LONG BEACH— The bailout has been passed but the blame game is still in full swing. It has been said that this is a result of only President Bush’s failed economic policies. Others have pointed to Democratic measures which attempted to encourage sub-prime lending, which some say is at the root of this current crisis. The sum total of all these charges is: politicians screwed up.
The idea that the Democrats are going to be great stewards of the worlds largest economy seems rather naive. Take for instance the State in which I live. It has been ruled by Democrats for quite some time (including the new addition of the inept “Republican” action star at the top). It is the worlds eighth largest economy boasting a GSP of over $1.8 trillion. An estimated $111 billion in income, sales, and property taxes is collected each year by the state, more revenues are collected through various other means. It is on the verge of bankruptcy, more so than the Federal level, as the states bonds were lowered to near junk status in 2003. It now faces an approximately $16 billion budget shortfall and is hoping to get in on the bailout band-wagon due to the credit crunch.
Every time the legislature is confronted with reducing its chronic over spending it balks. The Democratic controlled Assembly and Senate continue to push for higher spending every year regardless of a continuously shrinking tax base as companies relocate to more friendly environments to do business.
In addition to not being a friendly business climate California is taking the biggest hit when it comes to the housing downturn. Houses here have dropped in value of about 30% or more. Since the state has a law which prevents reassessment of property value, properties owners are only left to pay taxes on the price of purchase for the duration of their ownership. This provision has huge pluses for the lower income people who manage to purchase a house, so long as they purchased with a fixed rate mortgage. Many did. Nearly 20% of mortgage defaults in California are a result of real estate speculators. Real estate speculators do not live in the homes they purchase. They have found it easier to walk away from a house than to attempt to sell and take a loss.
Defaults are on the rise in most parts of the country, but it should be recognized that it is not always the case of a homeowner losing his or her home but is often the case of an investor gambling on a continued increase in home values and losing that gamble.
—Doug Duncan, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s chief economist
Foreclosures are a blight on a neighborhood as the tend to drag down surrounding home prices. Simply look at Detroit’s situation. It is unfortunate that California has come to this. The resolution requires responsible governing. It requires making tough choices. It requires leadership and a sober reassessment of the states budgeting. Instead California received bloated spending, more debt, and prolonged economic crisis as the Democratic control legislature refused to make the tough calls needed to keep the state solvent.
But this is what happens, as seen at the Federal level as well, when politicians do not take responsible steps to curb spending in times of economic downturns. It is as Mr. McCain said in the debates: “We Republicans came to power to change government, and government changed us.” To think that this corruption will only infect the Repulicans is to miss the temptations of single party rule. Even in a time when Democrats weren’t in total control, they still managed to get in on the kick backs.
Spending restraint is needed in congress going forward, but the Democrats seem unable to fathom this responsibility. This was highlighted by Mr. Biden’s and Mr. Obama’s inability to name any course of action to adjust their domestic spending agenda for the now spent $700 billion on the bailout during the debates. And also by the Democratic Congresswoman from Michigan who recently attached a rider to the omnibus spending measure the government passes every year. The rider was a $25 billion bailout for the auto industry.
The names change but the results may stay the same. I hope not. For the sake of the country.
TennesseePaul
Stephen VanNuys
Brooklyn Daniel
The Freedom Thinker
Looks like we’re going to have our first Socialist Arab Muslim President. Brace yourselves. The shock wave comes first, then the fireball (figuratively speaking, of course).
Well I don’t think we’ll have an Arab Muslim President. Not unless there is a nation wide write-in vote for Gamal Abdel Nasser. Mr. Obama is Kenyan and European Caucasian. And he spent 20 years in a black-liberation theology church which is far from Muslim.
Barack Hussein Obama is 50% Caucasian from his mother’s side and 43.75% Arabic and 6.25% African Negro from his father’s side. While Barack Hussein Obama’s father was from Kenya, his father’s family was mainly Arabs. Barack Hussein Obama’s father was only 12.5% African Negro and 87.5% Arab (his father’s birth certificate even states he’s Arab, not African Negro). Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. (1936-1982) was a Muslim who named his boy Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. Only Muslim children are named “Hussein”.
Wow. Where did you get all the genetic math figures?
It was called to my attention that my original comment might carry a tone I didn’t intend. If that was the case I appologize. But I must ask, do you think a person can be born into a faith and then grow up and convert to a different faith or, alternatively, grow up and simply abandon faith altogether? I don’t think Mr. Obama is a Muslim today even if he was born of a Muslim father. I think this is why he tried to highlight his membership in Mr. Wright’s church. Of course we all saw how that backfired on him. So much so he was brought to the brink of implying he never listened to a sermon. Ironic really. In an effort to prove he was not a muslim he shed light on his very provocative pastor. It left him in a position of damned if you do, damned if you don’t.