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Age of Accountability

By
Real Estate Agent with Coldwell Banker Excellence CalBre#01517694/ 01429652

 

It is done, finale, complete. Wall Street has been rescued from the mortgage crisis. Well, maybe not all of it, but at least $700,000,000,000 has been transferred from the taxpayers' pocketbook. But rest assured that this is not the end of it, rather only the beginning. By many estimates this sector alone could add up to many more billions.
To get it done Congress has to raise the FDIC insurance limits from $100K to $250k per deposit account. Together with a little sweetener and pork this got the barrel of money rolling in Washington.
Congress has always had oversight responsibility of Fannie and Freddie. But over recent years ideology, conflict of interest, and cronyism has fogged their judgment. Now they can dodge accountability by spending more taxpayer's money. The seeds of the housing crisis were germinated in the halls of congress and the board rooms of Fannie and Freddie and you can be sure the first to be attended to are their self-inflected wounds. This is Washington's guideline to practicing triage.
Interestingly, some of the principle beneficiaries will be foreign investors, courtesy of U. S. taxpayers by way of Washington.
Now, all that's left is to resolve the homeowners' mortgage crisis and the consumer credit fiasco. That's all. Both of these are potentially billions more, if they are addressed the same way. The question is - on whose back do we rescue taxpaying homeowners and consumers? Keep it up and soon there will be no carcasses left to feed on.
Pulling Wall Street out of the fire takes little heat off skyrocketing ARM payments or 20% credit cards. Now Washington wants us to believe they are acting in our best interest. Question - in whose interest have they been acting during the past decade of "irrational exuberance?"
The American economy, including housing, has proven resilient (consider the housing crisis of the ‘80s) and it will again regain its health. We must create solutions that do not send the piper to call on future generations, thus prolonging the pain and delaying the cure. Accountability is not a concept that Washington is familiar with or inclined to address. The only option left to the taxpaying public is the ballot box, but this is a dubious choice as the election year brings all sorts of promises and goodies for those willing to perpetuate the grand illusion. At some point we have to stand and pay the consequences or the entire house of cards will collapse around us.

Carey Pott
January Financial - Foothill Ranch, CA

Great post - the only change I would make is to put "rescue" in quotation marks, because I have a hard time seeing how much of a rescue it really is to charge me extra money to fix someone else's mistakes. But that's just me! :)

Oct 07, 2008 04:18 AM
Pat Champion
John Roberts Realty - Eustis, FL
Call the "CHAMPION" for all your real estate needs

Great information.  Hopefully, we can expect to see some help for our business.  We have to hang in there and keep doing what we do best. 

Oct 07, 2008 04:32 AM