thku4grace

The Housing Bill: Uncle Sam Is Moving Into the Spare Bedroom

Yeah, no political axe to grind here! Ha ha! Let's get a few facts straight here. Number one, mortgage speculation is hardly the doing of the Bush administration. Alan Greenspan has a hefty amount of responsibility here. He was apprised of the developing problem with sub-prime loans, and chose to not get involved in the free market. There is been no oversight of mortgage lenders ever. This could have happened during any administration. Second, it was the Bush administration that did an annual appeal since 2001 for Congress to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Since these GSE's buy most mortgages, do you think the situation would have developed as it has? The problem is that government regulatory powers have to be balanced between what is needed to keep markets functioning properly and allowing for innovative solutions. Congress has a tendency to do nothing or far too much, like the current bailout. My biggest problem is the fact that I don't currently own a home. Some may say that's a blessing. I disagree. While homes will get cheaper, as they should, I will bore the added tax expense of bailing out people many of whom bought outside of their means, and others who out and out lied about their income in order to qualify. Both cases were of people greedy to get into a real estate market that they thought would go up indefinitely. Many buying beyond their means knew they could potentially see their mortgage payments ratchet up considerably but thought they could sell into a great market and pocket a good return. This is what I'm paying for. Additionally, I will pay dearly to buy into a home loan due to the need of financial institutions to make up for what they are losing on these home loans. The spread between mortgage rates and comparable treasury securities will expand exponentially for years to come. There isn't any way around this. So I repeat, if you don't yet own a home, you're screwed!