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The Viagra Plan

Submitted by Jon Henke on Fri, 01/16/2009 - 14:22
in

I've been trying to figure out how to describe the fiscal stimulus bill more accurately, but the options I've heard (The De-Stimulus, the Debt Bill, etc) just haven't quite captured it.  And then I saw an element of the bill that spends $10 million to erect even more housing (yes, despite the over-supply of housing)....

The SHOP funding will be competitively awarded to eligible national and regional nonprofit housing organizations to develop or rehabilitate low-income housing.

It's expensive stimulation (that apparently helps with erection), and helps Democrats capture more votes by creating a massive national dependence upon government.

It's the Viagra Plan.  A Little Blue Bill that eliminates electoral dysfunction.

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Something more salient

Submitted by NoMoreBlatherDotCom on Fri, 01/16/2009 - 14:42.

It might be more salient to combine the fact that Obama recently moved his lips while Felipe Calderon spoke with this proposal from the Center for American Progress to point out that - just like Bush during Katrina - BHO won't see any problems with distributing money and jobs to illegal aliens. Their proposals might say they're only open to legal workers, but then they'll have a loophole where they don't check status or similar.

 

Of course, that assumes that the GOP wants to point that out rather than allow connected contractors to profit from illegal activity, as was done during Katrina.

Classic

Submitted by Max Borders on Fri, 01/16/2009 - 14:45.

This is potentially good memetics, Jon. Hope it gets around. The best part of the metaphor is, once the stimulus has passed through, all you have left is a weak, old, enervated body.

I get it, but it is weak

Submitted by Pogue_Mahone on Fri, 01/16/2009 - 15:28.

Dude, with all sympathies... and I'm with you 100% on this one as well...  And as someone as you know that has been reading you for years...  You just gotta stay away from this kind of comedy.

 

First try and conquer an appreciation for music, then maybe you can try it. :)

 

Cheers.

On a serious note

Submitted by Ironman on Fri, 01/16/2009 - 20:43.

Tryng to find a slush fund for "affordable housing" has been a Holy Grail for the Left.

First Chris Dodd tried to use future Fannie Mae profits for a Trust Fund

Well, Chris, now there won't be any profits, so then what.

Well Dodd & Co. tried to place ACORN ahead of the taxpayers when the banks pay back their TARP money.  That of course, went over like a lead balloon.

So now there's at it again. Why?

Especially when there's major city with hundreds of housesbasically being given away

The real reason has nothing to do with lower income tenants, who could easily move into existing housing stock with Section 8 vouchers.  

You see there is a very lucrative little industry of community organizers, architects, developers, bond & tax lawyers and bond sellers. And all these six figure jobs require a regular supply of new construction deals to justify their keep.

These folks all contribute to liberals like Chris Dodd.  It's like a recycling program, more you think of it.  

 

Liberal confusion

Submitted by Progressive Tra... on Sat, 01/17/2009 - 00:54.

Liberals tend to confuse 'unready' with 'disadvantaged.'  Is a person who is unready at a disadvantage?  Certainly; but we must not weigh all disadvantages as the same.

Some people simply lack the personal responsibility necessary to be a viable homeowner in the long-term.  Some people are not ready to own a franchise, or to start their own business.  Yet the Liberals insists, against the readily apparent, that any reason at all is the very same reason.

Rand wrote that, "It is evil to desire the effect without first desiring the cause."

Although I'm not so sure that this is entirely accurate (she was a novelist, after all), it is workable to some extent.  It would appear, on a practical level, that it is entirely unnecessary for the cause to be desired so much as to be undertaken, willingly or no.  Believe me, I don't desire to get out of bed at 4am, but I do it on a regular basis.

In the end, it is morally wrong, and socially untenable, that we should reward weakness, rather than build one toward strength.  Those who abhor strength have none. 

PT. lemme speak as a former member of the industry

Submitted by Ironman on Sat, 01/17/2009 - 01:14.

Expanding home ownership using FHA insured mortgages was a great idea.  It was a proven product with a high, but manageable, default rate.

What happened in this cycle thanks to cheap money and the CRA is that the private sector jumped in to make quick money on committment fees, knowing the paper could be sold (much of it to Fannie and Freddie). People who just came into some equity on a fixed rate 7% loan were told they could do a cash out refi with a 3% teaser ARM. Obviously, when it reset they were screwed, but the originators unloaded the paper and had pocketed their closing fees by then.

The low end of the housing market is an important part of society. But to treat loans to this market as fungible caveat emptor transactions simply does not work.  To the extent the CRA encourages speculative subprime provate sector lending ,it sound be scrapped. Even a hard line Republican like me knows when the government---and its usually the private sector--ought to have been left alone.

No ARM's; no teasers, no negative amortizations; no ALT-A "liar loans"...guess what ...

probably no recession

 

It's like asking the barber if you need a haircut.

Submitted by birdmojo on Sat, 01/17/2009 - 10:06.

The government will always, always, always find a way to explain to you that, yes, their help is needed and needed now lest the world-as-we-know-it end.

The Viagra Plan

Submitted by Chris L. on Sat, 01/17/2009 - 11:57.

And note that Jon posted this at 3:22 PM --- not 3:22 AM