As the CBO notes, Fannie and Freddie “purchase mortgages at above-market prices,” driving down interest rates and passing some of the savings to home buyers. That subsidy is felt right away, but the risks in providing it are stored up over time, and their real costs may not be felt for years or even decades””as was the case in the years leading up to their spectacular collapse in 2008.
Yet this is precisely the fiction that the Obama Administration seeks to preserve by keeping the cost of Fan and Fred off the government’s books. The Administration’s budget accounting assumes Fannie and Freddie are private companies. So under its preferred treatment, the only recognized cost to taxpayers is the money that is being pumped in to keep them afloat””$110 billion so far.
That’s plenty as it is, but in the wake of their government takeover, there is no justification for pretending that their risks aren’t taxpayer risks. This is all the more true with the likes of New York Senator Chuck Schumer giving the companies marching orders to rescue tenants in the Stuyvesant Town development in Manhattan.
No matter how it is done or who does it “cooking the books” is always dishonest and wrong.
I agree. As long as the government participates in the myth of class advancement, people will falsely believe they can themselves move from one class to another.
Another example of Obama transparency.
#2, I’m not sure I follow you assertion that there is a “the myth of class advancement”. In my life, I definitely went from working poor to upper middle class, advancing across two class levels along the way. I went from working for minimum wage part time (on my own with a car and an apartment 1400 miles from parents and with no support from that direction and only a high school education) to earning 6 figures (first time was this year). Millions of legal immigrants have come to the United States over the years, with virtually nothing, and they work their way up to being successful merchants and business owners providing jobs to others.
So, I would be interested in your explanation that this class advancement is somehow a myth…since I believe that I have lived it.
One of the things that is particularly odious about the transfer of wealth perpetrated by the Fannie and Freddie syndicates is that they took tax dollars from some (those not in political favor) and gave them to others (those in political favor). That may not seem like a big deal, but as I said in a previous post, I have managed to work my way up from working poor to the upper middle class and it took me 26 years to do so. How much faster would my assent have been if I had not been anchored down by the welfare state and wealth transfer schemes like Fannie and Freddie? Why was my advancement sacrificed on the alter of bribing a particular political constituency? Because, make no mistake, the money that I earned by my hard labor was forcefully taken from me by government coercion and transferred to those of a particular favored group, at the expense of my advancement.
I think that the books of Fannie and Freddie should be totally open so that taxpayers can know the fraud that is bein worked against them so that liberal (socialist) politicians can bribe a particular constituency and retain blocks of power at the expense of their political opposition.
Word to Sick & Tired — and good for you on the hard work and success. Thank God we’ve been blessed with living in a country that allows people to pursue success as they define it.
Hi Sarah — Thank you. I re-read my earlier posts and they sound a bit prideful, so I want to take this opportunity to give credit where credit is due…all the glory is God’s and God’s alone. The “hard work” that I did was only possible by His grace and mercy and all the blessings that I enjoy are from His hand.
But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. ~ Deuteronomy 8:18
One must consider E-filing your taxes, not just only because you can get your tax returns quicker (if you get one) but of course you can save money by not paying for postage, and there are a plethora of IRS approved free programs. There’s a free Turbo Tax program (if you made under $ 57,000), and there are free programs from H&R Block and TaxAct. The hitch is that if you have a complex return, you’re better off using an accountant, because mistakes will cost more than a payday loans worth. Also, IRS e-filing is only your federal return, so if you have a state income tax, you’ll need to settle that elsewhere. Very efficient and could save time and effort.