Comments on: Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac – Looks Like I Own Part Of $5.4 Trillion In Mortgages Now.

By: david

david — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:22:24 +0000

PT – Blaming Bush is too easy, I could do that for days. This crisis is everyone’s fault, no matter what race, color, sex, age, income level, etc. The thing I took issue with is when you said “What’s crazy is that our Govt actually forced these lenders to give more loans to minorities a couple of years ago” like this is all the fault of minorities. That is all. If you had said it was the fault of everyone’s, I would not have had an issue with a comment. Even thought Bush (and Clinton, for that matter) did push for more minority home ownership, that is not the reason for this crisis. It is a culmination of tons of different factors and cannot be blamed on race.

By: PT

PT — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 21:14:02 +0000

@ Fit Wallet – Good for you on your loan. I never said “they” were to completely to blame. Just that a policy was partly to blame. Stop telling me what I said, please. Thanks for telling me what my world view is too. You’re right, I’m an idiot. Thanks so much for saving me, j@ck @ss.

@ David – I never said it was strictly their fault. I’m simply saying that the Govt did this program. Please, read this (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/10/20021015-7.html). That’s Bush addressing minorities, telling them how they should own more homes and telling them the specific programs that will get them there.

At no time in this thread have I said it was their fault…strictly that a policy was part of the problem. I simply said that it happended and that Bush felt obligated to bail it out. If anything David, this should be your chance for jumping on Bush’s failed policy here. Odd you don’t seem to want to do that.

By: David

David — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:47:59 +0000

PT, I am very sorry but I have to disagree. Its the fault of everyone who took these mortgages, not just the minorities who did, as Fit Wallet said. You said “forced lenders to give loans to minorities” (you didn’t say “forced lenders to give loans to lower-income people”) and then linked to an article about how affirmative action helped cause this crisis. You and I have always gotten along, but I have to disagree with your point on this one. I cannot, and will not, blame a this crisis on a singular group because of the color of their skin. There were plenty of people where I used to live who got foreclosed on, and they were by no stretch of the imagination “minorities”.

By: Fit Wallet

Fit Wallet — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:27:02 +0000

PT, when I was approved for a mortgage with Bank of America, the broker offered me a range of products, including variable rate ARMs and balloon payments. Thank goodness I had educated myself about all of this and had already heard about what happens to those teaser rates in a few years. My brother-in-law almost signed up for an ARM before his mother warned him against it. We are both white, by the way, and have excellent credit.

These mortgages were pushed on a LOT of people, and not everyone knew what they were getting into. Others knew but jumped in anyway. Some people (of all races, in fact) borrowed way beyond their means. If you want to blame minority borrowers instead of the whole system–lenders, borrows, government deregulation–then you’re missing the big picture about what’s happening in our economy. You seem to have a narrow worldview, which is too bad.

By: PT

PT — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:55:44 +0000

i didn’t bring race into it. the US govt did.

“insinuate that “cant afford mortgages” or “lower income” = “minorities”” …no one is saying that in the thread above. where are you pulling this from?

where I’m from you just don’t throw that term at people so lightly.

By: David

David — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:05:25 +0000

Sorry PT but when you bring race into an equation where it doesnt matter, its racist. “Lower-income folks” is one thing – we can come in every color. But to insinuate that “cant afford mortgages” or “lower income” = “minorities” is a racist statement. I stand by it.

By: PT

PT — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 07:14:09 +0000

David, you sure are quick to insinuate someone is racist. A very judgemental guy you are. I take offense. The US govt made it about race when they forced lending to minorities. Yes, it was a racist move on their part, just like every other govt program that’s based on race. I’m just telling you what they did.

By: fathersez

fathersez — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 20:40:59 +0000

10 years ago, when we had the Asian Financial Crisis, we were told by the World Bank and the IMF that market forces had to prevail. Corporations fail because they have a flawed business model …blah blah blah. Our then PM told them to take a walk off a plank and did more or less what the US Government is doing now.

Use taxpayers money for the “greater good”.

I don’t know who is right or wrong, but no CEO or senior official of a failed and rescued company should get any payoff. Rather they should be given 20 lashes at the local market square.

By: Tim

Tim — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 10:34:01 +0000

David, considering the nearth worthlessness of the stocks, i doubt that the shareholders are benefiting at all. surely the company itself isn’t benefiting either since they are effectively no longer in being if a bailout occurs and someone else takes control. who benefits? all the folks with mortgages, because now taxpayers are floating their mortgages for them in order to prop up the company.

By: David

David — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:16:29 +0000

Unless all the tax money goes directly to the borrowers, we are bailing out the companies, plain and simple. I agree that it is mostly the fault of the borrowers, with some fault of the lenders, but still – who gets the benefit, really? The companies themselves, their CEO’s, and their shareholders – with my tax dollars.

yujine – We have all that stuff too, don’t worry.