I made a bad financial decision a few years ago. Should I have cried so that BIG GOVERNMENT could have bailed me out?

Good grief, people. Take some responsibilities for your decisions.

It is NOT the government's job to protect everyone from themselves.....

No RINOs in '08 - Mike Huckabee is the best choice 

....is no federal money going to bail out borrowers or lenders (which is what I understand with this proposal) and it's strictly between the buyer and the mortgage company I say ok. 

Otherwise forget it. 

  This may be rewarding bad or irresponsible behavior but the government does that all the time, in many ways and it's mostly for politics.  With Iraq receding as an issue the economy is about the only thing left to base the election on.  The media aready seems to be driving this issue.  Politics is as much about appearrances as reality.  So incumbant politicians have to be doing something about the main concern of the electorate or they will be voted out.

This kind of bailout rewards irresponsible behavior and distorts already-distorted markets more, to the detriment of the poor and middle class and to the benefit of the already-rich. Nothing new about it, this is classic "moral hazard" happening, and taxpayers' grandkids are the unwilling insurance company.
JMR

Rally online with fans of Dr. Ron Paul.

And now, today's Action-Packed-in-honor-of-BD's-Return edition of The Shrub Report®:

Global Warming caused a record low temperature in Pittsburgh last night, a 30-year old record.

How about a Religion of Peace Update?  And another? And another?

FBI makes major bust at Bengals game. For a change, no Bengals were involved.

Here is a Scrooge update, and a Bah, Humbug update. And a "Ha Ha Ha" update.

Here's another Leon's insurmountable Evidence that Iraq is in the Midst of a Civil War Update. And here's another example of how Iran is not influencing and fomenting unrest in Iraq. Syria, too.

Here is new TV special I am excited about!

What's a good Progressive to do? Ban or support the First Amendment?

They, like, you know, like, totally terrorized us!

Fast Eddie Rendell, Incredible Judge of Character.

A Damn That Bush Economy Update. And another. The press tries to spin Christmas shopping as "sluggish", "limp", and "shaky", but offer very little evidence. In Europe, the glory of Socialism is touted.

The Quote of the Day: On December 6, 1941, when journalist Joseph Harsch asked whether the Japanese might try to bomb Pearl Harbor, Adm. Husband Kimmel, commanding the Pacific Fleet, replied, “I don’t think they’d be such damned fools.” 

And finally, on this date, in 2000, Colonel Klink was finally sent to the Eastern Front. RIP, Werner Klemperer…

...As someone who wouldn't have touched an ARM on a bet when I bought my first house a few years ago, I'm upset.

I did it right - I searched for a good, fixed rate in a nice house at a price I could afford. And now, my Federal government is going to give people who didn't do it right an advantage my family doesn't get.

No good deed goes unpunished. And in this case it seems more annoying than usual.

Rudy, Hillary, Mitt to WND: Drop dead
Campaigns silent, refuse to answer even simple questions about issues   WND

v

The reason that Christianity is the best friend of government is because Christianity is the only religion that changes the heart.
Thomas Jefferson

Just got a call from an in-law in Vermont. She can't get out of the house for the snow. "Are there no cars or smoke stacks in Vermont", I asked. "Oh yes," she said, "but they're not stopping the 12 inches we got overnight." Global Warming reeks with intellectual dishoneasty. It's typical "liberalisn". Don't believe what you see with your own eyes, only believe what a "liberal" tells you is true. Commies do this all the time. Read history.

NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal"

IMO this a coverup for the banking regulators who screwed up in the first place.  First, banks were encouraged to make loans by Freddie Mac's loose lending regs, then Freddie Mac slams on the breaks by over tightening the rules to the point new borrowers can't get loans.  So I'm going to straddle the fence here and blame all of the players involved namely Freddie Mac, the banks and the borrowers.  Remember banks make loans and then SELL them via Freddie Mac.  Who sets the terms of those loans: Freddie Mac.  Now a bailout in the form of a rate freeze is necessary because these dufus bureaucrats can't get the point of doing a cost benefit analysis BEFORE they enact their bright ideas.

The more immediate issue is liquidity in the credit market where mortgages are concerned.  Why?  Because the borrowers could bail themselves out by refinancing their loans since interest rates are low, but because of the dufus bureaucrats insisting on tight credit requirements they can't do a refinance.  Why? Because the banks at this point are scared to loan any more money in this sector and they are instead focusing on credit cards where their profit margin is higher and they have significantly less regulatory risk.  Why?  Because if you remember the politicians making noises about blaming the Banks for making loans to borderline risk borrowers (encouraged by Freddie Mac's terms) and thus sticking them with the bill.  And there you have it, government incompetence.  The housing market debacle is squarely laid at the feet of the government for their utter stupidity, thus it takes a govenment bail out to solve a government instigated problem.

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. dscott's corollary: The line between malice and stupidity is called depraved indifference.

These people cannot afford a $300k or $400k mortgage at 8 or 9%.. They got in with $0 down interest only loans, they will foreclose...sooner or later. Next there will be a bailout for the millions of people who took out all that "free" money...i mean equity in there homes and paid for trips to Disneyland and tummy tucks (I say this from experience as i did the "devils work" and sold Home Equity products)...

 Darn it...why did I have to be born smart and responsible. I'm going to work on getting stupid so the government can reward me too.

Yes it is unfair but.  It is voluntary and the lenders desire it.  It makes sense to those lenders for good reason.  It is unfair to others not in this limited group.  It is unfair any anyone who overpayed for a residence or whose rates are currently too high.  I assume it went only as far as the lenders would voluntarily let it go.

I am okay with the concept of freezing interest rates for morons as soon as the Gov't lowers my fixed rate mortgage by an equivalent. Since this is a media critique and review site, please see the WSJ article today on the Brazilian immigrants who were ripped off not by Bank of America, but by (surprise!) other Brazilian immigrants.

The law of unintended consequences predicts that investors in bundled mortgages will hire the tort bar to recover the losses they will suffer when the financial intruments they purchased are devalued by fiat. For some funny reason, I feel like I need to put my wallet in my front pocket, again. 

Liberals don't care what you do, as long as it's mandatory.  -Franksam

Too funny. Rush is reporting that polls show this, the 110th Congress is the WORST EVER.

69% agree they made a mistake voting in this congress

Check out my exclusive edit of BBC News America's interview with Mrs Clinton: It's news to me!

Anyone else having problems getting to the forums?

anyone else having trouble with the forums?  I posted a long thing about a current story in the media and then it just crapped out.  Now anytime I try to access it, it comes to a page displaying only the number '2.'  Anyone else having this problem?

Finally got to see the end of the Monday Night Football game last night on NFL Network (I had missed it as it happened, only hearing the radio play by play).

Gaffney DID have possession, IMHO. And the Ravens imploded in the end as well.

One of the Baltimore writers admitted Tuesday morning:

"As for the game itself, it's difficult to feel much sympathy for the Ravens today. If they were truly robbed, you have to at least concede that they opened the vault doors and drew a yellow line leading the thieving Pats to the loot.

You don't give a team like the Patriots and a quarterback like Brady as many chances as the Ravens did last night. You don't make so many silly penalties and you don't call senseless timeouts."

The current subprime "bailout" legislation is hardly a bailout. It helps a very narrow segment of the market and does nothing to help those already affected.

But the question is should the government help these people? Well, since the government helped break the market, then yes, it should help fix it. The question then becomes how to help fix it.

The mortgage lenders don't have an answer for it because a real answer would reveal that they are bankrupt themselves and if that were to be revealed the home lending industry, and the home building industry would both collapse. Lenders have painted themselves into a corner and it is their own fault because they never had any intention of holding these subprime (read: bad risk) loans. They wanted to make a quick buck and dump the inevitable problem on someone else. That someone else turned out to be Wall Street fund managers.

The problem is, that practice may have been illegal and nobody wants to open up that Pandora's box and find out; so the government and mortgage companies have to prop up the mortgage industry before it collapses at least long enough so that home owners/voters can refinance their possibly predatory loans into more acceptable and workable loans rather than pull the rug out from under lenders in court, which is starting to happen.

Apparently the mortgage industry practice of pooling mortagage debt into Wall Street investment securities may have created a catch 22 where forclosure is not a legal option in many cases, which means that if the home owner defaults, the apparant owner of the note may not be able to prove ownership of the debt. That means that the courts may not grant foreclosures on such loans and homeowners may not get evicted if they can't pay up. That means that something has to be done before billions of dollars in mortgage debt evaporate and collapse the banking system. Or not... if you're not a big fan of the current banking system; you can just sit back and watch them commit financial suicide. The bill for this will be bigger than the S&L collapse and Enron combined.

Are you gonna pick up the tab on this one too?

For those who missed it, go to Limbaugh's site.  Maria Bartiromo interviewed Hillary Clinton, and she had some awesome questions lying in wait.  The clips I heard of this interview was simply awesome.

I have always had a soft spot for Maria, but now???   (sigh)  :-) 

Res tantum valet quantum vendi potest.

I never really watched Boston Legal, but I found this spoof pretty funny. William Shatners character is accused of toe tapping. Few shots at Mitt Romney as well regarding approving gay unions, but not approving of them now. Yes it is Liberal humor, but I thought it was pretty funny.

Boston Legal spoofs Larry Craig

Can someone please tell me that the 'research' excuse doesn't work when you get caught looking at child porn?

What kind of research could you possibly be doing?  Furthermore, the only people that should be doing any sort of 'research' on child porn is the cops.

I've never heard of Bernie Ward before today, but I hope they lock him up so I never have to hear of him again.

LINK

If your show is called GodTalk, you should probably refrain from doing sick & creepy & immoral & illegal & insanely damaging things like looking at child porn.

What is it about a career in the church that makes people sick and diseased?  Or do pedophiles join the church with the explicit intent of molesting children/exploiting children?

 Anyone else catch this?

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3480595,00.html

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. "

                   - Ben Kenobi on  Liberals, and the MSM.