By Robert Laurie —— Bio and Archives August 7, 2013
Comments | Print This | Subscribe | Email Us
“John McCain has been calling for years to reform things and cut bureaucracy, even at the lending agencies that our government supports. The fact is Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers. The McCain-Palin administration will make them smaller and smarter and more effective for homeowners who need help.”
"But as home prices rise, we can’t just re-inflate a housing bubble. That’s the second thing I’m here to talk about today: laying a rock-solid foundation to make sure the kind of crisis we just went through never happens again. That begins with winding down the companies known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. For too long, these companies were allowed to make big profits buying mortgages, knowing that if their bets went bad, taxpayers would be left holding the bag. It was “heads we win, tails you lose.” And it was wrong. The good news is that there’s a bipartisan group of Senators working to end Fannie and Freddie as we know them. I support these kinds of efforts, and today I want to lay out four core principles for what I believe this reform should look like. First, private capital should take a bigger role in the mortgage market. I know that must sound confusing to the folks who call me a raging socialist every day. But just like the health care law that set clear rules for insurance companies to protect consumers and make it more affordable for millions to buy coverage on the private market, I believe that while our housing system must have a limited government role, private lending should be the backbone of the housing market, including community-based lenders who view their borrowers not as a number, but as a neighbor. Second, no more leaving taxpayers on the hook for irresponsibility or bad decisions. We encourage the pursuit of profit – but the era of expecting a bailout after your pursuit of profit puts the whole country at risk is over."So, where is the media? Why aren’t they exposing Obama’s fraudulent claim that taxpayers are on the hook for Fannie and Freddie? Why aren’t they lamenting the Democrats’ decision to back such an ignorant loose cannon? That was the slam on Palin. What’s different here? Oh yeah. I forgot. They’re not out to destroy Obama, and Palin was right all along. As for Obama’s reiteration of his “I’m not a socialist” bumper-sticker slogan… We’ll see. If he’s really embracing more private enterprise in the housing market, that’s great - but the reality is that there’s likely another shoe to drop. If we consult the Obama playbook, we find that this would be the perfect time to introduce a whole slew of economy-crippling addendums. Democrats will champion the elimination of Fannie and Freddie, but the price will be a raft of anti-profit social engineering gobbledygook disguised as “pro-consumer bank regulation.” Heck, maybe we can make “being broke” a “pre-existing condition.” That way, no one could be turned away from McMansion ownership…. What was it that caused that housing bubble again?
Robert Laurie’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain.com
Be sure to “like” Robert Laurie over on Facebook and follow him on Twitter. You’ll be glad you did.