked on her site nothing.
I agree. Those that bought something without reading what they were signing for or those that bought houses to make quick bucks when they couldn’t really afford it are irresponsible borrowers and they should not be bailed out by the tax money paid out by the responsible ones!
Say with me:
No Bailout Please!
No Bailout Please!
No Bailout Please!
No Bailout Please!
No Bailout Please!
No Bailout Please!
No Bailout Please!
No Bailout Please!
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
—-
http://randomnewsandanalysis.blogspot.com
I see a lot of people commenting here blaming Bush.
I challenge you to watch this PBS documentary in full that is on TV this week before making those comments. It is the best documentary of 2008:
Available online here (watch in full-screen mode)
——————————————–
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/bushswar/?campaign=pbshomefeatures_1_frontlinebrbushswar_2008-03-26
It shows how internal politics (between CIA, DOD and State Dept), ego and a few men in power can persuade a president to take such drastic actions!
Watch it if you have any kind of opinion on Iraq! It is mind blowing!
MCCAIN can fix the the housing crisis>>>>>>>.ROMNEY,ROMNEY,ROMNEY !!!!! game,set,match for the demoncrats
comment by mccain08
bravo, someone gets it !!!!!! these braindead demoncrats believe that if we pull out of iraq, the extremist(terrorist) are going to say “o, those americans are such nice people”, lets cut them some slack !!!! its pathetic that the demoncrats dont even realize that whether you think we should have gone To war or not has absolutely NOTHING TO DO with when to leave !!!! we are in and in we should Stay until we can safely and confidently bring our troops home after the assignment is complete…o wait, lets do what obama and clinton said to do>>>yep, lets send bin laden an itinerary on our pullout dates>>>> this is the most moronic thing i have ever heard of !!! A FREAKIN TIMETABLE AND PULLOUT DATE ! WHAT THE F— !!! HEY, I KNOW>>> THEY ARE BUILDING THE NEW WORLD TRADE CENTERS>>>IF THEY DONT FINISH THEM BEFORE AUGUST 15TH(PULLOUT DATE), LETS JUST TEAR DOWN THE 26 FLOORS THAT WE ALREADY BUILT !!!
I’m 66 and still working. It took 32 years to pay for my house and I will lose it because
when i quit working i won’t be able to pay the property taxes. So work until i die or
sell the home i worked so hard for. Well that’s life. People have to make tough
decisions. If you got yourself in a housing mess its your mess not the governments
I knew when i was able to make house payments and when I couldn’t. Why do
people think they don’t have to make resonable decisions. I do think that when you
reach a certain age the property taxes sould go away. I’m sure that’s just wishful thinking
haha.
March 26th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Patty, if you were referring to Nancy Regan as the bag of bones you are not only
rude but very stupid. She is an elderly LADY who earned the respect given to her.
Everyone seems to be bashing Bush. Let me tell you, I think he did what he thought
was right for the American people to keep them safe. He went against the polls, and
lost his popularity to follow what he believes in. I sure can’t say as much for any
one running now that only thinks about how to win, say anything rather they believe
in it or not and lie.
Take responsibility for yourselves, people.
Paul from Kissimmee:
The trouble with Americans is they don’t understand blowback.
Let’s say you were to strike a match, but it took 10 minutes for the flame to erupt. You likely would not equate the flame with striking the match, though you had in fact actively done something which resulted in the flame.
Americans don’t understand how her meddling foreign policies eventually erupted with the 9-11.
And Americans don’t understand that our troop presence in the Middle East is helping to complete the radicalization of the Muslim world, something that Bin Laden was not that successful at doing on his own.
Here are just a few of the threats they perceive from the USA and the non-Muslim world:
- The USA helped to create a new Christian state in Timor, ignoring the principles of self-determination. In the UN law against Islam, it decreed that independence is permissable for East Timor and Georgia, but not for Chechnya or Bosnia…
- The USA invariably backs Israel in the occupation of Palestine. Rightly or wrongly, Muslims feel that Israel is trying to expand throughout the Arab world.
- The USA imposes sanctions on Muslim peoples so that they have to obey US orders. Pakistan is sanctioned for getting a nuclear weapon, whereas India and Israel are not….
- The USA policy supports oppression and even aggression against Muslims by Hindu India in Kashmir, Catholic Filipinos in Mindanao, Christian Russians in Chechnya, etc.
- The USA props up brutal governments. The majority of terrorist enemies come from “friendly” countries.
Anyway, we generally have a sense of history and cause and effect that goes back as far as a sit-com.
President Bush did make a bad mistake in the war on terrorism.
But the mistake was not his decision to go to war in Iraq.
Bush’s mistake came in his belief that this country is the same one his father fought for in WWII. It is not.
Many of you do not know or remember this, but, back then, they had just come out of a vicious depression.
The country was steeled by the hardship of that depression, but they still believed fervently in this country.
They knew that the people had elected their leaders, so it was the people’s duty to back those leaders.
Therefore, when the war broke out the people came together, rallied behind, and stuck with their leaders, whether they had voted for them or not, or whether the war was going badly or not.
And war was just as distasteful and the anguish just as great then as it is today.
Often there were more casualties in one day in WWII than we have had in the entire Iraq war. But that did not matter.
The people stuck with the President because it was their patriotic duty.
Americans put aside their differences in WWII and worked together to win that war.
Everyone from every strata of society, from young to old pitched in.
Small children pulled little wagons around to gather scrap metal for the war effort.
Grade school students saved their pennies to buy stamps for war bonds to help the effort.
Men who were too old or medically 4F lied about their age or condition trying their best to join the military.
Women doubled their work to keep things going at home.
Harsh rationing of everything from gasoline to soap, to butter was imposed, yet there was very little complaining.
You never heard prominent people on the radio belittling the President.
Interestingly enough in those days there were no fat-cat actors and entertainers who ran off to visit and fawn over dictators of hostile countries and complain to them about our President.
Instead, they made upbeat films and entertained our troops to help the troops’ morale. And a bunch even enlisted.
And imagine this:
Teachers in schools actually started the day off with a Pledge of Allegiance, and with prayers for our country and our troops!
Back then, no newspaper would have dared point out certain weak spots in our cities where bombs could be set off to cause the maximum damage.
No newspaper would have dared complain about what we were doing to catch spies.
A newspaper would have been laughed out of existence if it had complained that German or Japanese soldiers were being ‘tortured’ by being forced to wear women’s underwear, or subjected to interrogation by a woman, or being scared by a dog or did not have air conditioning.
There were a lot of things different back then.
We were not subjected to a constant bombardment of pornography, perversion and promiscuity in movies or on radio.
We did not have legions of crackheads, dope pushers and armed gangs roaming our streets.
No, President Bush did not make a mistake in his handling of terrorism.
He made the mistake of believing that we still had the courage and fortitude of our fathers. He believed that this was still the country that our fathers fought so dearly to preserve.
It is not the same country.
It is now a cross between Sodom and Gomorra and the land of Oz.
We did unite for a short while after 9/11, but our attitude changed when we found out that defending our country would require some sacrifices.
We are in great danger. The terrorists are fanatic Muslims.
They believe that it is okay, even their duty, to kill anyone who will not convert to Islam.
It has been estimated that about one third or over three hundred million Muslims are sympathetic to the terrorists cause…
Hitler and Tojo combined did not have nearly that many potential recruits.
So…we either win it - or lose it - and you ain’t gonna like losing.
America is not at war.
The military is at war.
America is at the mall.
[...] what she thought of John McCain’s proposal to fix the mortgage crisis at her Greenburg, PA media avail, Hillary Clinton said the plan “sounds remarkably like [...]
I am a white lady and a very proud one.However, i don’t believe that mr. Obomais a racist and he should not be held accountable for what his minister said.Too many of us have judged and talked about mr Obomaas if he said these word himself.Shame on us all for being such hippocrites
june searight -
What a person fills their mind with speaks volumes about them.
McCain should put Huck in charge of fixing the mortgage crisis. I’m sure Huck can find a way to “feed” the multitude.
Did any of you who are ranting on the “100 Year” comment by McCain atually hear the whole comment. It had nothing to do with continuing the Iraq war for 100 years, it was our presence like we have had in many parts of the world for over 50-60 years. You headline reading people need to start listening/reading all the words and stop just spewing what the left-wing media and pundits tell you. McCain is 100% right about the housing issue. Plain and simple…if you cant afford it dont buy it. Its your problem not the governments.
If people do stupid stuff like taking out a mortgage with nothing down and little interest to start and they can’t make the payments when they have to start paying the going interest rate…. to bad.
If the banks and brokers want to traffic in these risky mortgages they have to assume the risk and pay the price if things head South.
The government is not there to protect us from our own stupidity or at least it shouldn’t be.
Unfortunately some of the pain filters down to us in reduced home values (which were probably inflated anyway) and greater difficulty in qualifying for a loan.
There is a place for government to ensure the integrity of the system by maintaining sufficient liquity within the Federal Reserve System.
Other than that let the chips fall where they may. The sooner the pain begins the sooner it will end.
Ric:
I “get” that McCain “means” only a presence in Iraq and Afghanistan for 100 years — like unto Germany and Japan, but what McCain doesn’t “get” is that merely our presence there is sufficient to radicalize Muslims into insurgency — because they don’t want us there!
So while McCain perhaps visualizes peaceful miltary bases like those at Yokosuka and Okinawa, the Muslims won’t have any part of that. It’ll be full-on war for as long as we are there….
[...] Sen. McCain hit back at Obama after the IL Democrat attacked the mortgage plan he announced yesterday. [...]