In today's Bergen Record, Herb Jackson notes the following quote earlier in the week by one of our "esteemed" Congressmen:Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, questioned whether the Obama administration is simply prolonging economic bad news rather than preventing it with its latest plan to assist homeowners facing foreclosure.
At a House Financial Services Committee hearing Wednesday where Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke testified, Garrett voiced the anger of families that have been paying their mortgages and didn't buy houses they couldn't afford. Here's part of a statement he released afterward:
"I'm worried that the administration's proposed efforts will only delay the inevitable full correction of the market, while saddling future generations with tens of billions of dollars of additional debt.
"Delaying the onset of a true housing bottom, it seems to me, has other unintended negative consequences, as well. Not until we reach a bottom will we begin to provide certainty on the value of so-called toxic mortgage-related assets found on financial institutions' balance sheets around the world. The uncertainty surrounding the value of these assets is one of the main contributors to the downward spiral of our economy, so the sooner we reach certainty, the better."
Of course, Garrett would love nothing more than to let the "free market" do its thing, as we know how much he trusts corporations to "do the right thing" (as witnessed by his very own stimulus bill last year consisting entirely of corporate tax breaks, even though corporate tax breaks have been proven to be the single worst "stimulator" of the economy).
The problem here is that Garrett is supposed to represent people and families, as opposed to corporations, and if you were to look at a summary of foreclosures in January 2009 by county, Passaic, Sussex and Warren Counties are ranked first, fourth and eighth in the state in homes foreclosed.
What does Garrett propose that these families do while waiting for a "true housing bottom"? What is Garrett's plan for helping the families out in his own district - with not one, not two but THREE of the top eight counties in terms of foreclosures?
I guess those families can wait for the corporate tax breaks to put food on their table, find them a new place to live or pay for heat. |
