SD2008: Economy Section

I know you are right in all you say. But I feel that the elites are destroying America to start the New World Order. We don't know who in the government is just stupid or who are purposely acting stupid. Surely, they had to know that illegals are not a good idea and yet they let them take our jobs, give them welfare and SS and free medical. Then they sell them and others houses they know can't pay for them. And now they want us to pay for them.
Also, I read that Raines was fined 50 million dollars. Where did that money go? I don't believe he ever paid it.
My idea is to send the illegals home. Make Frannie Mae and whoever else sold those homes, keep and maintain those homes till they sell at whatever is owed on them. If they can't sell them then burn them down and sell the land. That would take all the foreclosures off the market. For the Americans who bought up 5 or 6 houses and didn't flip them in time they are out of luck. No bailout. As for Americans who bought homes they knew they couldn't afford but were convinced they could by the corrupt lenders, give them back what they invested in the home. That will allow them to move to something they can afford. And if the lender doesn't want to keep and maintain the homes till they sell for the price that is owed on them, they are allowed to burn them down or tear them down and sell what is in them. Tubs, sinks etc.
That is the only thing that is going to cure the housing market.

My solution is too late but would have worked.

Convert defaulted sub prime loans for people living in the property to month to month rental contracts at the initial (teaser) rate.

With no reset, most people can afford to keep up the low payments.

This will allow people to stay in the home and stay out of bankruptcy.

The banks will receive cash flow and will be able to wait for property values to get back to a break even or better.

Now that this "bailout" has been thrust upon us, we should concern ourselves with who the next Treasury Secretary might be. Can you imagine what would happen if someone like Bill Daley had $700,000,000,000.00 to distribute? That would maybe make the first installment in the Al Gore and Obama payback.

From the Desk of
Harold Muxlow, Sr
"Please pass on or delete if you don't agree"

AMERICA – WHAT’S WRONG WITH HER?

Why are Americans in such a rotten mood? Why are they lashing out at all kinds of agendas, immigration, border issues, trade deficit, Iraq war, abortion issues, road rage, global warming, health care, religion, terrorism, job losses, energy crisis, Social Security, and the federal deficit. Do I need go on? Politicians say we are whiners, that we are so furtunate to live in this country. I say, "yes we are", but they don't seem to get it, we don't want to lose what our entrepreneur forefathers generated and our brave soldiers fought and died for. We now stand a real good chance of that happening..
Our national treasury is being emptied by the misguided decisions of unscrupulous politicians, we have unneeded armies set up in every corner of the world bleeding our treasury and pumping up foreign treasuries. Do they want us there? No. So lets bring our boys home where they belong and spend that money here. We are not the worlds police force. What about the Iraq war, why not let the Iraqis vote on whether they want us there or not, if they say go then we should go (common sense). Isn’t that what democracy is all about? Perhaps in that case our politicians think they know better than the Iraqi people. What? Let’s build our fortress on American soil and get out of the politics of the rest of the world.
Why is Bush wanting to set up a missile defense system on Russias ’ border? Mr Bush, do we need to start another cold war? Aren’t 2 wars, going on now, enough for you? Have you not done enough to make the majority of the world hate and mistrust us? Calling 3 sovereign nations the “axis of evil”, whether true or not only gave power to the dictators of those countries to resist the great Satan (those dictators can now say to their people “I told you so, those US bullies only want to make war”). This is not the way to win friends and influence people.
Why are politicians able to give away aid to practically every country in the world without permission? Shouldn’t giving away our national treasury for any reason be governed and approved by a vote from the people? Our great wealth, fast eroding, cannot save the world and does little good because politicians in foreign countries take our generous aid giving and sell it back to their own people for their own profit.
When did the people decide to allow the trade deficit to reach almost 1 trillion dollars a year? The truth is; the people did not decide this and are allowing politicians to dilute our heritage with their failed trade policies, to bleed this country dry having no regard for how many jobs or benefits that our people are losing. This is the greatest transfer of wealth, our wealth going to other nations, in the history of the world. .Mr. Bush has been stumping to set up more free trade with other countries. He thinks that’s the answer. What is he thinking? Someday the trough will run dry and we will have no one to blame but ourselves for our own political apathy. 1.6 Trillion dollars will repair every bridge in this country (2 years trade deficit). Get the picture???. We must have a balanced trade deficit. Trade is great. just balance it.
Why do we not have a national health program for all ages? People are dying everyday because they cannot afford health care, cannot afford to get sick, and are turned away at hospitals and doctors offices. If a national health care program was based on common sense, it would work quite nicely. For instance. Pay medical professionals and hospitals a fair but fixed maximum amount (they can charge less) for those services so that our health costs would have some kind of cap. Make them post their prices like every other business has to do. Mr. Politician, don’t be afraid to tell the people they will have to pay for health care, they really do understand but they need to know how much per month on their tax bill, so to speak not cloud or hide the issue in smoke, mirrors and government accounting. Give us a choice to opt out but if we do, make it a requirement that we must have private insurance (must). That way private insurance companies can attempt to compete with Government benefits. That way we can all make good unclouded judgments.
Why is money for Social Security being bled off into the national treasury for programs not associated with Social Security? Who is going to pay into the system to sustain it if we keep on losing our workers to foreign competition? Out sourcing does not sound like anything to serious but how many millions of Americans are being displaced from their jobs so corporate giants can earn more money? There should be a major tax penalty for any American company that directly hires labor in other countries to produce products sold here. Our labor force should be working in this country, paying taxes, and spending their money here. The toy industry hires 100,000 Chinese workers to build lead painted toys so the toy industry can mark up their toys hundreds of percent and reap whirlwind profits leaving consuming Americans looking for work.
Why has illegal immigration been allowed to run wild? Our ancestors were all immigrants but they came here legally. Hiring immigrants for the work force to do unwanted jobs should be an option for employers to use but the employer should be required and allowed to request those workers and stand responsible to send them back home or transfer them legally to other jobs when the work is over. Employers and immigrants should not have to look over their shoulders wondering if they will be arrested. Remember, employers are entrepreneurs who are trying to earn a living and produce products that in most cases are helping sustain our inexpensive food supply. These illegal immigrants, in most cases, have performed a great service for this country but they should not have to swim across the border or be smuggled in but should be allowed to come here only when needed, only legally, or when they obtain citizenship.
This one really sticks in my craw. Why are any immigrants allowed to obtain citizenship in this country when they cannot speak English? Do we not know or care that this perpetuates enclaves of ethnic groups forming cities of their own where everyone speaks their language and those of us Americans visiting those cities have a hard time finding anyone who speaks our language? Miami is a great example of our failed immigration policies brought on by “no common sense” politicians. The silent majority needs to get off their duff and start complaining. Isn’t it time for a change? We need a president who has common sense and understands what must be done and do it. Politicians must stand up for common sense and get this problem over.. They’re so busy talking about each other they don’t have time to solve any problems. We need a real common sense leader as President and as a matter of fact, we need true leaders in every facet of government.
Why are we paying so much for imported fuel when we could tap more of our own resources until we can change to alternative fuel sources such as hydrogen, wind and solar (there are already test vehicles running using tap water (Ask Google). Why? We could develop these resources quickly (we already have the technology) if we were not spending our treasury on the Iraq war, foreign aid, foreign bases and foreign oil. Don’t wait for the oil companies to develop an alternative energy source, understand, they don’t want to. The ecologists need to get realistic until we can solve this emergency. We’re spending the productivity of this country in every country in the world without a trade balance in return or any sound reasons why. Remember, if it don’t make sense there’s a dollar in it.
Entrepreneurialism, the primary driving force that built this country in the first place is looked upon by many as a dirty word. Every kind of negative view of business that you can imagine is out there, but solving all these individual problems, if we could, will not cure the source of the problem. The source of our problems are apathy, “let George do it”, mentality. We are placing such a paperwork burden on small business under the guise of government protecting the susceptible innocent consumer that it is costing us all a fortune and our futures. Add another level of bureaucracy is the politicians answer? We’ll soon all be working for government the same as the Roman Empire.
The rotten mood of the people may not be understood by the people themselves because what we’re feeling is that the problems we face (that we hire politicians to solve), are never solved no matter how many promises they make. The same problems just keep going on year after year. The “end of an empire” feeling is on everyone's mind but just hasn’t been translated into our personal thoughts yet. Our “national greatness” feeling has gradually been chipped away and we are lashing out at all sorts of causes whether warranted or not.
The people of this country will have to get seriously involved and think things through when it comes to voting for politicians. Politicians do not all think alike. Make them answer the hard questions and remind them of their answers and quit being in the group that’s always wanting handouts. Put your energy toward solving the problems listed above and the good life will continue to be here for everyone.

God Bless America,

Harold Muxlow
Is a certified State of Florida general contractor and is a member of the local, state and national home builders associations.

If you want to see and hear a sound energy plan that will reduce or eliminate our foreign dependence on oil, join T Boone Pickens on his plan to do just that. It's the only sensible plan I've seen. Hopefully he will get through to the Candidates and the people while we still have our own capital left in this country.

http://push.pickensplan.com/

Mr speaker I would like to thank you for starting and providing a voice for the average american that is "American Solutions". I first met you in your office on E.broad St in Newnan, Ga back in the 80's (Lee King, Johnson Hardware) as a teenager and have followed your career ever since. I do not agree with everything you say but I believe your ideas represent the average americans way of thinking. I do not agree with the 700 billion $ bailout, that is what it is a bailout. The problem with going from old solutions to new solutions is that the politicians have not figured out how to cheat the new solutions they are set in their ways so untill they can figure out how to get around the new solutions it will not change. I agree the people need to take back the country. America needs to be the greatest country on earth but this will not happen because as the older (proud) generation goes away the newer younger generation takes over. but, without the pride and respect of the one before it and the country ends up being given away to radical ideas and almost rebelion against what is america. This is not with out blame the government has crushed and cheated the people so bad no one really cares anymore it is no longer, "All for one and one for all" it is just all for one. I think we need to become a self reliant nation. We need to produce our own enegry ( oil, coal, nucler, solar, and anything else we can think of and if we have some left over we might sell it on the market but we get our's first. We need to bring back the farmer they needs to be one of the richest groups people on earth because we all have to eat and if we have a surplus of food we might sell it on the open market or if we decide to donate food that is our choice but america comes first. we need to have some of the finest the most advanced and the most sought after products in the world and if you want our products it will cost you. Free trade! nothing is free for every product coming into the country there needs to be one product going out if you charge us a dollar to bring ours into your country we charge you a dollar for yours, tit for tat. We have become a nation of consumers instead of producers and thats why we have lost the inovation and behind in technology. Imagration nobody address the fact that illegal imagration puts a heavy burden on the economy I do not believe in open borders the government said it would cost to much to ship 20 million illegal imagrants back to mexico, You could give them each a million dollars and that would not be a drop in the bucket compared to 700 billion $ CLOSE THE BORDERS it is a national security problem. Pull all of our money out of the UN but keep our seat just to monitor whats going on. Last but not least build our millitary to twice that of the pre Clinton era if we are going to be the big boy on the block then we need to act like it. God Bless America

HOMEBUYER TAX CREDIT SOLUTION TO ECONOMIC CRISIS

FDIC Chairman Bair stated that “until home prices stop falling, financial markets and the economy are unlikely to stabilize.” Chairman Bernacke and Secretary Paulson agree and both cite the collapse of housing prices as the “underlying problem.”

Yet they amazingly basically then ignore it at the grass roots (i.e., the “underlying” level) – instead focusing on big banks and brokerage houses with hundreds of billions in programs which are more dramatic, but don't solve root problem. (Giving hundreds of billions to big banks is like treating lung cancer with heroin. It may stop the unpleasant coughing for a while, but then later even if the underlying disease is cured, the patient is an addict!)

There's a simpler, less costly, more democratic solution which will work better and faster:
An IMMEDIATE, SHORT TERM, TAX CREDIT FOR ANY HOME PURCHASE. It would immediately stimulate sales. Bargain hunters will jump in first and then those who need housing but have been waiting. A tax credit stimulates reluctant buyers. Home purchases begin to increase. Increased sales volume means the housing market stops falling. Fewer mortgages go under water and fewer are foreclosed. Those which must be “sold short” can at least be valued once transactions increase and values stabilize. Mortgage backed securities and their derivatives can then be reasonably valued, and sales of those securities can occur at realistic levels. Liquidity will be increased on Wall Street and main street.

The credits against federal income taxes could be spread over several years to lessen the impact, and could even be transferable. We already have an IRS, so no new bureaucracy is required. Finally, tax credits are the least intrusive rescue plan, and they don’t involve socializing the financial sector through government ownership.

A Tax Credit Incentive Solution:
a) Use INCENTIVES to jump start Residential Real Estate sales. This can turn around the Residential Real Estate Crisis which underlies the Financial Crisis.
b) Create an immediate tax credit for US citizen homebuyers of X % of the purchase price for any home purchased for the next Y months, credited against all taxes over several years.
c) Bargain hunters would prime the pump, and others not wanting to be left behind would join in. Everyone would know that “the bottom has been hit,” and home prices have stabilized and will begin to rise.
d) Families could buy houses again, young people could become homeowners again, retirees
could sell and retire again.
e) First speculators, and then other investors, will begin to buy mortgaged-backed securities to
reap increasing underlying real estate values.
f) Incentives will help millions of buyers and sellers, and enable millions to avoid foreclosure.
g) Effects could be rapid at the Grass Roots. All communities would feel some relief.
h) The costs and benefits of Tax Credits Incentives for residential real estate purchases
can be predicted. No new bureaucracies are needed and there is little “ramp up” time.

Benefits of Incentives:
Tax Credits for residential real estate buyers will:
a) immediately stimulate home sales,
b) cause housing prices to stabilize,
c) increase the number of transactions which will create “comparables” for appraising home and mortgage values,
d) reduce the number of foreclosures and homeowners walking away from their mortgages,
e) enable financial institutions to value the underlying mortgages and thus the mortgage-backed and derivative securities,
f) give the greatest and most immediate relief at the grass roots, “main street” level,
g) stabilize Wall Street without the appearance of “bailing out” the most wealthy and powerful, and appearing to largely ignore homeowners,
h) avoid an expensive and huge new government bureaucracy
i) avoid an enormous RTC-like wealth transfer from ordinary Americans to international financial institutions or back to Wall Street.
j) preserve grass roots capitalism which is rooted in homeownership,
k) avoid re-writing the bankruptcy code,
l) avoid focusing on who’s more to blame, Wall Street, Main Street or both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, with the attendant further loss of civility and national unity,
m) Protect the $700 Billion tax payers are giving Wall Street, by increasing the Underlying Real Estate Values, and
n) stimulate the overall economy at the grass roots level.

Glen Urquhart, Former Reagan-appointed Chairman,
National Capital Planning Commission,
“Grass Roots” Real Estate Investor for decades