Bad Mortgages in Hands of Illegal Aliens: 5 Million

Need We Say More?

According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) some five million fraudulent home mortgages are in the hands of illegal aliens.

It's not known how many of those have contributed to the subprime housing mortgage meltdown, but it has affected every state, including Arizona where Senator John McCain is from.

The problem began years ago when banks were forced to give mortgages without confirming social security numbers or borrower identification. As a result, illegal immigrants were able to obtain home mortgages which they could not afford.

One illegal alien was arrested this year in Tucson after allegedly using a stolen social security number to buy two homes and rack up over $780,000 in bad debt.

What a gorilla screw! Thanks Congress!

McCain Isn't In Command

Sarah Palin Is The One In Command.

I’ve often thought that the US Senate was the worst cesspool to draw a presidential candidate from. Obama and McCain prove me right.

The second presidential debate held in Nashville showed what routinely happens on the Senate floor. Two senators who ‘debate’ one another - - each without the ability to bring the ‘big issues’ into focus for the average voter.

Obama is nominally better than McCain at this. Possibly because he has the least experience in the US Senate admiring problems and pontificating and ‘reaching across the aisle” to solve problems. Yeah, problems like Freddy Mac and a complete meltdown of the US economy?

McCain’s ability to communicate to average Americans is appalling. Why doesn’t he hire the average talk radio show host to write his speeches? For example, radio talk show host, Neal Boortz, put it this way:

You will never hear a candidate come up with a line like this:

"Do you want a job? Are you looking for work? Tell me, are you going to go try to find a job from a member of the middle class? Probably not. Perhaps you think your chances of finding a job might be better if you go to a small business owners and large corporations. So .. while you're out there looking for jobs from these people, do you want us to be back in Washington raising their taxes? Do you want us to be plotting ways to relive them of the very money they need to hire you?"

Americans would certainly get that.

Why can’t McCain communicate like that? Because he has spent the last 25 years in a privileged debating society. A place where so called “leaders” discuss and admire problems.

McCain’s approach to presidential leadership appears to be that of president as ‘super legislator.’ But people want someone who acts like they are in charge - - not who thinks they are in charge. McCain whiffed this when he voted for the financial bailout bill (like most all of the other Senate lemmings) including billions in pork spending. This would include tax breaks for the makers of toy wooden arrows and NASCAR race tracks where each week hundreds of cars burn thousands of gallons of gas to the cheers of millions who will soon find out they can’t afford tickets anymore.

And who were these porkers? McCain promised to name names. We’re still waiting, Senator!

The only person in this presidential goat rope who is taking command is Sarah Palin. Is it coincidental that she is the only one in this race who has any real executive experience?

Americans have always appreciated leaders. But they prefer those who can demonstrate they are firmly in command.

To use a military analogy, McCain is like the venerable deputy commander who came up through the ranks in staff jobs. The one who knows where all the skeletons are and who can recount with clarity how things got to be how they are and how to run the administrative traps to move paperwork from one side of the building to the other. But one who lacks the experience, push, drive, presence, or temperament to be the commander. THE ONE.

McCain would be the perfect vice presidential choice: Somebody to assist the president with his wisdom from having lived so long in Washington, DC. And one who might be a good place holder - - or custodian - - if anything should happen to the president. At least temporarily until a new commander is brought in. Gerald Ford comes to mind.

McCain’s Navy service was stellar. His service in the Senate has been better than most of his peers. But he is, alas, a creature of the Senate - - the most exclusive and insulated debate society in the world. And it is a cesspool of insular egoism and detachment from everyday people. A place where egos will not allow the emergence of commanders. Thus is the place from where McCain comes.

If Barack Obama wins the election I hope he galvanizes the republican party. There can be no more McCains. No more Doles. No more creatures of the senate. There needs to be more Sarah Palins and Bobby Jindals. Leaders who have earned their stripes in command of government - - not just debating about it.

Maybe McCain and Palin could switch places on the ticket?

It's Time To Subsidize Gasoline

In our modern society, using less gasoline means doing less and, most importantly, it means spending less.

It means fewer shopping trips, less eating out, fewer pleasure trips and less employment in those businesses to where you drive. It means fewer cars, pleasure boats and airplanes, and fewer jobs in the industries that manufacture those goods. Using less gasoline means engaging in less economic activity.

Consider that every economic slowdown of the last 35 years. The recessions of 1973-1975, 1979-1980, 1981-1982 and 1990-1991 have been associated with, if not caused by, a decline in oil consumption. Whenever oil consumption increased, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) did, too. The relationship is clear: Our entire economy is predicated on cheap and abundant energy and transportation fuel to make it run.

Now it is economic panic time. Wall Street and the banks are being bailed out to the tune of hundreds of billions. Meanwhile, average people are watching their stock portfolios drop like rocks and are running their credit cards past the limits in order to drive. Despite the deepest wishes of environmental extremists who are giddy over $4 per gallon gas, there are no viable, abundant, and affordable alternatives to gasoline now. Except in the densest of urban of cities there is no reliable and convenient mass transit, commuter rail, or even workable car pool schemes. These pipe dreams don’t even exist in western states where most city dwellers can not fathom the distances and vastness of the real estate that many must travel to work and live.

While our incompetent federal leaders are bailing out reckless banks, gasoline consumers are quietly and quickly pumping up the balloon of personal credit debt to where it will absolutely explode in our faces. It has the potential of resulting in millions of Chapter 13 bankruptcies - - much much greater in number than house foreclosures. If government really wanted to rescue Main Street, it would subsidize the price of gasoline to bring it down to the $1.00 a gallon level. That way we “fundamentals” of the economy can resume the business of making it run while cutting personal debt and enabling people to buy groceries and make the rent at the same time.

Isn’t it ironic that the very leaders who criticize ‘trickle down economics’ as unworkable set up the Wall Street Bailout to do just that?: What’s good for Wall Street is good for Main Street.

No More Compassionate Conservatism, Please!

George Bush. No Longer Defensible

A lot of things will be said of George Bush’s presidency once he leaves office. Among the most scathing will be things said by republicans who have to hold their tongues during this election season else they jeopardize party nominee John McCain’s chances.

Put bluntly, Bush’s presidency has been a failure. A failure of leadership. The heretofore cardinal credential of the republican party.

Bush failed us in four ways: His selection of Dick Cheney as vice president, the Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina, and the $700 billion bailout of the financial markets.

First, Dick Cheney. There is nothing inherently wrong with Cheney. He is a strong leadership kind of guy with more smartz than most people. Bush was wise to choose him to be vice president during the first term. He blundered in keeping for the second.

By keeping Dick Cheney aboard during the second term Bush squandered the opportunity to grow a viable replacement and erstwhile head of the republican party for the 2008 elections. Now republicans have John McCain: An old man who is running like some 19th century populist candidate and away from his own political party to have a chance at beating a borderline socialist for the most powerful job in the world. This isn’t to suggest that any VP would not necessarily share in Bush’s own low approval ratings - - but at least the party would have a leader, like him or leave him, who might have had a chance like Al Gore did after eight years of Clinton.

Second, the war in Iraq. He got us bogged down in a protracted conflict that should have been put to bed within two years. Why didn’t that happen? Because of Bush’s dogged loyalty to people who were not up to the tasks at hand. Start with Donald Rumsfeld.

Rumsfeld butted heads with his generals in the Pentagon arguing for a lighter, faster Army and against more boots on the ground to secure territory already won. The result was a growing, festering and dangerous insurgency that couldn’t be handled by the available troops that were already stretched thin with commitments in Afghanistan and around the world. Unprecedented over-use of the National Guard and the Reserves broke morale as well as the bank. Then there was inept American civilian leadership in Baghdad that threw gasoline on the fire of occupation, discontent and mistrust.

Incredibly, Bush fired Rumsfeld the day after republicans lost majorities in the house and senate by the razor thinnest of margins in 2006. Had Bush sacked Rumsfeld a week before the election, it might have made a difference in at least a few of those close races. It was awful timing and, in retrospect, looked like a presidential retreat to the new Democrat majority demands to pull out of Iraq. If it wasn’t for General David Petraeus, apparently the only exception among a slew of manager-class generals who still don’t understand how to close the deal when it comes to winning wars, this country would be holding its head in shame in another defeat at the hands of yet another inferior foe.

Hurricane Katrina. While telling his completely inept FEMA chief to keep up the good work, the city of New Orleans turned into Haiti for a couple of weeks. Outdated rules and federal regulations that technically kept the feds from moving in immediately after the disaster struck compounded problems with equally inept and incompetent state and local leadership on site. Chaos, confusion and pandemonium was the order of the day. Not to mention formaldehyde riddled trailers for victims to live in. America sends more resources faster to third world for earthquake relief than it sent to New Orleans within 48 hours of Katrina. Another high profile failure by another loyal Bush appointee.

And just when Bush thought he could quietly slip out the back door with the lowest approval ratings of any president since Richard Nixon, along comes the collapse of the financial markets.

By all measures, Bush saw this one coming. His administration made a few tepid attempts to bring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac problems to the democrats’ attention, but the republicans slinked away when they were told to go away. Bush chose not to sound the alarm on Main Street. And instead of killing off wasteful spending that resulted in a near doubling of the national debt on his watch, Bush birthed a new entitlement program (prescription drugs for seniors) that promises to bring the whole medicare house of card down much sooner than it would have. The clock is ticking on that one. And still no alarm from the Bush administration that Main Street can clearly hear.

Bush also had the chance to change social security but gave up after only a few short rounds of light sparing. Instead he’s kicked the can down the road to some future schlep president. With luck that might be Barack Obama and not some hapless republican.

The final straw was Secretary of the Treasury Paulsen (yet another failed high-profile Bush appointee) running to Congress on his knees with what’s left of his hair on fire screaming for a $700 billion bailout of Wall Street before the whole economy collapses.

Whether the magnitude and gravity of the ‘sky is falling’ scenario is accurate or not, Bush had an opportunity to meet with presidential nominee, McCain and republican congressional leaders to craft a gameplan that would make the republicans the champions of Main Street. A plan that not only presented the problem in simple, understandable terms, but sketched out palatable solutions which do not threaten the free market capitalist system those soldiers in Iraq presumably died for.

But alas, he did not. Instead he dumped the problem on the whole congress like a bucket of cold piss. And along with Paulsen, he has joined in the screaming for $700 billion for Wall Street.

I voted for George Bush. Twice. I thought he was better than the alternatives both times. I still think he was. Unfortunately, once he got to the “big show” he figuratively started looking at his watch just like his old man literally did in that debate with Bill Clinton that helped seal his defeat. That and his proclaimed problem getting that vision thing.' I guess the acorn really doesn't fall very far from the tree, does it?

Unfortunately, republicans, by Bush design, do not have a party leader. Instead it has a poll-driven geriatric populist who admits he doesn't understand anything about economics! A candidate, ironically, who is disliked by most of his republican senate peers and whose best legislative friends in that body are liberal democrats. Thanks George. We could have had a vice president who could have been a contender.

Katrina will always be a can tied to republicans’ tail that will clank with every step it takes for the next 20 years. Great job, Brownie!

Iraq may be the only thing that comes off clean unless, of course, the democrats gain control of the White House in 2008. If they do I would expect by February 2009 the life support plug will be pulled and we’ll watch Iraq turn into a 12th century nightmare overnight.

Finally, the $700 billion bailout. By not guiding this catastrophe and getting the republicans on the same page before the alarm bell was sounded Bush has all but assured our economy takes a giant step into socialism: A system where government bureaucrats dictate the market and we soon go to five year agriculture and production plans just like the old Soviet Union did before it died.

Thanks, George. This is exactly the way Hugo Chavez runs Venezuela!

I used to defend George Bush. I can’t any more. I hope he withdraws into obscurity and that we never see or hear from him again. A worse fate than even those losers Gore or Kerry got.

And I will never vote for a so called ‘compassionate conservative’ ever again.

All You Need To Know About The Financial Meltdown

On the financial crisis of the past several months, a knowledgeable reader says that this column by Kevin Hassett is "all you need to know:"

The economic history books will describe this episode in simple and understandable terms: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac exploded, and many bystanders were injured in the blast, some fatally.

Fannie and Freddie did this by becoming a key enabler of the mortgage crisis. They fueled Wall Street's efforts to securitize subprime loans by becoming the primary customer of all AAA-rated subprime-mortgage pools. In addition, they held an enormous portfolio of mortgages themselves.

In the times that Fannie and Freddie couldn't make the market, they became the market. Over the years, it added up to an enormous obligation. As of last June, Fannie alone owned or guaranteed more than $388 billion in high-risk mortgage investments. ...

The problem was that the trillions of dollars in play were only low-risk investments if real estate prices continued to rise. Once they began to fall, the entire house of cards came down with them. Take away Fannie and Freddie, or regulate them more wisely, and it's hard to imagine how these highly liquid markets would ever have emerged. This whole mess would never have happened.

It is easy to identify the historical turning point that marked the beginning of the end.

Back in 2005, Fannie and Freddie were, after years of dominating Washington, on the ropes. They were enmeshed in accounting scandals that led to turnover at the top. At one telling moment in late 2004, captured in an article by my American Enterprise Institute colleague Peter Wallison, the Securities and Exchange Commission's chief accountant told disgraced Fannie Mae chief Franklin Raines that Fannie's position on the relevant accounting issue was not even "on the page" of allowable interpretations.

Then legislative momentum emerged for an attempt to create a "world-class regulator" that would oversee the pair more like banks, imposing strict requirements on their ability to take excessive risks. Politicians who previously had associated themselves proudly with the two accounting miscreants were less eager to be associated with them. The time was ripe.

The clear gravity of the situation pushed the legislation forward. Some might say the current mess couldn't be foreseen, yet in 2005 Alan Greenspan told Congress how urgent it was for it to act in the clearest possible terms: If Fannie and Freddie "continue to grow, continue to have the low capital that they have, continue to engage in the dynamic hedging of their portfolios, which they need to do for interest rate risk aversion, they potentially create ever-growing potential systemic risk down the road," he said. "We are placing the total financial system of the future at a substantial risk."

What happened next was extraordinary. For the first time in history, a serious Fannie and Freddie reform bill was passed by the Senate Banking Committee. The bill gave a regulator power to crack down, and would have required the companies to eliminate their investments in risky assets.

If that bill had become law, then the world today would be different. In 2005, 2006 and 2007, a blizzard of terrible mortgage paper fluttered out of the Fannie and Freddie clouds, burying many of our oldest and most venerable institutions. Without their checkbooks keeping the market liquid and buying up excess supply, the market would likely have not existed.

But the bill didn't become law, for a simple reason: Democrats opposed it on a party-line vote in the committee, signaling that this would be a partisan issue. Republicans, tied in knots by the tight Democratic opposition, couldn't even get the Senate to vote on the matter. We now know that many of the senators who protected Fannie and Freddie, including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Christopher Dodd, have received mind-boggling levels of financial support from them over the years.

Throughout his political career, Obama has gotten more than $125,000 in campaign contributions from employees and political action committees of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, second only to Dodd, the Senate Banking Committee chairman, who received more than $165,000. ...

There has been a lot of talk about who is to blame for this crisis. A look back at the story of 2005 makes the answer pretty clear.

Oh, and there is one little footnote to the story that's worth keeping in mind while Democrats point fingers between now and Nov. 4: Senator John McCain was one of the three cosponsors of S.190, the bill that would have averted this mess.