That's just the tip of the socialism iceberg. In Houston, they
tried to use public taxpayer funds to pay for private credit card debt.
There was enough out-cry that the scumbags backed off.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6277344.html
White backs off 'credit enhancement' with tax dollars
Houston plan 'hit a nerve across this country,' councilwoman says
By CAROLYN FEIBEL
Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Feb. 24, 2009, 11:21PM
Mayor Bill White yanked a controversial plan Tuesday that called for the city to use taxpayer funds to pay off some personal debts for first-time homebuyers, following a flood of outrage and criticism from across the city and beyond.
“I don’t think we ought to be in the business of paying off someone’s debt so they can buy a house,” White conceded during an impassioned City Council meeting. “Paying off people’s credit cards is ridiculous.”
Many council members expressed “embarrassment” over the idea, which received national media attention after the Chronicle wrote about it in Tuesday’s editions. The story appeared to strike a nerve among taxpayers already angry over the recession, the housing meltdown, and federal bailouts of banks and automobile companies.
“Everybody’s outraged about this,” said Councilman Ron Greene, adding that a constituent e-mailed him a copy of a bill and asked him to pay it. “This was not well reasoned.”
The “Credit Score Enhancement Program” would have given up to $3,000 in grants to individuals who are trying to qualify for mortgages through the city’s homebuyers assistance program. City officials had said some applicants fall short of eligibility by only 10 or 20 points on their credit scores, and paying off some debt balances can quickly improve their numbers.
Councilwoman Pam Holm waved a thick stack of e-mails from angry residents.
“I do not understand how we can ever justify spending taxpayer dollars to pay somebody’s credit card,” she said. “I don’t understand how it can be even considered to come up. I am truly embarrassed. I think it shows poor leadership.”
National outrage
Kris Errickson, a stay-at-home mom from northwest Houston, appeared before council to voice her indignation.
“This proposal is a slap in the face for the average Joe who is trying to get ahead,” Errickson said. “The government should not punish taxpayers and bail out those who cannot buy homes.”
Errickson said later that she and her family moved recently from the Heights to a less-expensive home near Timbergrove. “We adjusted our living so we could afford to live in a house,” she said.
“If you can’t afford it, and you can’t qualify, then you shouldn’t have it,” she said.
Councilwoman Anne Clutterbuck said news of the plan had hit a nerve across the country.
“Giving people the ability to increase their credit score artificially because we’re allowing them to pay off their credit cards is exactly what got us into this (national economic) crisis in the first place,” she said.
Hoped to curb crime
Councilman Jarvis Johnson said the $3,000 grants were not a good idea but said the city needed to promote home ownership because it increases the tax base and lowers crime.
“If you look at where the money was going to be put, into Houston Hope areas, they are areas that are typically underdeveloped **— where there is crime because of a lack of home ownership,” he said.
The $3,000 grants — and accompanying down-payment assistance, which can be as high as $37,500 — would have been available only to those who agreed to buy a home in a Houston Hope area. Those neighborhoods, which the city is trying to revitalize, include Sunnyside, Denver Harbor, Fifth Ward, Trinity Gardens and Acres Homes. Applicants cannot earn more than 80 percent of the area’s median income.
While the mayor is responsible for what appears on the council’s weekly agenda, White placed the genesis of the idea with the city’s Department of Housing & Community Development. He said the staff member’s intentions were good.
“As the mortgage markets are collapsing, banks are no longer buying mortgages, then people who can afford a house are not able to buy a house and that’s what the staff was trying to address,” White said.
The $444,000 proposed for the program was leftover money from a $1.5 million appropriation the city made for emergency home and roof repairs after Hurricane Ike. Councilwoman Wanda Adams said the money should be spent on those still in need of home repairs.
Good intentions
Housing Director Richard S. Celli said that the plan would only have been able to help applicants pay off installment debt like student loans, and not revolving debts, such as credit cards.
“This program was never intended to pay off someone’s flat-screen plasma TV,” Celli said. “This program was intended for hardworking, credit worthy low- to moderate-income individuals who needed a helping hand in paying off some debt like a medical bill or a student loan.
The city has provided down payment grants and closing costs for 872 families since 2005. Only one family has ever had a foreclosure, Celli said.
Not only will he be able to keep his home, but he will get a better interest rate than you have and they will reduce the principal amount remaining on his loan. You have to love the U.S.S.A.
Come the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, the U.S.S.A. Hockey Team will be wearing jerseys similar to these:
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Come the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, the U.S.S.A. Hockey Team will be wearing jerseys similar to these:
View attachment 6518
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Watching the local news now and there is a guy who lost his job of 18 years as a building superintendent. The funny thing is he is having trouble paying his monthly mortgage payment of.....wait......get this........$5,000.
What the hell is a building superintendent doing with a monthly payment of $5,000? This is a perfect example of the irresponsibility and idiocy that is driving America today.
What the hell is a building superintendent doing with a monthly payment of $5,000? This is a perfect example of the irresponsibility and idiocy that is driving America today.
Obama Seeks $1 Trillion Tax Increase in Budget Plan
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a.4tqh0vPi1k&refer=home
did a bunch of treasury auctions this week
good demand on them
china is our bitch as much as we are china's bitch
they need our consumption even if it might be less than recent past
and they got a massive population of poor people to worry about if their economy goes to shit cause the US ain't buying their stuff anymore
if china was self sufficient I'd be more worried but for now china has no strong middle class to fall on and depends on exports
good demand on them
china is our bitch as much as we are china's bitch
they need our consumption even if it might be less than recent past
and they got a massive population of poor people to worry about if their economy goes to shit cause the US ain't buying their stuff anymore
if china was self sufficient I'd be more worried but for now china has no strong middle class to fall on and depends on exports
