This is a very strange Congress. At a time when Wall Street has been bailed out, and banks that kicked people out of their homes have been bailed out, a lot of programs that have been created to help keep people in their homes are going to be canceled by the majority. Of course, that will cause more people to lose their homes to the banks. So the banks in America have people coming and going. And they keep getting more and more money.
Millions of Americans are facing or will face foreclosure in the coming months. Their hold on their homes has been endangered by unemployment or predatory loan terms or falling house values. We are in the worst crisis facing homeowners in the history of this country.
The facts are well-known. No one in the House can feign lack of knowledge of the misery that has gripped American homeowners and neighborhoods across the country. Yet today, this House takes up a bill to terminate a program intended to assist distressed borrowers. Next week the house will consider more bills to eliminate two other assistance programs.
What message is this Congress sending? If you are a distressed borrower or a relative who is in trouble or a neighbor in distress, the message of this House is tough luck. Worried about losing your house? Tough luck.
Government assistance to distressed borrowers should be effective. I can agree with my colleagues on that. I share the belief that some of the programs intended to assist distressed borrowers do not help enough people. But is that an argument to just end the programs? You know people need help. The programs aren't effective. Just say, well, we are going to end the program. How does that help people stay in their homes? It doesn't.
I submit that the fundamental problem with these programs is they depended on the voluntary participation of the very banks and service that is created the housing crisis in the first place. So the programs are set up where you need the banks to participate, banks don't want to participate or they slow walk the applications and before you know it people are just left in a desperate strait where their homes are being lost.
Now, when the banks were in trouble, taxpayer assistance was rushed forward. I voted against the bailouts. Now that the banks have emerged from a crisis, unfortunately our friends in the majority are determined to dismantle the few legal efforts that are there to preserve and protect homeowners.
We should be reforming these programs, not dismantling them. If the House approves the bill before us today, H.R. 836, Congress will be turning its back on people whose lives have been wrecked by a crisis created by irresponsible banking practices.
I hope that we take a very cold and sober look at what we are doing here. We are attacking the very victims of this housing crisis. We are giving comfort to those who created the crisis.
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Yes, you are !
The Obama Administration's efforts have failed ... and they have since gone into political hiding over the issue ... which is not an option.
If the Republicans are determined to defund Obama's failed programs ... they better have some proposals to address this national crisis.
If unresolved ... this foreclosure crisis promises to destroy us all.
That's where you hit the nail right on the head. From the feckles SEC to the compliant Treasury department, every banking guideline and regulation is either voluntary or "overseen" by regulators who either have no prosecutorial powers, or choose not to use them because they are looking for a cushy bank job once their tenure as a regular is done. This is clearly evidenced by the fact that not a single banking executive was charged or convicted with any crimes during the entire financial crisis, despite the overwhelming evidence of massive theft and fraud.
We need strong, enforceable banking regulations and non partisan, independent regulators equipped with the power to bring criminal charges and properly financed if we want these financial crimes to stop. Unfortunately, the two-headed corporate monster know as the Democrats and Republicans is a wholly owned subsidiary of the banks, and the chances of this happening are nil.
You can be sure that the other banking executives see how Fuld cashed out and are doing their best to emulate him.
The only way GM and other automakers have been able to sell cars is to give people with bad credit no money down loans, repeating the same bad behavior that got them in trouble last time. They are then splicing up these loans to sell to investors looking for a higher rate of return then artificially low treasures - setting up for the same type of derivative disaster we just went through.
As far as Clinton goes, it was his man Greenspan who set up the whole housing bubble debacle with his 0% interest policies. Most of the "growth" that occurred during the Clinton years directly correlate to debt assumed by consumers. To the pointy heads in Washington increased debt = increased growth, but at the end of the day its bad for the people, and bad for the country. It's also Clinton who championed NAFTA and the massive offshoring of US jobs.
Yikes!!