As the political climate heats up, discussions on the economy by the three remaining candidates is grabbing headlines and lead off stories on network news.  NBC network news with Brian Williams started the news with the statement about the economy stating “A landscape loaded with doom.”  He was referring to consumer confidence which has dropped to a five year low.  Obviously, consumer confidence affects every aspect of our society from car washes to real estate sales.

Concerning the current state of the mortgage business John McCain stated he was “committed to the principal that it is not the duty of the government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly whether they are big banks or small borrowers.”  On the other hand Obama and Clinton have criticized mortgage lending practices and have called on government organizations to provide relief to homeowners. Hillary Clinton has stated she would work to keep people in their homes making available $30 billion to prevent further foreclosures. One idea from Clinton would be to freeze interest rates for 3 to 5 years. Obama felt that would benefit the rich.

Supporting any idea of an interest rate freeze brings up numerous questions and concerns, but I do not think that this freeze would benefit the rich, but middle class Americans who will be facing large interest rate increases in the next couple of years as there interest rates adjust. Maybe a loan limit should accompany an interest rate freeze to make sure any relief package would not benefit the rich.  I know I will have a rate increase on my mortgage in December 2009 and I am not among Americas rich.

I agree with Hillary.  Let’s keep Americans in their homes.

I also agree with John McCain that it is not the job of the government to reward those who act irresponsibly, but what about all the people who got caught up in this mortgage debacle that have not and are not acting irresponsibly.  Should the government help?I think it is inevitable that some relieve will come from the government.  The big question is what will be fair and equitable to all those caught up in this current mortgage mess.

What do you think?

Tags: Gary Carlson, Good buys in Palm Springs, Old Las Palmas REO, Palm Springs Bank Owned Property, Palm Springs Foreclosures, Palm Springs REO'S, Real Estate Owned, Reduced Price, The Moore Carlson Group, www.themoorecarlsongroup.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 at 6:24 pm and is filed under Gary's Real Estate Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.