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A revoltin' development
Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff
Monday, February 23, 2009
President Obama's intentions may be good, and he may have zeroed in on the problem.
But his proposed housing crisis solution is only raising questions -- and hackles, too, almost to the point of a citizen revolt.
People who have played by the rules, made good choices and sacrificed to pay their mortgages on time are growing furious as they see the government preparing to use their tax money to bail out irresponsible and reckless homebuyers who gambled that rising equities would cover their inability to afford their houses.
Cable network CNBC editor Rick Santelli's increasingly famous rant on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade this past week has struck a chord with those Americans livid about bailout after bailout from Washington.
"The government is promoting bad behavior!" an angry Santelli intoned, as traders nearby cheered him and jeered the government. "This is America!" Turning to the traders, he asked, "How many people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgages that has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills? Raise their hand!"
Instead, the traders loudly booed the idea, as Santelli only got angrier. He suggested a "Chicago Tea Party" -- and in a later CNBC poll, 93 percent said they'd join in.
"President Obama's massive mortgage-bailout plan," writes finance guru and CNBC commentator Larry Kudlow, "is nothing more than a thinly disguised entitlement program that redistributes income from the responsible 92 percent of home-owning mortgage holders who pay their bills on time to the irresponsible defaulters who bought more than they could ever afford. This is Obama's spread-the-wealth program in action.
"Team Obama is rewarding bad behavior."
Indeed, taking the tax money of homeowners who acted responsibly and prudently and using it to bail out those who did not is making the responsible ones the suckers.
On the other side are those such as the American Bankers Association, which calls Obama's plan "a constructive, flexible and multifaceted initiative likely to have a positive effect."
Maybe. But we've got some questions:
- How will the government fulfill Obama's pledge not to reward irresponsible or unscrupulous borrowers? It's a nice thought, but how do you do it?
- How in the world can a government that couldn't track the billions in the bank bailouts be able to watchdog the $75 billion to $275 billion in the mortgage bailout?
- Where in the Constitution does it authorize the federal government to take money from one citizen and use it to lower another citizen's mortgage payments?
The Heritage Foundation reports that grassroots anger at the "Bush-Obama Bailout Parade" has already erupted in rallies in Seattle, Denver, Mesa and Kansas.
"Santelli's criticism of the mortgage bailout plan is dead on," Heritage says. "The plan treats borrowers who sacrificed to pay their mortgages on time the same as those who used their equity for a boat and stopped paying their loans."
Actually, Heritage has it wrong. The bailout plan treats responsible borrowers worse than the irresponsible ones.
You have to wonder whether Americans will stand for that.
From the Monday, February 23, 2009 edition of the Augusta Chronicle
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