What exactly is the argument in favor of nominating Newt Gingrich? I ask that honestly, after debating one of his supporters. The reasons seem to break down into three general categories, none of which from my standpoint have the slightest thing to do with either electability or suitability.

The first argument is that Gingrich really takes it to the media and gets why conservatives feel so aggrieved. Well, that certainly qualifies one to be a talk show host and a scribbler of anti-elite screeds, but how does that get you elected president? Aside from the hard core Republican base, no one really cares, as an electoral matter, if the media are fair or not. Voters oddly think the election is about them — their future, their economic well-being and their safety and security. Does an independent voter in Ohio give a fig whether ABC News was right in running the Marianne Gingrich interview? It’s laughable.

Moreover, for a candidacy about “change” and “ideas,” as Gingrich claims,this is the most tired and irrelevant message: The elites are out of touch and ridicule conservatives. What the president is supposed todo about that is unclear. And in the final analysis it’s not what Republicans care most about. They care about ousting Obama and rolling back Obama’s agenda; frankly, they’ve given up on the liberal media.

The next argument is that Gingrich will “out debate” Obama. This is probably the silliest rationale of them all. The likelihood of multiple Lincoln-Douglas debates is tiny, and the thought of Gingrich stalking Obama around the country pleading for him to debate is not, I would suggest, a selling point. The real debates are few in number and would be unlikely, in any event, to actually help Gingrich. It is in that setting that his incendiary rhetoric, his penchant for insults (“food stamp” president) and pie-in-the-sky schemes (kids as janitors), would turn off any non-core Republican voters. And if you expect Gingrich to comprehend this, curb his tongue and broaden his appeal, you’ve got the wrong candidate. Self-disciplined he is not.

The next argument Gingrich’s defenders raise is that he did a lot for conservatism in the 1990’s. Let’s say that is correct and that the Contract with America outweighs his disastrous speakership and the angst he caused Republican office holders. So what? Is the presidency a prize for “service to the party”? If a candidate’s achievements twenty years ago are his best calling card, is there a problem?

A variation of this argument is that Gingrich is anti-establishment and will bring about “fundamental change.” Well aside from the need to get elected and the ability to implement one’s ideas (neither of which is a Gingrich strength), when Gingrich has been in power or made policy choices his positions have more often than not been establishment-friendly and decidedly unconservative: the individual mandate, ethanol subsidies, support for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (in office and afterward), TARP, Medicare Part D and climate change. He talks a good game, but in practice his policy choices have been anything but revolutionary. In fact, he attacked as too radical the most innovative idea from Republicans in recent years — Medicare reform.

If you are a hard core conservative, there is a solid conservative choice in Rick Santorum. If you are more centrist or a moderate, there is an experienced executive who instinctively favors private enterprise. But Gingrich? I don’t get it. And the inability of his supporters to present cogent arguments on his behalf is telling.

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Image via Wikipedia

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TAMPA, FLA. — The most important moment of Monday night’s presidential debate — the first in the crucial state of Florida — may have come before any candidate actually took the stage.

Prior to the camera rolling, NBC, the debate’s host, told audience members to hold their applause. It was not an agreed-to rule among the candidates themselves. In fact, none of the campaigns said they had even requested it. But it created a type of no-thrills vibe that clearly benefited one over the other.

Mitt Romney, by most estimates, emerged better off Monday night. He peppered his answers with attacks on Newt Gingrich that his own top advisers freely called “aggressive.” Most of the action came within the debate’s first half-hour, when the focus was on the former speaker’s role as a consultant/lobbyist for Freddie Mac, his propensity for bombast and his serial unreliability.

‘I don’t think we can possibly retake the White House if our nominee was a lobbyist for Freddie Mac,” Romney declared at one point.

“The truth is that the members of his own team, his own congressional team, voted to displace him,” he offered at another.

In past forums, the attacks would have elicited howls, cheers, or even boos — disrupting the flow and giving Gingrich the type of energy and break in discussion to jump in. On Monday, Gingrich was left flailing.

“Now, wait a second. I mean, he just went on and on and on, making a whole series of allegations,” Gingrich said about the barrage on his Freddie Mac history. “You just jumped a long way over here, friend,” he added later.

After the fact, the campaigns spun the debate in typical fashion. But each adviser kept coming back to the same keystone: the prohibition on applause.

“Audiences, I think are there to watch,” said Stuart Stevens, Romney’s top adviser. “They are not there to be, sort of, an 11th man on the team. And look, we have done fantastically in these debates. The audiences have been very good for Mitt Romney. I just think, personally, that the audiences should not be, it is not the LSU-Alabama game.”

“We are picking the president of the United States here,” Stevens added. “It is not a game show.”

If that didn’t give off the indication that the Romney campaign felt it benefited from a dryer, quieter format, the reaction from the Gingrich camp certainly did.

“I also think the prohibition for no clapping was kind of un-American. What if you went to a baseball game and they were like, ‘No cheering after a big play,’” asked Gingrich’s top spokesman R.C. Hammond.

“I’m going to [file a complaint] right now,” Hammond added, tongue in cheek. “R.C. is lodging a complaint.”

For the campaigns to put such tremendous stock in the debate rules may seem like an effort in finding a superficial explanation for a candidate’s performance. But the rest of Monday night’s hour and 45-minute forum was, truly, a dull affair. The candidates found themselves agreeing on several substantive matters: whether it be a limited version of the Dream Act (a path to citizenship for military service) or English as an official language. Former Sen. Rick Santorum and Rep. Ron Paul, the other two candidates, weren’t called on until 10-plus minutes in. And, far more often than in the past, they were used as strategic allies by the two frontrunners

“I actually agree with Rick Santorum,” Gingrich declared at one point. “I believe that the next president is going to face enormously difficult problems, some of which have been diagnosed by Dr. Paul. And the fact is we have tremendous institutional biases against doing the right thing and against getting things done.”

There was no correction offered from the rest of the field that Gingrich, himself, could be described as a product of those demonized Washington, D.C., interest groups. It was another lost opportunity — although this time to Gingrich’s benefit — and it underscored just how out-of-place Monday night’s affair was, compared with previous forums.

There were bursts of polite applause, in response to sharp denunciations of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

But it was nothing like the earlier forums. For weeks, political observers have been marveling over the impact that these debates and their raucous audiences have had on the course of the Republican primary race.

“The debates have allowed every candidate regardless of their station … to compete,” said former RNC Chairman Michael Steele. “It has allowed them to get on the national stage and for at least 18 two-hour moments, to have a conversation that they otherwise would have been blocked out of.” Taking the audience out of the equation, he added, gave Romney a big boost. “It is just the nature of how he approaches thing this debate was much more suited to his style of debate then it was to the other three.

But while Gingrich may, indeed, have been hampered by the rules of engagement, he didn’t exactly help his own cause. The former speaker, who had been so sharp in going after the media in South Carolina’s two debates, left tons of material unused when it came to responding to Romney.

When the former Massachusetts governor claimed that his private equity firm Bain didn’t work with the government, left unmentioned was that one Bain company ended up needing a $44 million federal injection to help out an underfunded pension plan. When Romney attacked Gingrich for his Freddie ties, the former speaker didn’t note that Romney himself had profited investments made in the mortgage giants (investments that spokesman Eric Ferhnstrom stressed were made blindly). When Romney talked about a three-step process to address the housing crisis — pursue fraud, force banks to be more flexible, and improve the overall economy — Gingrich failed to recall that his opponent once said the foreclosure crisis should run its course.

Those miscues couldn’t be attributed to a quiet audience. 

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I am more than six decades in age; I have been through years of upheaval and have seen the changes of our country, trends in society and in people, in general. People have changed and NOT for the good. The worst of them, I believe, is the ruthless business man or woman, especially the CEOs. Millions of dollars in wages and perks, high living and others just like him or her has changed America and America’s horizon. Now we stand on the precipice of yet another internal danger.

SOPA and PIPA

What is all the controversy about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) that are currently before Congress? We have until January 24 to find out and to also discover for ourselves what is really behind these bills and to stop the bills. Where there is smoke, there is fire and the smoke of these bills are obscuring the truth.

Why does the entertainment industry need a couple of over-kill bills to protect their rights? This is like swatting a fly with a Buick. Why hasn’t the entertainment industry done more to protect itself? That protection does not need the big guns of government censorship, destruction of the “offender’s” website, loss of income and credibility, not to mention the harm done to global commerce. Yet, the biggest loss could very well be American freedom.

America

America has always stood for freedom – freedom for the little guy just as well as for the big guy. Now we find that freedom eroded and sliding toward the edge of the abyss. There is entirely too much confusion about these bills. That alone should warn us that smoke is covering the real issues. The old adage, Follow the Money, applies. Who and what are behind these bills? Think for a moment.

See through the smoke. If the government gained control of the Internet via these “benign” and “nothing to worry about” bills, what then could we expect?

First of all, the loss of freedom. We would be told what we could and couldn’t do on our own web sites. We could expect our web sites to be monitored and regulated. We would be expected to back government agendas; to speak against them would mean a shutdown of our web sites.

Secondly, governments have been predictable for centuries; they vacuum money from their people, legally and illegally, in the form of taxes, fees, fines and takeovers. We have seen entirely too many acts of corruption by our leaders. The attitude of the public is blasé. Too many public leaders are crooked; we all know that. The crooked politician or president does not get put out of office, but arrogantly continues, term after term, running up debt and furthering corruption.

Thirdly, the government would control information. When information is controlled, the people are controlled, when the people are controlled, the government can carry on its agenda without obstacles. Soon we would find ourselves no longer in a democracy.

The Predictability of Government

The government already has a stinking track record of “regulating” their own agencies, offices, departments, administrations, programs and others. Remember these debacles?

Waco and the Branch Davidians and the strong-arm use of the federal law system; FEMA in general, FEMA in particular during Katrina; the Social Security loss of funds due to government entities that “borrowed” funds from the Social Security program for their own pet projects and never returned the money. Now it is the impoverished, aged, sick and premature tiny babies that are blamed as a “drain” on Social Security!

What about the health care system? To call it a mess is an understatement. Benefits and other aids are being ripped from those afore-mentioned and given to illegal immigrants who receive benefits not due them because of their illegal status.

We do not allow American prisoners some rights and felons are denied most rights: the right to vote or hold government jobs, and so on. Yes, the government won’t step up to the plate and do something about illegal entry into the U.S., even though our citizens are denied their rights when they have acted illegally. The government’s mishandling of immigration is undermining our economy and our national security.

The government has mishandled money since the first tax was levied in our country. We are already taxed for everything imaginable. Blinded by dollar signs, they are desperate to get their foot in the door of the Internet. From the examples of Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae, the government can’t handle money. Our money. They have never figured out why Americans are forced to live on credit until their cards are maxed.

What about the waste of money in wars? Wars that the U.S. never intended to win. The loss of technology, money, materials and military personnel is an injustice and irresponsible. I recognize that there are times a country must go to war. But it should be under a set of predetermined conditions with a goal in mind.

American Losses

Our country’s men, women and children in the past decade has seen horrid catastrophic weather-related destruction: the tornadoes in Oklahoma and rains, floods, fires, mud slides, tornadoes, hail, drought and hurricanes have  battered the nation, racking up commercial losses through business loss and infrastructure damage and loss, loss of property and homes. Loss of citizens, pets, wild life, trees, food crops, gardens, food animals and fowl is heartbreaking.

Countless people are standing their own losses because the government did not deem their situation as grave enough to warrant federal aid.

I could go on. We have been victimized over and over again by our government and its hand in our pocket. Now the government wants to further withdraw money from our accounts by trying to shoulder its way into the Internet. Not just the government, but other dark undercurrents who also are vying for money and power. Undercurrents who fund lobbyists and other powerful groups to force their selfish interests to the forefront. The American citizen is under siege from all directions.

American Victims

Who will suffer the most should these bills be passed into law? The middle income, low income and the poverty level will be affected the most. This is where they find the information they need to make decisions, to find more critical information, to stay abreast of trends, to stay in touch with family, friends, neighbors and acquaintances around the world.

Stand UP, America!

The Internet helps the citizenry to make informed choices in their medical treatments, political candidates, businesses, and much, much more. Further, it is FREE! Since these income brackets — the middle, low and poverty — make up the majority of the population, it stands to reason that these are the most feared. They can make changes! They are a force to be reckoned with.

The marketing and commerce industries already know the value of Facebook, Twitter, Google, Reddit, Tumblr, Yahoo, eBay, Mozilla, Kickstarter, AOL, Zynga, and other social sites that are fertile grounds for advertisements and word of mouth endorsements. The government could impose injurious regulations on American businesses and enterprises.

The government would also gain control of all of these and countless others. Other countries would also play into our government’s hands because of the commerce and shipping prospects.

The Senate will begin voting on January 24. Sign all the online petitions you can find and let them know how you feel about this smokescreen and that you will not fall for their trickery. Write, e-mail and call your congress and senate representatives, your friends, family members and neighbors.

http://www.housingwire.com/2012/01/12/freddie-survey-shows-mortgage-interest-rates-at-all-time-low  Interest rates for a 30 year mortgage according to the Freddie Mac survey hit an all time low this week.  I am torn about this.  On one hand, I am glad that the interest rates are low.  Low interest rates are my stimulus package since I have been doing a lot of refinances.  This includes people who have refinanced twice or even three times in a short amount of time.  http://trifter.com/usa-canada/re-finance-twice-or-three-times-if-the-numbers-work/ Unfortuantely, I am not seeing people buy a house for the first time.  I am certainly not seeing people buy bigger houses like I did during the boom of 2002-2006.  The low interest rates are not helping the housing economy.  The low interest rates are not helping people suffering with the foreclosure crisis.  The only benefit I have seen to the low interest rates as far as the housing market is concerned is for people with good credit lowering their interest rates. 

We are still in the depression-recession caused by the collapse of the housing industries that started around 2007.  The Department of Labor said that the unemployment rate is 8.5%, the lowest it has been since March 2009. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/real-jobless-rate-114-realistic-labor-force-participation-rate  However, the real unemployment rate is a lot higher.  When you add in the underemployed and those who have given up on a job, it is at least double the 8.5 quoted. 

The real reason that Ben Bernanke is keeping the interest rates zero is because of the national debt.  We are headed toward another debt ceiling crisis in 2012 as the government needs another 1.2 trillion dollars of debt just to make it through one more year.  I remember driving to Grandma’s house in 1979 and seeing a sign of a trillion dollar national debt.  We have gone from 1 trillion to 16 trillion in just over 30 years.  It is outrageous.  If the interest rates rose even slightly, the debt crisis would get even further out of control.  If you review a speech http://socyberty.com/issues/ben-bernanke-will-devalue-the-dollar-40-in-2012-like-fdr-did/ by Ben Bernanke from 2002, he is doing exactly what he said he would do, that is have the interest rates at zero. 

As a libertarian-conservative and Ron Paul supporter, I do not like that the government is involved almost completely in the mortgage business.  (With the health care bill, they took over student loans completely).  Government has almost completely taken over mortgages as they insure about 90% of mortgages via Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the VA and the FHA.  The Fannie and Freddie debt add about another $5 trillion to the debt.  While I do not government involved in mortgages, it is the case now.  We need to prudently end this.  If the borrowers do not make the payments, the government (no, the taxpayers) is on the hook to make the lender whole if there is a deficiency balance.  Since that is the case, I think President Obama’s idea to refinance everyone at 4%, (the Freddie Mac average is just under that) is a good idea.  Anything that makes a borrower more likely to make payments, I think, is a good idea.  This should be implemented as prudently and quickly as possible.  Then the government needs to slowly get out of insuring mortgages.  They need to do as quickly as possible, but prudently not to crash the housing market.  Interest rates and stability in the housing market and the whole economy can slowly rise over the course of time and our money will no longer be a joke. 

While many people are familiar with the downfall of Freddie Mac, the October 31 bankruptcy filing of MF Global was the eighth largest in US history and shows that little has changed in the financial industry.  Why should it, when former politicians continue to be for sale as if America were a banana republic?  CEO and former Democratic Governor John Corzine claims not to know what happened to the $1.2 billion that’s missing.  Trick or treat?  Depends on who you ask.  The easiest route to power for a politician is to sell out.  With the promise that victory will be rewarded, corporations will fund anyone’s campaign.

Apologists will claim that Gingrich and Clinton are not responsible for the collapse of Freddie Mac or MF Global.  However, influence peddling is completely contrary to what the free market system requires, fairness.  Is our economic system based on a competition of what you do, or of who you know?  We know how most politicians would answer that.

Politicians are entrusted with much power and information that they are supposed to use to serve their constituents, not themselves.  While legal, simply waiting until out of office to sell that trust to the highest bidder is a complete degradation of the office they once held.  Yet, these new elites actually promote themselves as intellectuals who can fix our economic problems.  Yes, the system will be fixed.  They will make sure whatever legislation they pass will benefit them and their corporate masters, as they’ve done consistently since the 1990s.

When British Petroleum took shortcuts that neglected safety to get oil in the Gulf of Mexico, people were rightly outraged at the resulting catastrophe.  This is why the government has to regulate businesses.  All too often business men are so focused on pursuing profit that they trample all over the interests and sometimes even rights of the little guys.  Politicians who wish to govern as though they were CEOs, focusing so intently on GDP and budget deficits, can end up devastating many ordinary people with their policies.

If you look at the big picture with Gingrich and Clinton, even though the numbers look nice during their time in government, the consequences of their policies have been devastating.  What really shows how arrogant they are is that they like taking credit for everything good that happened in the 1990s, while they were in fact dismantling the economic structure for the long term.  Did Gingrich and Clinton have anything to do with the boom in Silicon Valley that did so much to change not only America, but the rest of the world?

President Clinton and the Republican Congress that Gingrich formed and brought to power gave America the Permanent Normalized Trade Relations (PNTR) with China, passed more crime bills than any president and Congress in US history, and repealed Glass-Steagall which deregulated the banks and played such a crucial role in our recent economic crisis.  Thank you!  The much overlooked crime bills passed in the name of “culture wars” promoted the valuation of incarceration over education.  The doubling of America’s prison population helped keep unemployment low, since all the new prisons had to be staffed and the new inmates couldn’t be counted in unemployment statistics anymore.  Is that a real solution?

Many people believe that we operate in an era that is beyond history; that the world has never seen as much transition, development and unification as what occurred in the last century.  The lessons of the past no longer apply because the world is so different.  This was some of the thinking that led people to falsely assume that our “new” economy was immune to the deep depressions of the past.  They failed to take into account that while the world has changed greatly, man hasn’t.  Therefore, the lessons of man’s successes and failures throughout history are timeless.  Especially those based on morality.

Gingrich and Clinton personify egotistical leaders who wish to save or create a new world, only to cause tremendous damage.  They might have good intentions, but for our leaders that’s not enough.  They have to be judged on their policies, and that requires long term analysis.  If our leaders have failed, and we pretend that they were a success, the damage continues.  Politicians aren’t sports stars, nor are political parties sports teams that you root for just because you like them for whatever reason.  These are the people who will decide our nation’s future.  While the media enjoys portraying the competition between parties as though it were a sport, the stakes are far greater.

I don’t hate Gingrich or Clinton, I just hope their charade as leaders will end.  They were followers of a fast buck from the beginning.  Hustlers think their cleverness can solve any problem by making a profit out of it.  This makes them incapable of building anything of substance that will stand the test of time.  With all the money in politics these days, it’s no surprise that so many hustlers have risen to the top.  Too bad the result is that America is getting hustled out of its future.

To see more on what’s wrong and how to fix America’s problems, see www.politicsandjustice.com.

Also read Obama’s Reelection & Clinton’s Legacy and Culture Wars

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So what does Newt have going for him?  He is very smart.  He speaks directly with vision.  And… that is about it. When considering Newt’s pros and cons, most everyone, including his supporters, believes that his cons outweigh the value he brings.

Newt has a great and horrible political past, and his personal life has mirrored his political career.

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He had one huge success with the “Contract with America” but was soon run out of office for reasons that nobody really knows why. Maybe he left so easily because of the fact that he was having an affair at the same time that he was impeaching Bill Clinton for lying about an affair.  I know that Newt suggested that his sin wasn’t as bad as Clinton’s because he didn’t lie to a judge. What? In most people’s eyes, the affair was the bigger sin. Is it OK to lie and cheat on your wife but not to a judge that can put you away?  Selfish!

There are many things that haunt Newt. Obama and the other Republican presidential candidates will be more than willing to bring tour buses to Newt’s huge dark closet.  How about his commercial with Nancy Pelosi on global warming?  How about his almost two-million-dollar jackpot he got from Freddie Mac that was paid by the tax payers? 

Gingrich talks about his change of heart from his fraternity days, I mean, his Speaker-of- the-House days, but most people believe that he is still a dirty old man.

If not president, where does Newt fit?  If his ego could be managed, he might be a sharp GOP vice presidential candidate.  Can you imagine how intellectually infantile Joe Biden would look debating Newt? Newt would also make a fantastic GOP replacement for Karl Rove. 

Polls show that President Obama would win Mr. Gingrich.  Newt, over his career, has given Obama a lot of arrows to shoot at him. He is a progressive Republican, closer to John McCain than the Tea Party. 

What do you think? Join the conversation. Pro or Con? Your intelligent comments may be included in the future Newt Gingrich articles.  Email comments to Press@JRChristensen.com. Please include at the top of your comments the name by which you would like to be called. No private information will be published or used for future spam. The world looks forward to hearing from you. 

Follow Jeff on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DiscussionNews.

Jeff Christensen, as you will see in his articles, has admitted attention deficit disorder and will cover all sorts of news topics.  Jeff has a broad range of experience starting, managing, and consulting for global companies. He is also a philanthropist, with most of his efforts going to create jobs in Central and South America, and organizations like Kiwanis International.  Jeff has been married for almost 20 years and has six children.  Contact Jeff at Press@JRChistensen.com

Today’s family must face the reality of the world as it is and take action to protect themselves from the greed and corruption of government and big business that created the economic situation. While saving is difficult, the frugal family needs to set aside some income from every paycheck even if that money doesn’t earn the same interest it once did. The fact remains that everyone needs to take control over their finances. In today’s environment even the smallest mistake can be costly.

A Budget

Now, more than ever, a budget is the only way to insure survival. It means taking an invntory of income and expenses and juggling both to cover needed expenses and hopefully have something to save. Few families can afford to waste money on a daily cup of joe and newspaper. Most people need to understand that loose change can be future wealth, something not easily squandered away.

A Plan for Survival

Most people find it easier to plan a wedding or a birthday, than creating a plan to guarantee a strong financial base. In today’s troubled times, a well thought out financial plan can spell the difference between survival and bankrupcy. Few people can afford to drift through life without knowing where every dollar goes.

A Habit of Saving

The first thought that should come to mind when money is earned is how it can be saved rather than spent. Forced savings are vital, even if interest rates leave you with no more money than if you stuffed your mattress with cash. Putting aside 10% of every dollar may seem unimportant, but it does develop financial discipline. It’s the first cardinal rule emphasized in David Chilton’s book The Wealthy Barber.

Get Out of Debt and Into Debit

Credit cards are too easy to use. Trouble is that while the economy is imploding, interest rates on credit cards have not gone down. Cutting out high interest cards is a sensible way to go and carryonly one card for necessary purchases. Getting on a cash basis can help you survive today’s financial reality.

Save Bonuses

Christmas bonuses, pay raises, rebates and inheritance money should not tempt you to raise your standard of living. Bank the bonuses and stay within your customary lifestyle. Those who survive during recession and inflationary times save first and spend only what they need, often to pay for the necessities and reduce debt. As you earn more, you should be saving more.

Pooling Resources

Survival today depends on creating a mastermind with your friends and neighbors to share scarce resources. Bartering goods and car pooling are good ways to cut down on expenses. The neighborhood can become a hub of creative and financial resource where everyone helps insure physical, mental and financial survival. Since few people can trust today’s government to spend taxpayer dollars wisely these days, getting back to the roots of community service may get the country back to its feet.

Author Bio: The author of this piece writes extensively on topics such as health, business, family finance and self improvement. He has a website of informative articles you can access here. Additionally, he also promotes Global Information Network, an exclusive club that provides useful information on thousands of subjects that interest you. GIN also has an affiliate program that can generate extra income for you. You can find more information on the GIN website or even go to exotic vacations around the world where GIN holds seminars, retreats and more. You can find out more at the About Me page at the author’s website.

Home Affordable Refinance Program

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As yet, most banking institutions wouldn’t normally remortgage credit when it was “underwater” * your home has been really worth below the amount mortgaged. Owners of this kind of residences might simply imagine just how much less complicated it might be on their month to month finances should they can lower their own payment.Today debtors whose financial products ended up purchased by simply Fannie Mae or even Freddie Mac upon or ahead of May 31, 2009, could possibly be qualified for remortgage underneath the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) once they are generally existing on their mortgage and possess experienced no delayed repayments during the last few months. The new principles would start to get into relation to November. 15th and might apply regardless of how considerably the actual homes have got reduced throughout value.

The modifications are usually a part of an endeavor by the Federal government to slower your increase of foreclosures. Management aides reason why if homeowners have got reduce payments, you will see fewer foreclosures that may also assist to stabilize home prices.

Home Affordable Refinance Program

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“Clearly replacing is really a important focus for President barack obama this year,” Gene Sperling, overseer in the National Economic Authority, said at the press briefing on Monday.

President barack obama has been launching this system within Sin city at a personal house Wednesday morning. Nevertheless, the Government Housing Finance Firm (FHFA) as well as HUD Assistant Rob Donovan briefed reporters earlier in the morning.

Mr. Donovan said it was challenging to point out what number of Us citizens might take benefit from the modifications inside the plan. Within the authentic plan, that has been begun underneath Leader George T. Plant throughout 08, under 1 million house owners refinanced their own homes.

“It failed to achieve the range we’d wished and also the level we need to get to,” mentioned Donovan. You’re the best way to eligible for replacing, FHFA consented to postpone several service fees and the need for a new assessment.

This action opens the doors for an attempt to force the banks to pay billions of dollars for the crime of causing the collapse of the housing market, which tipped the scales of the financial crisis. The suit marks the stronger efforts of the federal government to go after the banks for bad mortgages and other crooked deals.

Image by Dru Bloomfield – At Home in Scottsdale via Flickr

The suit charges that banks overstated the ability of borrowers to repay their mortgage loans. They falsely represented that the mortgage loans complied with underwriters guidelines and standards, then sold the mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Buyers were not able to pay their mortgages and as a result billions were lost and the housing market collapsed.

It isn’t only the banks that are charged with these crimes but Mortgage Securities and dozens of individuals such as directors of mortgages and chief executives. Each defendant had a roll to play, from buying home loans to bundling the loans into securities, to marketing and selling the securities to the government at a exorbitant cost to taxpayers.

All the defendants had deep pockets that were filled at the expense of taxpayers. They vouched for the false credit scores that allowed the mortgage, to the value of the home, and sold them to people who couldn’t afford to pay the mortgage. They had no regard for accuracy, and caused the loss of billions which went into their own pockets. As a result our grandchildren will pay for the crimes of these scam artists for years to come.

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Word of the lawsuits by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, came as a surprise to the market and weighed on bank shares. The lawsuits might add billions of dollars to the banks’ potential legal costs at maybe the worst potential time for the trade.

The FHFA plans to accuse major banks, as well as Bank of America Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co, of selling bonds backed by mortgages that ought to haven’t been packaged into securities, said the sources, who are at home with the matter. Neither source was approved to speak on the record. A spokeswoman for the FHFA declined to comment.

The biggest banks are already negotiating with the attorneys general of all 50 states to handle mortgage abuses. they’re probing for a comprehensive settlement that may shield them from future litigation and limit their potential mortgage litigation losses.

“This new litigation might disrupt the AG settlement,” said Anthony Sanders, finance professor at George Mason University and a former mortgage bond strategist. Banks may be a lot of reluctant to conform to a settlement if they apprehend litigation from different government players might still wallop their capital, he said.

Before the FHFA lawsuits had even hit a court docket, money specialists offered blunt expectations for the result.

“The lawsuits will be settled. the end result will be an additional outflow of cash from the banks, and a lot of importantly an additional black eye,” said Sean Egan, managing director of Egan-Jones Ratings Co.

The FHFA is set to file the lawsuits by Tuesday, before the three-year statute of limitations expires, one amongst the 2 sources said. The FHFA’s plans were 1st reported by the ny Times.

FHFA director Edward DeMarco is wanting to reduce future losses for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are owned by the govt. once failing in 2008. The corporations are pillars of U.S. mortgage finance.

The KBW Bank Index was down four.7 percent, nearly doubling the losses of the broader market. Bank of America led the index lower, dropping nine percent.

Bank shares conjointly came besieged from signs that the Federal Reserve might start selling shorter-term debt on its books and buying long-dated bonds to push longer-term yields lower as a stimulus live.

Such a move, referred to as “operation twist,” would hurt banks whose profit margin is tied to the short-term rates at which they fund and therefore the longer-term rates at which they invest.

CAPITAL WEAKNESS

Major banks already face potential payouts of tens of billions of dollars to settle regulatory charges of abusive mortgage lending and foreclosure practices, and different investor lawsuits over mortgage debt losses.

Such payouts would cut back earnings and weaken capital levels, maybe harming the ability of banks to lend cash and supply much-needed life to a stalled housing market and weakened economy.

The sources declined to call the banks to be sued by the FHFA, however The ny Times reported that they embody Bank of America, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs group Inc and others. Representatives of these banks declined to comment.

Banks are walloped by mortgage losses, however thus have Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which failed once attempting to finance too several dangerous mortgages with too very little equity. the 2 entities guarantee bonds backed by mortgages.

The question of whether or not to require action for issues related to the mortgage bonds has been under discussion since Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed in conservatorship in 2008, a 3rd person at home with the matter said.

While the final word quantity FHFA can obtain continues to be unclear, the third source said it might prime the $20 billion being mentioned by the banks and therefore the state attorneys general.