“Who Could Have Predicted?” Gets Old
I am getting really tired of the “who could have predicted” line that seems to be the response to every crisis engineered by the fools that purport to represent Americans in DC and the corporations they really serve.
This whole bankruptcy business is a classic example. “Who could have predicted allowing credit cards to charge any rates they want while denying customers bankruptcy options would lead to a host of economic problems that would eventually engulf the credit card companies themselves?” And now the credit card companies want to set up a forgiveness program because their scheme didn’t work out so well.
Or the mortgage collapse. “Who could have predicted that by allowing the conservative mortgage market to become a freewheeling profit making industry for Wall Street with no regulation would lead to all sorts of risky behavior by lenders and banks that would eventually inflate the market until it popped?” And now Congress is trying to pass a rescue package as our economy sinks.
Or the war in Iraq: “Who could have predicted that invading a sovereign nation with no plan past the invasion stage would instigate an unwinnable guerrilla war? Who would have though instituting a torture regime would turn the Iraqis against us?” And now we’ve been humiliated, our reputation in tatters, our leadership teetering if not toppled.
Or Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib: “Who could have predicted that rounding up Muslims in a giant dragnet, and then telling their captors, ‘anything goes’, would lead to horrific abuse and murder?” And now the Muslim world hates us and Americans are persona non grata in many countries.
Or the warrantless wire-tapping: “Who could have predicted that giving the government unprecedented and unrestrained power to spy on Americans would lead to the NSA listening in on and transcribing personal phone calls that have nothing to do with terrorism and then reading them aloud to the rest of the office for shits and giggles?” And now Jay Rockefeller, who led the charge to legalize and immunize, looks like the fool he is, promising to open costly investigations into the abuses he enabled.
We’re at another one of those moments: Mortgage Plan May Aid Many and Irk Others:
As the Treasury Department prepares a $40 billion program to help delinquent homeowners avoid foreclosure, it confronts a difficult challenge: not making the plan too tempting to people like Todd Lawrence.
Norwich, Conn., Mr. Lawrence has a traditional 30-year mortgage that he has no trouble paying every month. But, thanks to the plunging real estate market, he owes more on his house than it is worth, like millions of other people.
If the banks, which frequently lent irresponsibly, and many homeowners, who often borrowed irresponsibly, are getting government assistance, Mr. Lawrence says he believes sober souls like himself are also due a break.
“Why am I being punished for having bought a house I could afford?” he asked. “I am beginning to think I would have rocks in my head if I keep paying my mortgage.”
The plan, still under development by Treasury, is part of the economic rescue package passed by Congress earlier this month. It is aimed at aiding up to three million beleaguered homeowners by reducing their monthly payments.
Washington and Wall Street are frantically seeking to stabilize markets by curtailing the onslaught of foreclosures. There are now at least four major plans to aid homeowners. But experts say it is difficult to design these programs in ways that reduce the indebtedness of the distressed without giving everyone else a reason to mail the keys back to their lenders.
“If the lunch truly is free, the demand for free lunches will be large,” said Paul McCulley, a managing director with the investment firm Pimco.
Look, I don’t see why this has to be so complicated. I’m no genius like a CEO at Capital One or a US Senator but it strikes me that what the government should do is to quickly determine the average rate people have historically paid on traditional, fixed-rate 30 year mortgages, say over the past decade. Using that average, determine the highest reasonable rate paid for on eof those stodgy traditional mortgages. Then, set the rate for rescue packages either at that rate or just above it and lock it in. Rescued homeowners will have the security of a locked in rate without getting the low rates those of us who played by the rules enjoy.
Is that really all that difficult?
November 1st, 2008 at 8:07 am
[...] at Brendan’s. [...]