February 14, 2009
Washington's Bailout
Ya know, the sad thing is that it's so easy to get ideas for Sid's Soap Box. I wish it weren't so, but it is…
Every morning I get my small news fix by cruising by the Yahoo Financial page. Frequently the headlines include something about the 100's of billions that the government is printing to bail out the dip shit's running corporate America.
Ya know what bugs me the most about this plan?? All of the homeowners who are hurting and loosing their jobs and houses aren't getting any benefit from this bail out. I recently had a friend who contacted his mortgage company to see if they would drop is interest rate a little to help him out. He was promptly informed that assistance was only available to him AFTER he was 3 months behind on his payments. So lets see here, ruin my credit first, then maybe you'll help me. How screwed up is that??
Meanwhile, let's think for a minute what's going to happen to all of these ropo'd houses that are going back to the banks. These same banks that are getting billions of taxpayer dollars to keep from failing are going to own these properties. Do you think that just maybe a few of these fatcats might form some business ventures to buy these distressed properties from the bank and sell them back to the public at a profit?
Is it just me or is there a major problem with this plan? Instead of giving the money to the loosers who can't run a bank, why not give the failing homeowner a nice 30 year fixed rate mortgage at 3% for zero points and no closing costs? You keep the family in the house. They maintain it, helping the neighboorhood property values. They survive financially, providing stimulus to the local economy. All seems like a much better idea to me…
But what do I know, I'm just a middle class working stiff.
