Reply #47: This is some powerful hypocrisy from him.

[Milo_Bloom]

While in the Senate he voted for... the bankrupcy bill, sending nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, bush's energy policy which included subsidies to gas and oil and he voted to reduce liability on nuclear power plans in case of accident.

http://www.mentata.com/ds/retrieve/congress/person/John...


Many of the "problems" can actually be solved really easily if they simple distinguish between secured and non-secured home loans and define criteria of "predetory loans" as unsecured, so companies can still offer them, but with the caveat that they don't get to "foreclose" to get paid. They may be able to attach a home, but not force the people out if they signed them to a predatory loan.

What sickeningly funny is that this "crisis" (which anyone with half a brain saw coming 7 years ago), is currently hurting the mortgage industry as much as the consumers and if anyone was intelligent they would pitch a bailout as saving the mortgage industry, instead of trying to sell it as "saving consumers", because in the end, the GOP and their ilk are not going to go for "saving someone who got in over their head", but they will work to save "employers", so by offering to subsidize some of these loans, they can save the "industry" and allow people to keep their homes at the same time.

Its works this way.

Idiot Lender offered Idiot Consumer 5 year interest only $300,000 1st and a $60,000 2nd on their $360,000 house (which was overvalued to begin with). The Idiot Consumer paid $60,000 in interest for 5 years and during that time the "bubble burst" and the house is now only worth 275,000 and the Idiot Consumer never thought the payments were REALLY going to go up and listened to the Idiot Lender, who also believe that the value of homes was going to keep increasing forever. The Idiot Lenders don't want the house back, because they spent $360,000 on it, got $60,000 back and now will only get an asset worth $275,000... a 25K loss over 5 years ain't good. This is why mortgage companies are going under nearly everyday and the entire industry is crunching, as major lenders are shutting down all their second mortgage and equity programs (Ditech now only offers 80% value on stated income) and Citibank shut down their entire stated income program.

The reality is that MOST people just don't care about someone else getting themselves into financial trouble. They think, "well, they got themselves into it..." HOWEVER, if you explain to them that THEIR ability to borrow in the future will suffer, THEN they want action.

So we can save people's homes, but frame it as a bailout of the mortgage industry.

I suspect Edwards knows this, but he wants to be the "liberal warrior" and "anti-corporate" so rather than actually propose a possible solution, he just want to blather on with to those who just want to dine on red meat, with no real substance to it.