What is Digg?41 Comments
- speed16, on 04/15/2008, -0/+12Why does MY government insist on privatizing profits, while socializing losses? I'm a responsible American - STOP making me pay for other people's greed.
- PaulOwen, on 04/23/2008, -0/+6Another government rewarding the irresponsible and punishing the prudent.
- StreetPreacher, on 04/23/2008, -0/+5Everyone acts as if "bailouts" are someone else's money... like the government just prints the stuff out when it needs it. Every American should realize that the government wants to take YOUR MONEY and give it to people and banks that were reckless and greedy, who are now suffering the consequences of their poor decisions. This is free market people.
Say "NO!" to government subsidies for bad behavior. - dgcarboni, on 04/24/2008, -0/+5Thumbs up from the UK. Government here is just starting to lavish billions to encourage survival of the irresponsible. We have become a nation of idiots.
- biotch, on 04/23/2008, -0/+5Irresponsible lenders and and borrowers are part of the reason home prices skyrocketed in the first place keeping fiscally responsible people from being able to ever purchase a home. So they were forced to rent instead and subsidize those who made unaffordable home purchases. Congress should let the housing market recoil back to historic standards so that responsible people can get around to owning a home on fiscally solid ground.
- twobitsprite, on 04/30/2008, -0/+4Umm... can you please point out to me where FreedomWorks is OK with corporate welfare? In fact, if you go on their website and use their search bar for "corporate welfare" the first link that comes up is titled "Stop Corporate Welfare in North Carolina!"... I also don't see anything else which validates the rest of your arguments about subsidies, etc. My experience with them is that they are against all sorts of subsidies.
And then, I suppose in anticipation of your first arguments not holding up to scrutiny, you then play the guilt-by-association card, assuming that they're a Christian organization because they tend to have "conservative" positions. Not everything which sounds conservative at first glance is Republican. Freedom works might have been founded by a Republican, but it's co-founder, Matt Kibbe, was a supporter of Nader and doesn't have a political background as far as I know.
But, I guess you're too blinded by partisanism to understand the nuanced and multidimensional nature of political discussion... for people like you there are only two sides and the other one is always wrong. - teravolt, on 04/26/2008, -0/+4Hey brody77, do you think that all those angry renters are conservative Christians? Well, as an angry renter, let me tell you that George W Bush will go down in history as being the WORST PRESIDENT EVER. But as for the subject at hand...Let me ask you if I'm being unreasonable here.
I used to work in a retail store, and owned a small home. I sold it so I could go back to school and make a better life for my family. After busting my butt for 6 years going to school full time while working a full time job , I graduated just in time to see my hope of home ownership slipping away. Buyers were paying whatever the sellers wanted and financing it with reckless schemes. Now, as an engineer, I am unable to buy a house, and in fact am making ends meet in a two bedroom apartment with a wife and two kids to support. (For the arithmetically challenged, my kids don't have their own bedroom.) I prudently decided not to buy a house with a teaser ARM. I didn't use a home as an ATM to buy a new Escalade. In any case, to make a long story short, my standard of living is lower now than it was before I went back to school.
I keep on reading in the newspaper the hard luck stories of garment workers (the "hard working people" you refer to) who bought $600k homes with negatively amortizing ARMs and no money down. Am I cold hearted to resent their expectation of a bailout when my children have to live in a cramped apartment in a crappy neighborhood? Am I a sinner because I understand that these people bought homes that they could never have afforded on their minimum wage jobs? Perhaps I'm callous to think that after they get evicted from the homes that they are not making payments on that they will go back to the apartments that they lived in before the world got turned upside down. APARTMENTS LIKE THE ONE MY FAMILY LIVES IN!!! Do you think I should have compassion on greedy home-flippers???
Let me get this right... You want to give a bailout to the stupid, the reckless, and the greedy, to put an artificial bottom on home prices and keep my family out of a home, and then you want to stick ME with the bill since I don't have a tax deduction? Do you really expect me to just bend over and "take it like a man"???
It has crossed my mind that you may be just another irresponsible home buyer that finds yourself upside down on your mortgage and wraps your self interest in scripture... but for now, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Since you appear to be religious, can you do me a favor and pray for me? Pray that I don't do something irrational to the next moron that tells me I'm selfish for thinking that people should be responsible for their own actions. - ryan3719, on 04/24/2008, -0/+4We have a court system that can handle the cases where lenders defrauded or misled their customers. There is no reason for Congress to step in and write these guys a check. The current proposal gives banks a break (by only requiring a 15% write-down as opposed to the 40-50% likely from a foreclosure) and giving homebuyers equity upside even though they are being bailed out! It's insane to do this and it sets a VERY bad precedent for future bubbles...
- jkca1, on 04/23/2008, -0/+4I am so sick of people relying on the government to fix their "problems". Time to get off the welfare teat.
- Datsa, on 04/30/2008, -0/+3Are you so partisan that you are blind to the message? To spend even $1billion of taxpayers money is too much.
What rock are you living under? Don’t you see the crisis that is in plain site?
In the early 90’s, $124.6 billion direct tax payers dollars (nominal) were used to bail out the U.S. Savings and Loans. Experts all state that the S n L crisis will pale in cost to what we are going through now. That’s a far cry from the “tiny fraction” of $15 billion that you spoke of. And many experts (who know a lot more about this issue that you) are stating that we are looking at an ~ bailout of $300 billion. Mark Zandi told the House financial services committee that it would take about $250 billion in upfront funds to purchase all of the 2 million loans expected to end in foreclosure by the end of this decade. Alan Blinder (professor of econ- Princeton) is proposing that the government borrow $200bln to $400bln to buy up distressed loans.
This is a problem goes into the trillions of dollars in losses.
http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini/252512/
Roubini is a professor on econ at NYU and Stiglitz (Nobel prize winner) is in agreement in Roubini’s assessment of the economy.
I do agree with you that I’m no genius when it comes to what is going on but the above people are and I much rather listen to their opinions than to someone who so hates the republican party that they can’t see straight.
Let me say again, there are much better uses of taxpayer’s money than to waste it on propping up an asset bubble. If you really want to help people who have been hurt by a slowing economy, extend unemployment benefits. Extend job works programs. Build more roads. - upsidedork, on 04/15/2008, -0/+2The video on the site is great -- a nice easy explanation of what's going wrong, and why it sucks for renters.
- dosware, on 06/27/2008, -0/+2The verifiable idiots are the brain dead morons who borrowed beyond their means. The "angry" renters made wise choices about housing during the obvious and insane bubble.
- 5xSTUN, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2NPR just outed this website, "angryrenters.com," as an astroturf campaign started by a group of lobbyist millionaires. It has absolutely nothing to do with renters. It might as well be "angrybeekeepers.com" or "angrylexicographers.com."
Don't take my word for it: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story ... - stevematulis, on 05/01/2008, -0/+2brody, christians or not, flippers should not be bailed out. they should be lined up against a wall and shot.
- Gondring, on 02/25/2009, -0/+1It's very similar to the economics of Mussolini's fascist regime...
"In actual fact, it is the State, i.e. the taxpayer, who has become responsible to private enterprise. In Fascist Italy the State pays for the blunders of private enterprise. As long as business was good, profit remained to private initiative. When the depression came, the Government added the loss to the tax-payer's burden. Profit is private and individual. Loss is public and social."
--_Under the Axe of Fascism_, by Gaetano Salvemini, p. 416 (1936). - CreativeSage, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1This makes me furious. I rented an apartment I dearly loved in San Francisco for nearly 28 years, and all the tenants in our building suffered through an Ellis Eviction, which simply means that our landlady died suddenly, and the building was sold. The new owners took it off the rental market very cold-heartedly, with little or no regard for what it would mean to any of us to be forced to move out of our home and a neighborhood we loved after so many years. We had all been excellent tenants (obviously, or we wouldn't have been there so long) and paid our rent on time. In 28 years of hard work, I could not keep up with housing prices in the Bay Area. In fact, the tenants in our building tried to buy our own house (after years—decades—of paying rent), and the greedy heirs and realtor would not let any of us buy it (and we couldn't afford the market value, without our rent being subtracted). It was absolutely heartbreaking, and I still miss my home of 28 years. No one bailed me out or helped me buy a house—this is criminal helping people who have often been greedy and lived beyond their means (not everyone, but some). I now live with someone who owns our house (my domestic partner), but I would still have to struggle to buy my own home in the Bay Area by myself today. My partner paid off our house because we do not believe in being in debt. Since no one helped me, why should I be forced to have some of my tax money bail out wealthier (or greedier) people than myself?
http://www.angryrenter.com/view_all.php
See: http://www.angryrenter.com for information and a link to the petition. - Datsa, on 04/29/2008, -0/+1Brody77, Billions? Try trillions. I don't think you comprehend the gravity of this situation. Here are some resources so you can see just how up the creek we are and how much this will cost the taxpayers.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/21/news/economy/fanni ...
http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/14/news/economy/krugm ...
http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini/252512/
Now rather than spending trillions of tax dollars at a problem that was caused by stupidity, financial irresponsibility and /or greed, why not use those same funds to sort out our growing health care problem, or our pollution problem, or our energy problem, or social security problem or education problem. Why not spend the money to fund research for cures to horrendous diseases such as aids, cancer, etc. Or fund research for alternative energy sources. I would even support some of our tax dollars to fund common sense classes that teaches very stupid people that if you have a household income of 60-90k a year and have zero money down, you probably cannot afford a $500k+ home- anything but a bailout for flippers, home buyers bought homes they could not afford on a regular 30 yr fix, home builders that made huge profits during the boom and the lenders/ banks that let their greed get in the way of prudent underwriting. - Datsa, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1Brody77- You are such a pompous troll. You think you are so smart yet you have proven none of the crap you are ranting on about. All you can state is how smart you are but all you’ve done is convinced me that you are either an upside down idiot that is in much need of a bailout or you are in the mortgage industry in much need of work.
Come to think of it, you are probably both but too stupid to realize that if asset bubble prices remain out of whack with incomes (for the localized area), no matter what the government does, you will get no business. In order to restore business activity, asset prices will have to come down to meet affordability or we have to bring back the irresponsible lending, no doc, zero down, interest only, subprime hay day of 2002-2006 (7).
Also your passive aggressive insults are just sad. Go get a real job that doesn’t involve duping a family into a home that they will lose in a couple years. - thebigecho, on 02/19/2009, -0/+1Angry Renters should include responsible homeowners into this movement. The default join in email text should state- renters and responsible homeowners who bought a house they could afford! Sign me one pissed off renter ready to R E V
- leadersclub, on 02/21/2009, -0/+1Antonio Gramsci, Karl Marx, all their retarded siblings and all their retarded children and all their retarded grandchildren are now finally experiencing eternal orgasms. Everything they ever lived for and breathed for is becoming reality...
- AlwaysAwake, on 05/14/2008, -0/+1The Western private corporate banking cartel represented in the US by The Federal Reserve System of Banks, controls not just Dubya & Co., but all the elected representatives and officials of our government. They are quite accustomed to feeding at the trough of taxpayers money from the Treasury, and have no intention whatsoever of giving up the privilege. Only a massive, assertive confrontation of these corrupt public "dis-servants", by the voters, demanding a stop to it, will pry their greedy fingers off of our public purse.
- jollymonsing, on 05/22/2008, -0/+1One of the main sources of contention that has recently surfaced is how the bill plans to pay the tab. Upon a closer examination of the House version, funds originally designated to for a low income housing program, (from the 1.2 basis point fee on Fannie and Freddie) would be diverted to pay for the new measure. Moreover, these funds were aimed at helping folks in Louisiana and Mississippi who lost their homes in Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
- th2edrrfs, on 07/26/2008, -0/+190% of these comments are fake, btw.
- internetcoward, on 05/16/2008, -1/+1I just heard about this on NPR as well! haha. Such a jooooke!!!!
- snoopie007, on 04/08/2009, -0/+0I agree with you 100% this problem is not only with the people who bought too much house it is also with the flippers who drove the price up to high (in hine sight too much house for most working class people). I think the angry renters site does not look at how many home owners lost or are losing their homes due to lose of jobs. I am sure a small percent may of known they were taking on a lot more than they can chew but I look at it as a sales game. Many brokers were not as truthful as hey should have been when pushing these loan products and I speak from experience. No matter how many questions I asked about arm loans brokers and banks just danced around them and I walked way but not everyone has the same instinct as me. When some one waves the shiny new keys in front of you to your dream home and gives you a payment you can afford. I was told oh if you get an arm it wont go up that much and you will have a bunch of equity in your home which in most cases as you can see was a lie. We expect these brokers and lenders to be our authority on these matters not to be sharks in a used car lot scamming and lying to people. I hate that site because they only focus on the small percentage of people who did no doc and had no income to afford these homes. I AM A RENTER AND PROUD
- brody77, on 05/20/2008, -0/+0http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story ...
- PaytonO, on 04/01/2009, -0/+0Loan modification is for people that have personal loans for their housing, with a single mortgage to pay. Those that own multiple properties, whether for personal use or housing for renters, likely won't be able to qualify. (As WC Fields said, "Landlords should get the chair. For those that have children, increase the voltage.") Unfortunately, a program doesn't exist at present to aid tenants that are displaced as a result of foreclosed on rental properties, as rental units will not likely fall under the umbrella of federal <a rev="vote for" title="Missing Pieces | Loan Modification Part 7" href="http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/03/28 ... modification</a>.
- brody77, on 05/20/2008, -0/+0http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story ...
- brody77, on 05/03/2008, -0/+0What "crap" would you like me to prove? That wishing people would get kicked out of their homes and feeling good when they do and making a conscientious intentional effort to prevent a family on the verge of losing their home from receiving the help they need conflicts with just about every single teaching of Jesus Christ, and that anyone posting here who claims to be "Christian" is a disgusting hypocrite? Because that has been my single point this entire time. Is that what you would like me to "prove"?
As far as bubble prices remaining out of whack with incomes, what you really mean to say is bubble prices are out of whack with YOUR income and the incomes of others LIKE YOU. And this is why YOU and others LIKE YOU are so angry. It's not because of homebuilders, or speculators, or property flippers, or irresponsible borrowing, or government bailouts, or any of that. No, the real cause behind all this anger is the fact that YOU and others LIKE YOU don't make enough money to buy your families homes. You can't afford it. And many, many, many other people can. And you're jealous of them - pure and simple. Bitter angry envy practically drips from every word out of your mouths. I mean, who do you people think you're fooling?
I own two homes right now - a rental property and my primary residence. My primary residence is a brand new beautiful native stone & stucco 4,400 sq. ft. Reverse 1.5 Story with 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, a fully finished walk-out basement with wet bar, a 3-car garage, and it sits on an enormous fully fenced perfectly manicured cul-de-sac lot that my "Turf Manager" and my 9-zone Rain Bird Irrigation System keeps looking like golf course for me. You tell me to "get a real job", but I think mine is working out just fine.I made $362,446 last year. What did you make?
And guess what? I'm 29 years old. That's just got to make your blood boil, doesn't it? I bet you can't even pretend to hide your hatred for people like me. I'm not even 30 years old and I already own a home a person like yourself can only fantasize about. It's got to be because I'm a crook right? I'm probably upside down in my home, huh? I probably work in the mortgage industry duping people. That's why I have this nice things. That's the only reason I have such a nice house. Because I must be a fraud, a phony, a crook, or a con-man. That's why I have nice things and you do not, right?
The reason I own a home and you rent, or that I make a lot of money and you do not, couldn't be because I'm smarter than you, or because I work harder than you do, or because I am willing to take risks that you are not. That couldn't possibly be the reason I am a Homeowner and a Landlord and you are a Non-Homeowner and a Renter, right? (BTW, when I told how much I made last year, I forgot to tell you my hours. I worked 7am-11pm M-F and 8am-1pm Saturday - 85 hours per week. How many hours a week did you work?)
Maybe all of you who spend your time signing "Angry Renter" petitions on the Internet should maybe find something to do to make yourselves some money to buy a house. That's my suggestion. - AngryNYCRenter, on 03/26/2009, -0/+0I am all for government spending that helps out people less advantaged than myself. But here the government is not only taxing the economically disadvantaged (renters) to bail-out the advantaged (homeowners), but these taxes will have the economic effect of making RENTS EVEN LESS AFFORDABLE than they currently are. Renters need to band together to stop this from happening. The issue isn't just that renters are being asked to bail-out irresponsible homeowners, it's that they're being asked to PAY TAXES to KEEP THEIR RENTAL PRICES HIGH or RAISE THEM EVEN HIGHER. It is in the interest of all renters to support the Angry Renter movement, and get as many others to do it as well.
- brody77, on 04/30/2008, -1/+1So you are suggesting that the US Government could potentially spend TRILLIONS (plural) of tax dollars on a housing bail out program? LOL!
Hey genius, the entire total Congressional Budget (all the money for every single governement department and program including the entire Defense Budget) barely breaks $2 trillion. To spend "trillions" of tax dollars on the housing problem, the United States government would literally have to dismantle every single government agency and program in existence - including the entire United States military.
Like most people who vist AngryRenter.com and post here, your comments resemble more of uninformed hysterical ramblings than actual intelligent debate. Our healthcare problems, pollution problems, energy problems, social security problems, and education problems are all the direct result of having a complete moron for President for the last 8 years who can't even manage to string together a coherent sentence let alone run a country, combined with a Republican controlled Congress from 1994-2006.
If people like yourself want to actually start doing something about those REAL problems, they should stop supporting websites like AngryRenter.Com which is just a Republican special interest lobby ran by FreedomWorks. - Datsa, on 05/05/2008, -0/+0Wow, I must of hit a nerve. I guess you've just proved who the angry one really is.
- aabjora, on 01/12/2009, -0/+0The video is really GREAT! "the prices would rise forever" It's safe to be involved into a risky mortgage.
(c) http://www.mortgagerefinancingloanz.com/ - brody77, on 05/20/2008, -1/+0http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story ...
- brody77, on 05/20/2008, -1/+0God, how funny!!! What a bunch of dumbasses these "angryrenter" suckers are. They fall hook, line, and sinker for a sham grassroots site run by a bunch of bloodsucking Washington Lobbyists. Republicans, as usual, have no problem finding a loads of uneducated gullible working class morons to support their special interest agenda.
AngryRenter.Com - owned and operated by Washington Lobbyists - has managed to collect 44,000 signatures from these idiots. Unbelievable. - brody77, on 05/20/2008, -1/+0http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story ...
- brody77, on 05/02/2008, -1/+0That's an intelligent response. Thank you for providing a great example of the average intellect of the people posting here. This is a prestine example of the kind of cool level-headed debate and comments you typically see posted around here.
(and the "Christians" to whom I was referring were the people who post here, not the homeowners Einstein) - brody77, on 04/30/2008, -2/+0To discover the FreedomWorks position on protecting Big Business and making rich corporations even richer, one only need to read the "Key Issues" link on their website. FreedomWorks states alternative fuel sources are years away and therefore we should support big oil companies. They state big insurance companies and other large corporations need to be protected from trial lawyers. They state we need to continue this country's disasterous free trade policy and continue shipping U.S. jobs overseas. Just go read their website. Oh, and if you had any doubt about their Conservative Big Business/Big Corporation Credentials, just take a look at their board members (Steve Forbes being the Chairman).
As far as my point about Christianity, that had nothing to do with FreedomWorks being Conservative. Roughly 80% of people in this country indentify themselves as Christian. Therefore, we can reasonably assume a huge percentage of the people posting on this board ranting and raving about attempts to help people keep a roof over their heads consider themselves Christians. I just wonder how they reconcile that. That's all. - brody77, on 04/30/2008, -3/+0"After busting my butt for 6 years going to school full time while working a full time job , I graduated just in time to see my hope of home ownership slipping away. Buyers were paying whatever the sellers wanted and financing it with reckless schemes. Now, as an engineer, I am unable to buy a house, and in fact am making ends meet in a two bedroom apartment with a wife and two kids to support."
Hold on, let me grab you a Kleenex. For someone who goes around angrily ranting about personal responsibility you sure are quick to blame others for YOUR problems aren't you? Give me a break. If you are mad about the fact that you live in a tiny 2-bedroom apartment in a crappy neighborhood and looking for someone to blame your miserable conditions on, my recommendation is to follow some of your own advice and take a good long hard look in the mirror.
Secondly, "I" don't want to bail out anyone. I am just asking a simple question. The government bails out people all the time with your tax dollars (particularly large corporations). I have no problem with you or anyone else being upset with the government stepping in and bailing out somebody who doesn't deserve it. I'm simply asking why you aren't just as upset that Uncle Sam stepped in and bailed out the billionaire executives working at Bear-Stearns? Why aren't you just as upset that the government is currently, right now as we speak, forking over piles of YOUR tax dollars to companies Shell, Exxon-Mobil, Conoco-Phillips, and BP who didn't ask for it, and who are already posting earth-shattering profits year after-year-after-year-after-year? Why aren't you just as mad that the US Government actually gives away YOUR money as an incentive for corporations to ship OUR American Jobs Overseas?!?!?!?!?
If you want something to be ticked off, there you go. - brody77, on 04/25/2008, -5/+1So let me get this straight. American taxpayers pay $100 billion per year in Corporate Welfare and FreedomWorks is okay with U.S. taxpayers footing the bill. American taxpayers are also currently paying $15 billion per year to fund tax breaks given to Oil Companies already making astronomical profits and FreedomWorks sees no problem with us picking up that tab either. American taxpayers also pay billions upon billions of dollars each year in tax give-aways to companies who ship American jobs overseas, and FreedomWorks is sees no problem with that as well.
But when the government even simply "discusses" the option of spending a tiny fraction of the above amounts to help hardworking American families struggling to put food on the table try to keep their homes, and all of a sudden FreedomWorks is outraged?????
Being a highly conservative organization politically, there is little doubt the creators of FreedomWorks consider themselves Christian. I wonder what Jesus would say about FreedomWorks' "anger" towards helping families facing homelessness. Luckily we don't have to guess...
"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, in so much as ye have done it unto one of the least of of my people, ye have done unto me. For I was an hungry, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. What ye have done unto the least of my people ye have done to me and so ye shall not inherit the Kingdom.
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