Want to lower your house payment? Want to save hundreds of dollars each month? Well, the Rescuer in Chief has a deal you can't afford to pass up. In order to qualify, you have to meet the following criteria:
- Have little or no equity in your house. Note: you can accomplish this either by not making a down payment or by getting a second mortgage to "leverage" your equity.
- Take a three-month break from sending in a house payment.
- Make a really pouty-looking face while saying "My lender tricked me!" one hundred times as you stomp around in a circle.
You'd better hurry up if you want to take advantage of this special offer because only the first 400,000 home owners who apply will be accepted.
Please note, if you have been making your house payment on time each month you are not eligible for this incredible opportunity.
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Also, from the Department of Homeland Irony, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said that in light of the newly signed legislation, "the Federal Housing Administration would begin right away to implement new policies 'intended to keep more deserving American families in their homes.'" As it turns out, banks have already found a way to determine which American families deserve to stay in their homes. It's the ones who send them a check each month.
Larry Kudlow reports that the federal government has spent $127 billion on the recovery effort from Hurricane Katrina in the two years since the natural disaster. That nearly matches the state's $141 billion GDP, and, to quote Kudlow, it "ain't even fixed!"
From the article:
You might be asking, Where in the hell did all this money go? Well, the White House fact sheet says $24 billion has been used to build houses and schools, repair damaged infrastructure, and provide victims with a place to live. But isn’t everyone complaining about the lack of housing?
Perhaps all this money should’ve been directly deposited in the bank accounts of the 300,000 people living in New Orleans. All divvied up, that $127 billion would come to $425,000 per person! After thanking Uncle Sam for their sudden windfall, residents could head to Southern California and buy homes that are now on sale thanks to the sub-prime mortgage crisis and bid up the sagging house prices in the state.
Four hundred and twenty five thousand dollars per person?!? Good night, nurse. I'm liable to think that kind of money could take a guy from one of John Edwards' two Americas right into the other one.
So, considering that blindly throwing money into New Orleans hasn't been all that effective, what should have been done instead?
Right from the start, New Orleans should have been turned into a tax-free enterprise zone. No income taxes, no corporate taxes, no capital-gains taxes. The only tax would have been a sales tax paid on direct transactions. A tax-free New Orleans would have attracted tens of billions of dollars in business and real-estate investment. This in turn would have helped rebuild the cities, schools, and hospitals. Private-sector entrepreneurs would have succeeded where big-government bureaucrats and regulators have so abysmally failed.
Instead, we have a $127 billion example of how liberal government and "compassionate conservatism" simply don't work. The best way to take care of people is to help them take care of themselves.
By the way, I'm still wondering where the ATM cards are for the Nebraskans who suffered through last New Year's ice storm.
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