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“My Kingdom for a Clue, Please… Why George W. Doesn’t ‘Get It’!”

By Sherman Ragland | October 22, 2007

Someone, anyone, please help this guy out!

George W. Bush Clueless about the relationship between housing and mortgages

It seems that for the past 7 years all one could hear coming from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development was that it was about time that the US Government Supported a Policy of Home Ownership for ALL of our Citizens… the HUD official website (http://www.HUD.gov) emphasizes that “Helping more low and moderate income Americans become homeowners is a NATIONAL PRIORITY, especially first-time homeowners and minority families”

Under HUD’s recently released “Strategic Plan”, Home Ownership is listed as HUD’s #1 Priority.

Last time I checked, the #1 Guy at HUD, The Secretary for Housing and Urban Development, Alphonso Jackson, was appointed by and reports directly to George W. Bush, and therefore, HUD’s PLAN is BUSH’s Plan – or so it is suppose to be…

So, why is it that every time George Bush speaks these days, either in person, or through his minions: Treasury Secretary Paulson, or James Lockhart the Director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), there seems to be this surreal disconnect between housing and housing capital??

For Seven Years Bush TALKED a good game about “Home ownership for everyone”, and for seven years the PRIVATE sector capital markets seemed to believe that BUSH was serious about this issue – sort of. That is for seven years Bush talked about “home ownership for everyone”, but seemed to be very much o.k. with the private sector coming up with a “Private Sector” Plan to get money into the hands of “everyone” so they could buy that house that the President said they deserved to have. Private sector mortgages that included pricing based on people’s credit scores, abilities to repay and job histories. But this past summer, the credit markets began to take a closer look at “Bush’s Plan for Home ownership” and decided that it had done enough, and chose to move on to something else.

Now, Bush suddenly forgets everything he learned (or should have learned) about housing and capital markets at Harvard Business School (HBS) and suddenly he is CLUELESS about the fact that there is a mortgage market meltdown that is going to completely wipe out his statements about “Home Ownership for Everyone…”

Did he ever really mean it, in the first place? or was this just more Political “double speak” from inside the Washington, DC Beltway.

In August in the face of the Mortgage Meltdown Debacle, Bush made a speach in which he stated that the FEDERAL Government would step in where the private sector had now stepped out by implementing the “FHASecure” home rescue plan…

… Yeah Right!

You do not need an MBA from Harvard to realize that the FHA Secure, so-called “home rescue plan” is a program for people who really do not need help in the first place. Specifically, the FHA Program is for: Families with

  1. A history of on-time mortgage payments before the borrower’s teaser rates expired and loans reset;
  2. Interest rates must have or will reset between June 2005 and December 2008;
  3. Three percent cash or equity in the home;
  4. A sustained history of employment; and
  5. Sufficient income to make the mortgage payment.

In other words, people who never got SUBPRIME, or ALT-A mortgages in the first place.

Further, recent comments by Treasury Secretary Paulson, when asked what did the President mean when he said “there would be no bail out for real estate speculators”, replied that the Federal Government sees anyone with two houses, making two payments as a “speculator” – HUH?? Like people who bought a new house, moved in and were unable to sell their existing house – those kind of “Speculators”??

… and the real winner came this afternoon from OFHEO Director, James Lockhart who when asked why the Bush Administration does not support removing the $417,000 cap for JUMBO loans, responded: “The Federal Government is only interested in affordable housing, you can not really call a house over $400,000 Affordable” – What planet is Bush getting these guys from??

Now I know why this President’s approval rating is the lowest ever recorded – Its not about the war – its about not having a clue… It is said that Nero fiddled while Rome burned. I guess this is the modern day equivilent. A President makes it the cornerstone of his housing policy that everyone who wants to get a house should have one, the capital markets comply and provide products, when the capital markets exit, the same President stands around watching the mortgage market melt – taking the housing market with it, and chooses to do nothing…

Fortunately for real estate investors. With all this turmoil, the average home owner is not going to get any help from its government, or the big-bank lenders, or money from China…

… No, if there is going to be anyone who helps a desperate homeowner to sell their house, or a first-time home owner to get into their house, it will not be the Finance Minister of China, the Vice-President of Mortgage Markets of Citi-Bank, or the “Commander and Chief Housing Advocate”, George W. Bush. If anyone can help, its the Creative Real Estate Investor who understands how to craft winning strategies that gets the homeowner(s) what they need, and puts money in your pocket.

There is a reason we exist, because once again, the Federal Goverment demonstrates its inability to take care of anyone who is not affiliate with Halliburton or other big business interests…

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One Response to ““My Kingdom for a Clue, Please… Why George W. Doesn’t ‘Get It’!””

  1. “The Realinvestor” : Blog Archive : “Federal Agents Seize Control of Fannie Mae AND Freddie Mac - Senior Execs FIRED!” Says:
    September 8th, 2008 at 2:32 pm

    [...] See Also my blog post from October 2007 – “My Kingdom for a Clue…Why George W. Doesn’t Get It!” [...]

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