The 272-152 roll call Wednesday by which the House passed a bill that aims to help homeowners facing foreclosure and to prevent mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from collapsing. A "yes" vote is a vote to pass the bill. Voting yes were 227 Democrats and 45 Republicans. Voting no were 3 Democrats and 149 Republicans. http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2008/07/23/1690079-how-they-voted-house-roll-call-on-housing-bill Here's a typical cross section of partisian sentiment: Said Rep. Mike Rogers, a Brighton Republican, the bill "would establish an undetermined line of credit for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and put American taxpayers on the hook for more than $25 billion." Rep. Sander Levin, a Royal Oak Democrat who had been pushing for the legislation, praised it as much-needed help for struggling homeowners and would-be buyers in Michigan. "The housing crisis is central to the economic turmoil we are now facing," Levin said. http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080724/NEWS07/807240374/1009
If you "have anything", the Gummint plans to confiscate it, "for the good of us all" [read, mostly for the good of the Gummint] If you have nothing, you will be pandered to so that you authorize and validate the above...
What's 25Billion to bail Fran Dog and Fred out when we can spend 600Billion on Iraqi citizens? I think I'm gonna apply for Iraqi citizenship. We treat them better anyway.
I am not interested in, nor get involved with the politics of any bailout. But many of the folks at ET seem to get lost in the government/media spin of the dollars associated with the bailout and overlook the simple mathematics. Fannie/Freddie hold $5 trillion of mortgage loans/paper. Given the quantity of Alt A and sub-prime loans made by both agencies over the last 5 years, by any measurement they are holding at least 10-20% bad paper. Let's be generous and say it's only 5% bad paper (which would be wildly optimistic), that would require $250 billion for a bailout. Hell, if it's only 1% bad paper (which is beyond absurd) that would still require $50 billion for a bailout. So the government/media numbers of $25 billion or less are a complete fabrication and totally disconnected from reality.