Below are promises made to Main Street homeowners during President-Elect Obama‘s campaign in his own words from BarackObama.com.
“The final plan must provide help to families who are struggling to stay in their homes. We cannot simply bailout Wall Street without helping the millions of innocent homeowners who are facing foreclosure.” Obama September 2008
“Going forward, we need to replace Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as we know them with a structure that is focused on helping people buy homes – not engaging in market speculation. We can’t have a situation like the old S&L scandal where its “heads” investors win, and “tails” taxpayers lose. That’s going to take ending the lobbyist-driven dominance of these institutions that we’ve seen for far too long in Washington.” Obama
Moe Bedard – Obama has long taken the stance that Wall Street took advantage of Main Street and the very CEO’s of these lending institutions have been compared to the bad actors and corporate criminals of the S & L crisis of the 80’s. In the statements below he is basically saying that lenders knew these mortgages would fail, just like they did in the 1980’s. Obama even says that our government turned a convenient blind eye to these unscrupulous lending activities.
This is our new President and he is basically saying that these mortgages were made to fail and were highly unfair and deceptive. Now, let’s see if he keeps these views in the spot light and make sure they do not change because that folks, would not be change but the same old Washington rhetoric.
Here is a great video of Obama on CBS in New York City on his foreclosure plans that includes a $10 billion fund to protect homeowners who are victims of mortgage and or real estate fraud and also his plans to amend the bankruptcy laws to allow primary residences to be included in bankruptcy proceedings.
Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: Confronting an Economic Crisis September 16, 2008
Instead of sensible reform that rewarded success and freed the creative forces of the market, too often we’ve excused an ethic of greed, corner-cutting and inside dealing that threatens the long-term stability of our economic system.
It happened in the 1980s, when we loosened restrictions on Savings and Loans and appointed regulators who ignored even these weaker rules. Too many S&Ls took advantage of the lax rules set by Washington to gamble that they could make big money in speculative real estate. Confident of their clout in Washington, they made hundreds of billions in bad loans, knowing that if they lost money, the government would bail them out. And they were right. The gambles did not pay off, our economy went into recession, and the taxpayers ended up footing the bill. Sound familiar?
And it has happened again during this decade, in part because of how we deregulated the financial services sector. After we repealed outmoded rules instead of updating them, we were left overseeing 21st century innovation with 20th century regulations. When subprime mortgage lending took a reckless and unsustainable turn, a patchwork of regulators systematically and deliberately eliminated the regulations protecting the American people and failed to raise warning flags that could have protected investors and the pensions American workers count on.
More from Obama September 16, 2008
Unlike Senator McCain, I will change our bankruptcy laws to make it easier for families to stay in their homes. Right now, if you’re a family that owns one house, bankruptcy judges are actually barred from helping you keep a roof over your head by writing down the value of your mortgage. If you own seven homes, the judge is free to write down any or all of the debt on your second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh homes.
Now that may be of comfort to Senator McCain, but that’s the kind of out-of-touch Washington loophole that makes no sense. When I’m President, we’ll make our laws work for working people.
From BarackObama.com October 13, 2008
The third part of my rescue plan is to provide relief for homeowners who are watching their home values decline while their property taxes go up. Earlier this year I pushed for legislation that would help homeowners stay in their homes by working to modify their mortgages.
· I’ve already proposed a mortgage tax credit for struggling homeowners worth 10% of the interest you pay on your mortgage and we should move quickly to pass it.
· We should also change the unfair bankruptcy laws that allow judges to write down your mortgage if you own six or seven homes, but not if you have only one.
· For those Americans in danger of losing their homes, today I’m also proposing a three-month moratorium on foreclosures.
· If you are a bank or lender that is getting money from the rescue plan that passed Congress, and your customers are making a good-faith effort to make their mortgage payments and re-negotiate their mortgages, you will not be able to foreclose on their home for three months. We need to give people the breathing room they need to get back on their feet.
“If the government can bail out investment banks on Wall Street, then we can extend a hand to folks who are struggling on Main Street.” — Obama
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