While the GOP and thier conservative allies try to back track from the damage they have done by blaming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack and minorities for thier failures, they need to remember, the GOP own's thier failures.
As others have already noted, it's important that everyone remember this:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/...
Fact Sheet: America's Ownership Society: Expanding Opportunities
"...if you own something, you have a vital stake in the future of our country. The more ownership there is in America, the more vitality there is in America, and the more people have a vital stake in the future of this country."
-President George W. Bush, June 17, 2004
The White House begins with this:
The Challenge: America's Changing Society
Life in America is changing dramatically, and President Bush believes that the Federal government should change too to help meet the challenges of our times. American families should have choices and access they need to affordable health care and homeownership; Americans should have the option of managing their own retirement; and small businesses, which employ over half of all workers, need lower taxes and fewer government mandates so they can grow.
Then they segway into the PLAN:
President Bush's Policies Promoting the Ownership Society
* Expanding Homeownership. The President believes that homeownership is the cornerstone of America's vibrant communities and benefits individual families by building stability and long-term financial security. In June 2002, President Bush issued America's Homeownership Challenge to the real estate and mortgage finance industries to encourage them to join the effort to close the gap that exists between the homeownership rates of minorities and non-minorities. The President also announced the goal of increasing the number of minority homeowners by at least 5.5 million families before the end of the decade. Under his leadership, the overall U.S. homeownership rate in the second quarter of 2004 was at an all time high of 69.2 percent. Minority homeownership set a new record of 51 percent in the second quarter, up 0.2 percentage point from the first quarter and up 2.1 percentage points from a year ago. President Bush's initiative to dismantle the barriers to homeownership includes:
o American Dream Downpayment Initiative, which provides down payment assistance to approximately 40,000 low-income families;
o Affordable Housing. The President has proposed the Single-Family Affordable Housing Tax Credit, which would increase the supply of affordable homes;
o Helping Families Help Themselves. The President has proposed increasing support for the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunities Program; and
o Simplifying Homebuying and Increasing Education. The President and HUD want to empower homebuyers by simplifying the home buying process so consumers can better understand and benefit from cost savings. The President also wants to expand financial education efforts so that families can understand what they need to do to become homeowners.
kinda leaves out the terms involved in getting there, like teaser rate ARM's that reset to 7,8,9%. No money down loans, financing to 103% of the appraised value, immediatedly putting the homeowner underwater, and in some cases, paying nothing towards equity, simply interest to the banks.
and Greenspan couldn't help but get into the act because paying down the NATIONAL DEBT was just, well, crazy. What would all those bankers do?
Before this year, officials here enthusiastically praised subprime lenders for helping millions of families buy homes for the first time. "I was aware that the loosening of mortgage credit terms for subprime borrowers increased financial risk," Mr. Greenspan wrote in his recent memoir, "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World." "But I believed then, as now, that the benefits of broadened home ownership are worth the risk."
Remember, the benefits are worth the risk and enthusiastically praised subprime lenders
and what would a conservative movement be without Mr. Drown America in a bathtub himself.
Grover Norquist, an influential conservative tactician, said the ownership society could solidify the Republican Party just as Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal and Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society were the foundation of a Democratic Party majority for generations.
"If this is successful, this will define the Bush administration for the next 100 years," Mr. Norquist said. "People who are more independent and don't feel dependent on the government are more likely to be available to the Republican Party."
The Republicans may have learned the political mistakes they made during the Great Depression but they NEVER learned the economic lessons.
Another scam by the hard right to make the rich, richer and keep thier sorry asses in power.
Only the Republicans could take a noble idea, put people into house with a payment they can afford and turn it into a Global Economic Disaster, Mission Accomplished.