Obama on housing: 'Extend a hand' to homeowners

Sen. Barack Obama joins the housing speech parade today with what appears to be a difference-splitter: more government action and intervention than John McCain proposed this week, but not as much as Hillary Clinton favors.

Read the entire Obama speech here.

Reuters, via CNBC: "Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama called for greater government regulation of the U.S. financial system Thursday and proposed a new $30-billion economic stimulus plan to help homeowners. ... He proposed a $30-billion stimulus plan that would provide relief to areas hardest hit by the housing crisis, and an extension of unemployment insurance for those out of work."

L.A. Times: "Democratic candidate Barack Obama ... called for reform of the nation's regulatory system, immediate relief for homeowners caught in the sub-prime mortgage crisis and a $30-billion stimulus package to boost the economy.  'If we can extend a hand to banks on Wall Street, we can extend a hand to Americans who are struggling through no fault of their own,' he said."

On this language, McCain, Clinton and Obama agree: They support aid to the blameless. Who doesn't? The idea that there is some discrete group of blameless, faultless borrowers is a convenient piece of Washington fiction that ignores recent history. Everybody in this mess made mistakes. Borrowers took out loans they didn't understand to buy houses they couldn't afford. Some borrowers understood the risks they were taking; some didn't. Lenders made spectacularly bad loans because someone (Wall Street) was stupid enough to buy the loans. Washington witnessed the entire train wreck and declared it a good thing as it was happening, and only now sees the wreckage.

It's hard to see how an intelligent government response will somehow emerge from collective ignorance of what happened.

Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.
Photo Credit: Getty Images

Comments

[mapletree]

Great, now I can't stand Obama either. I have no candidate. I'm not voting for anybody. Obama is really clueless. I actually liked the guy, now I'm tired of his self-righteousness.

The Feds don't have $30 Billion, they didn't have $30 Billion when they promised it to JP Morgan and they don't have it now. And even if they did have it SHOULD NOT go to any homeowner, to any lender, to any bank, to any investment bank and so forth.

Of course the Feds will just print more money further devaluing the dollar. Obama is an idiot along with MCopportunist and Power Hungry Clinton.

[mapletree]

How is this less than what Hillary was proposing??

Sounds like the same thing. Oh that's right she wanted to freeze foreclosures. Although Barry seems to be saying the same thing.

They're all puppets anyway....

[JohnnyB]

Obama is the real deal… read the ENTIRE SPEECH! Then go to his web site and read more.

Obama is the first candidate in a LONG, long time that speaks with honesty, clarity, conviction, intelligence, thoughtfulness, empathy, optimism, vision and unity of purpose.

Obama promotes democratic participation, government transparency, financial oversight, long term economic growth (for all citizens), reasonable helping hands/support and appropriate diplomacy. He rejects special interest manipulation, cultural division, elitism and fear mongering.

We Americans are very fortunate to have such a person to elect as our next president. He is a class act all the way. He is a natural LEADER. He will help to change our direction for the better and to set a more prosperous course for America in the global economy – WITH OUR HELP.

Obama has my support and my vote.

[Peter]

I agree that the borrowers are far from blameless. I know multiple people who worked the system and are now in a crunch because their "house value" stopped its unrealistic climb. Why should the rest of the country pay for the problems that so many took upon themselves? If they are helping some homeowners they need to provide the same help to everyone.

[Cal]

Instead of extending a hand, many here have extended a finger.

But the good news is we are 20% of the way to where Obama wants us to be!

[Adrian]

The stimulus package would be 30 billion minus the recent stimulus package. Which wouldn't be as much as Clinton's proposal. Not sure how the housing bail out would work and my feeling is that there will be no bail out unless it was a situation of predatory lending or something like that.

Who know how to read a politicians but my guess is that there is no real bailout for the people over their heads in mortgages. I think the thought regulate for the future and hope the stimulus package help to jump start the economy. Maybe get a new set of homeowners to take advantage of the lower market prices.

[the problemwithcaring]

Peter - Obama does care about the one group of blameless in this housing crisis --

Those of us shut-out of the housing market completely.

Read more: http://tinyurl.com/2fcmrd

[overtaxed]

Let them go back to their former dwellings! Trailer's, apartments, and low cost rentals. Greed, and wanting to disclaim responsibility is the root problem. Stop giving away taxpayer money to pay for the stupid, lazy and irresponsible segment of society. I can afford my mortgage, and I don't want or need government "HELP"!

[MyLessThanPrimeBeef]

I am more interested in knowing what McCain, Obama, Hilary had to opine in, well, let's say, 2004, 2005 and 2006, about the then ever-expanding but-hey-look-at-how-strong-the-economy-is bubble.

I know what Greenspan, Fed Governor (Go buy a new SUV) McTeer and a Playboy centerfold turned real estate investor, check that, flipper(there is your 100%, no, make it 110% guranteed contrarian indicator) said in booming '05. But I would like to know what the future leaders of this country had to say back then.

[IToldu2CashOut]

Its scary how little understanding there is on the part of politicians on this issue. It reminds me of when Bush was talking about invading Iraq with seemingly no understanding of the middle east and what the results of his actions would be. We all know how that worked out. yeah there are 30 billion ways we can throw money at this problem but the truth is that it is way to messy and complicated to solve anything by throwing money around. There are first leans, second leans, speculators, people who bought second and third homes, all of these variations of people who do not deserve a bailout and are so deep over their head that there isn't enough money in the treasury to bail them all out. Sure maybe people in Ohio who lost their job deserve a bailout, but does anyone really think they will get separated from the ones who don't deserve it?

[IToldu2CashOut]

Its scary how little understanding there is on the part of politicians on this issue. It reminds me of when Bush was talking about invading Iraq with seemingly no understanding of the middle east and what the results of his actions would be. We all know how that worked out. yeah there are 30 billion ways we can throw money at this problem but the truth is that it is way to messy and complicated to solve anything by throwing money around. There are first leans, second leans, speculators, people who bought second and third homes, all of these variations of people who do not deserve a bailout and are so deep over their head that there isn't enough money in the treasury to bail them all out. Sure maybe people in Ohio who lost their job deserve a bailout, but does anyone really think they will get separated from the ones who don't deserve it?

[Roger]

You talk about how bad this is for the Party and that just is not true. In every state we have had record numbers register as Democrats and vote in the Democratic primary. We are a two party system and there is a huge difference between Republicans and Democrats. All those independents in reality lean one way or the other. This is drawing all those out and putting them in the Democratic party! This is not just about the 2008 Presidential election but also local and other national offices are also being run. It will also help in future mid term local, state and national election. We need to run a primary in every state all the way to June 9 and keep regisitering those democrats.

[Andrew Z]

IToldu2CashOut,

I definitely agree with your last statement.

Another point, kind of on the same lines, is how it's determined who gets the principal on their loans reduced (if it actually went through). Let's say my neighbor, who has the exact same house as me, misses a couple payments and is "troubled". The bank decides to reduce the amount of his loan but because I haven't missed payments I don't get the reduction? Does it mean that he's all square on his loan when I'm upside down still?

There are WAY too many variables in this equation, just on the profile of each homeowner, for this to work.

I'm thinking the only way out of this is to put some regulation on the lending practices in this country and let the market sort out the rest.

[Andrew Z]

IToldu2CashOut,

I definitely agree with your last statement.

Another point, kind of on the same lines, is how it's determined who gets the principal on their loans reduced (if it actually went through). Let's say my neighbor, who has the exact same house as me, misses a couple payments and is "troubled". The bank decides to reduce the amount of his loan but because I haven't missed payments I don't get the reduction? Does it mean that he's all square on his loan when I'm upside down still?

There are WAY too many variables in this equation, just on the profile of each homeowner, for this to work.

I'm thinking the only way out of this is to put some regulation on the lending practices in this country and let the market sort out the rest.

[Thomas Richards]

Actions Speak Better than Words

Before the negative press regarding Mr. Wright, Mr Obama had on numerous occasions declared Mr. Wright as his mentor and spiritual teacher for the past 20 years and even went so far as to include Mr. Wright in his election staff, these are the actions of Mr. Obama. When the press found out about the Hitleresque personality of Mr. Wright, Mr. Obama’s staff writers immediately created a rebuttal of hyperbole that amazingly some people actually believed.

But regardless what Mr. Obama and his staff reply, Mr. Obama cannot retract his clear public proclamation that Mr. Wright has been mentor and spiritual teacher for over 20 years. And that up to recent negative press, Mr. Wright was on Mr. Obama’s Spiritual Advisor Committee campaign team.

If you make the choice to listen and learn from Hitler every week over 20 years, do you expect me or any other rational being to believe that you wouldn’t be or want to be influenced by Hitler’s ideas? And what does that say of your personal integrity if you chose American hating Mr. Wright, or Mr. Hitler as your mentor in life?

Action is the real measure of a person, not their words. We know who Mr. Obama is by his life and his teachers, not the words he spins. And we can only imagine the amount of hatred Mr. Obama will unleash once he achieves ultimate power. And woe be the whites, the poor, those of the Jewish faith and anyone else Mr. Obama thinks deserve retribution. Maybe I am wrong, but considering Mr. Obama’s 20 year religious education, is such a risk worth the gamble?

And also consider recent announcement that the chief of the firm involved in the State Department’s passport breach is one of Obama’s adviser. (And why is this not being discussed?) And that Obama has been caught lying about Rezko, regarding the amount of money Rezko gave him, and that Obama still hasn’t come clean about his Rezko land deal. Or further, how Mrs. Obama makes a phenomenal $317.000 a month at a hospital in Chicago that is famous for turning away the poor, especially the black poor.

If Obama were to become president, what would stop Mr. Obama from appointing Mr. Wright to his cabinet? And after Mr. Wright’s appointment, if anyone complained no doubt they would be called racist. And it seems as if this strategy - that it is racist to criticize a black man - is already in effect as Mr. Obama can do anything corrupt with minimal impunity by the public or the press. But if Hillary so much as sneezes, she is taken through the laundry and hung out to dry and then beaten some more. Such an obvious bias treatment towards Mr. Obama because of his race is racial discrimination. And I believe another reason why Mrs. Clinton is unfairly criticized to such an extreme is because a handful of powerful men in the media can’t stand the idea of a woman for president – likely a libido thing.

We should have as our country’s leader someone with wisdom and knowledge, whose goal is the selfless betterment of the world. We should not elect someone with a personal agenda for personal power or select them because of the fashionably of their race or the preference for a gender.

With all the red lights in Mr. Obama’s resume, and all the hyperbole that he spins that keeps us from knowing the real Mr. Obama, are you sure this is the person best to lead our country? Should we gamble away the American future to a man who associates with men who hate this country and its people?

[capbreeze]

I'm in for 20% (referencing Cal's post).

Obama: Is this another white paper on how to pacify the realities of stupidity? If so, I'd like my mortgage to be reduced. I'd like my property taxes to go down. I'd like to live a bigger house I shouldn't have bought and live it large on a modest budget. Would you also let my company know that my cost of living really is going to get alot higher so they need to give me raise accordingly since the bailout will allow someone else to stay in the house that I should be living in. Oh but wait, I'm an adult that wants to teach my kids how to be fiscally responsible too. Never mind.

[LeavinLA]

IToldYou2CashOut wrote: "first leans, second leans..."

What's scary is how little accurate spelling there is out there.

[Randy]

Obama is ridiculous... literally.

Hey, where are all his Senatorial records he promised from his tenure in Illinois. Guess What? ... "He now is saying they have been "misplaced."

Sen. Obama - "I will not be a part of the Old Washington politics..."

"Hey BO you sure fooled the hell out of me, brother."

BO is doomed ... Because of his judgement.

"Why is he still going to that Church?"

Barack, don't you dare accuse me of racial indifference!

I have two names for Sen. Obama... Wright and Farrahkan.

[JohnnyB]

Thomas Richards,

It's really pretty humorous (and kinda sad too) listening to the endless parade of fear mongers who can pick up on a few comments - made by someone other than Obama himself - take them out of context and then make "doomsday" conclusions about Obama's future "actions" as president.

Let's endlessly loop Wright's image on CNN and see if it'll stick in anyone's craw. Screw the issues.

BTW, mentioning Hitler as inflammatory rhetoric or in an exaggerated comparison pretty much negates any point you might have been trying to make. Godwin's Law.

LAME

[sean]

Ok, I am know glad I know Obama is for a bailout to irresponsible people. So is Hillary. They have now lost my vote. As a democrat, I will gladly hold my nose and vote for McCain.

There should be no government bailout whatsoever. Nobody forced these people to buy a home. Simply let the free market take its course and it will fix itself. This isn't the end of the world. Let the people who deserve to lose money, lose money.

We are merely seeing the inevitable price correction to an overheated housing market. Let supply and demand provide us with the proper equilibrium. We do not need Hillary or Obama propping up an overinflated market and baling deadbeats who had no business taking out a mortgage they cannot afford to pay off causing this mess. That just makes things more difficult to responsible citizens to buy a home at an affordable price.

The housing situation will not unwind itself in 2008. Wait another year and save yourself 10 - 15%.

[buz]

Obama talks a great game and is a likeable person but his grand plans for rescuing idiots from themselves with government handouts is a no go for me. He better concern himself with social security and medicare first. And associating with crazy Wright and by extension Farrakan is poor judgement.

[JK]

I had no intentions of voting for this man. I don't think the government should bail out anyone but I think Barack has a point, if the government can bail out the corporate elites, then they can certainly bail out the average citizen! I'm tired of American citizens getting the short end of the stick while the elites use their power and influence to try and push the middle class toward poverty.

Barack has caused me to vote Democrat for the first time in my life. He certainly can't do any worse than the Republicans have in the last 8 years!

[JK]

...and I don't care about Obama's affiliation with Rev. Wright and Mr. Farakahn. If anyone (besides Native Americans) has a right to hate what this country has done to them, it is Blacks. We should get out collective heads out of the sand and admit that we were wrong as a nation for what we did.

[Jayhop]

All of this is just talk---when they get in office they wont do anything. They'll attribute it to President Bush tenure in the White House. They have to portray that image. Its just talk.

[Rob]

"We should get out collective heads out of the sand and admit that we were wrong as a nation for what we did."

http://tinyurl.com/ytd659

[Ed]

Posted by: JK,| March 28, 2008 at 12:35 AM, said: " We should get out [sic] collective heads out of the sand and admit that we were wrong as a nation for what we did."

JK, what did you do? I didn't do anything. My parents didn't do anything. My grandparents didn't do anything.

Do you need to go to confession? How about attending Osamamamma's church and admitting your sins. And then leave the rest of us out of your guilt trip.

[jerry c]

obama will be the best president that ever was, since george washington..
ture story