With the economy so closely linked to the housing market this WSJ Blog might be a good place to start. Also, I think it speaks to McCain's limited understanding/disinterest is economic issues in general.
September 4, 2008, 6:02 pm Mum’s The Word On Housing at GOP Convention
Michael R. Crittenden reports from Washington, on the Republican National Convention
The U.S. housing crisis and its record numbers of foreclosures may be keeping federal policymakers up late at night with worry, but it hasn’t taken centerstage during speeches at the Republican National Convention this week.
The collapse of the housing market, the major economic story of the past year and which has roiled credit markets worldwide, has received only a faint nod from GOP convention speakers. Even in the major addresses focused primarily on the economy on Wednesday evening, the word “foreclosure” was not used and no speaker offered specifics about what Sen. John McCain proposes to do to address falling home values and cash-strapped borrowers facing foreclosure.
“Today, Americans are concerned about keeping their jobs, about keeping their homes, about the rising price of food and fuel,” former Hewlett-Packard Co. Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina said Wednesday evening, only touching on the issue broadly.
Former Ebay President and CEO Meg Whitman, who spoke on McCain’s priorities for his first 100 days in office, also brushed the issue: she noted that home prices have fallen and that “mortgages once thought to be safe are now threatened.”
Neither Fiorina or Whitman discussed the issue further in their primetime speeches.
The speaker who most directly addressed the housing crisis was former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who blamed it on the overall slowdown in the nation’s economy.
“What happened? mortgage money was handed out like candy, speculators bought homes for free - when this mortgage main finally broke, it slammed the economy,” Romney said.
Romney, like Fiorina and Whitman, did not offer specifics about how McCain plans to address housing issues. He did say more broadly, however, that McCain favors “taking a weed-whacker to excessive regulation.” Such a position, if applied to housing, would seem to fly in the face of the widely accepted notion that lax regulation and oversight of the banking and mortgage industries led to the current economic turmoil.
By contrast, the foreclosure issue was mentioned prominently at the Democratic National Convention by Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and even the governor of McCain’s homestate of Arizona, Janet Napolitano.
“More of you have lost your homes and even more are watching your home values plummet,” Obama said during his acceptance speech last week.
Napolitano offered specifics about Obama’s plan to address the crisis, noting that “his economic policies will create a foreclosure prevention fund and stimulate the housing industry.”
In fact, the most detailed account of what McCain would do to address housing issues came during a three-minute video titled “Economic Reform” played during speakers at the Republican convention. About 15 seconds of the video is dedicated to housing.
“A top priority is to keep well-meaning, deserving homeowners who are facing foreclosure in their homes,” the video says. “He’s proposed a new home plan to provide targeted help to those hurt by the housing crisis.”
The plan in question, which is summarized on McCain’s campaign website, would provide fixed-rate mortgages to some subprime mortgage borrowers who meet certain eligibility requirements. The plan is much more limited than foreclosure prevention measures recently enacted by Congress in omnibus housing legislation signed by President George W. Bush in July.
A letter signed by many economists was sent to Congress today. The effort was coordinated by Paola Sapienza at Northwestern. Here's the text:
"As economists, we want to express to Congress our great concern for the plan proposed by Treasury Secretary Paulson to deal with the financial crisis. We are well aware of the difficulty of the current financial situation and we agree with the need for bold action to ensure that the financial system continues to function. We see three fatal pitfalls in the currently proposed plan:
1) Its fairness. The plan is a subsidy to investors at taxpayers’ expense. Investors who took risks to earn profits must also bear the losses. Not every business failure carries systemic risk. The government can ensure a well-functioning financial industry, able to make new loans to creditworthy borrowers, without bailing out particular investors and institutions whose choices proved unwise.
2) Its ambiguity. Neither the mission of the new agency nor its oversight are clear. If taxpayers are to buy illiquid and opaque assets from troubled sellers, the terms, occasions, and methods of such purchases must be crystal clear ahead of time and carefully monitored afterwards.
3) Its long-term effects. If the plan is enacted, its effects will be with us for a generation. For all their recent troubles, Americas dynamic and innovative private capital markets have brought the nation unparalleled prosperity. Fundamentally weakening those markets in order to calm short-run disruptions is desperately short-sighted.
For these reasons we ask Congress not to rush, to hold appropriate hearings, and to carefully consider the right course of action, and to wisely determine the future of the financial industry and the U.S. economy for years to come."
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With the economy so closely linked to the housing market this WSJ Blog might be a good place to start. Also, I think it speaks to McCain's limited understanding/disinterest is economic issues in general.
September 4, 2008, 6:02 pm
Mum’s The Word On Housing at GOP Convention
Michael R. Crittenden reports from Washington, on the Republican National Convention
The U.S. housing crisis and its record numbers of foreclosures may be keeping federal policymakers up late at night with worry, but it hasn’t taken centerstage during speeches at the Republican National Convention this week.
The collapse of the housing market, the major economic story of the past year and which has roiled credit markets worldwide, has received only a faint nod from GOP convention speakers. Even in the major addresses focused primarily on the economy on Wednesday evening, the word “foreclosure” was not used and no speaker offered specifics about what Sen. John McCain proposes to do to address falling home values and cash-strapped borrowers facing foreclosure.
“Today, Americans are concerned about keeping their jobs, about keeping their homes, about the rising price of food and fuel,” former Hewlett-Packard Co. Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina said Wednesday evening, only touching on the issue broadly.
Former Ebay President and CEO Meg Whitman, who spoke on McCain’s priorities for his first 100 days in office, also brushed the issue: she noted that home prices have fallen and that “mortgages once thought to be safe are now threatened.”
Neither Fiorina or Whitman discussed the issue further in their primetime speeches.
The speaker who most directly addressed the housing crisis was former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who blamed it on the overall slowdown in the nation’s economy.
“What happened? mortgage money was handed out like candy, speculators bought homes for free - when this mortgage main finally broke, it slammed the economy,” Romney said.
Romney, like Fiorina and Whitman, did not offer specifics about how McCain plans to address housing issues. He did say more broadly, however, that McCain favors “taking a weed-whacker to excessive regulation.” Such a position, if applied to housing, would seem to fly in the face of the widely accepted notion that lax regulation and oversight of the banking and mortgage industries led to the current economic turmoil.
By contrast, the foreclosure issue was mentioned prominently at the Democratic National Convention by Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and even the governor of McCain’s homestate of Arizona, Janet Napolitano.
“More of you have lost your homes and even more are watching your home values plummet,” Obama said during his acceptance speech last week.
Napolitano offered specifics about Obama’s plan to address the crisis, noting that “his economic policies will create a foreclosure prevention fund and stimulate the housing industry.”
In fact, the most detailed account of what McCain would do to address housing issues came during a three-minute video titled “Economic Reform” played during speakers at the Republican convention. About 15 seconds of the video is dedicated to housing.
“A top priority is to keep well-meaning, deserving homeowners who are facing foreclosure in their homes,” the video says. “He’s proposed a new home plan to provide targeted help to those hurt by the housing crisis.”
The plan in question, which is summarized on McCain’s campaign website, would provide fixed-rate mortgages to some subprime mortgage borrowers who meet certain eligibility requirements. The plan is much more limited than foreclosure prevention measures recently enacted by Congress in omnibus housing legislation signed by President George W. Bush in July.
Economists Against the Paulson Bailout Proposal:
A letter signed by many economists was sent to Congress today. The effort was coordinated by Paola Sapienza at Northwestern. Here's the text:
"As economists, we want to express to Congress our great concern for the plan proposed by Treasury Secretary Paulson to deal with the financial crisis. We are well aware of the difficulty of the current financial situation and we agree with the need for bold action to ensure that the financial system continues to function. We see three fatal pitfalls in the currently proposed plan:
1) Its fairness. The plan is a subsidy to investors at taxpayers’ expense. Investors who took risks to earn profits must also bear the losses. Not every business failure carries systemic risk. The government can ensure a well-functioning financial industry, able to make new loans to creditworthy borrowers, without bailing out particular investors and institutions whose choices proved unwise.
2) Its ambiguity. Neither the mission of the new agency nor its oversight are clear. If taxpayers are to buy illiquid and opaque assets from troubled sellers, the terms, occasions, and methods of such purchases must be crystal clear ahead of time and carefully monitored afterwards.
3) Its long-term effects. If the plan is enacted, its effects will be with us for a generation. For all their recent troubles, Americas dynamic and innovative private capital markets have brought the nation unparalleled prosperity. Fundamentally weakening those markets in order to calm short-run disruptions is desperately short-sighted.
For these reasons we ask Congress not to rush, to hold appropriate hearings, and to carefully consider the right course of action, and to wisely determine the future of the financial industry and the U.S. economy for years to come."
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