Does America really want a change?

[coreyschucky]

McCain's Mortgage Plan Calls for Lowering Rates for Homeowners

By Sharon L. Lynch

Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Republican John McCain's plan to refinance distressed home loans includes cutting mortgage rates to just above 5 percent for troubled borrowers, an adviser said.

``We certainly want to get the rates down,'' McCain senior policy adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin said in an interview. ``Rate setting is key to stability in broader housing market valuation.''

McCain this week proposed using part of the $700 billion bank rescue funds to buy mortgages and replace them with cheaper ones in an effort to halt a decline in home prices that has led to record foreclosures and a glut of unsold property.

The Arizona senator disclosed the plan during his Oct. 7 debate with Democrat Barack Obama, embracing an idea whose central tenets were proposed earlier by Representative Barney Frank, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and Chris Mayer and R. Glenn Hubbard of Columbia University's Graduate School of Business. Mayer- Hubbard's plan would cut rates for all homeowners while McCain's would only do it for those in trouble.

McCain proposes the lower rate for people who owe more than their house is worth, are behind on their payments or can show they soon will be, Holtz-Eakin said. Mayer and Hubbard have suggested everyone's rate should go to 5.25 percent. Currently, the average interest for a 30-year fixed-rate loan is 5.94 percent, according to Freddie Mac, the government-owned mortgage buyer.

Helping Prices?

Refinancing troubled borrowers and reducing interest rates only for those in distress isn't enough to stop the decline in property prices, said Mayer, senior vice dean of Columbia's business school. Mayer and Hubbard, dean of the school, proposed a national refinancing program Oct. 2 in the Wall Street Journal.

``Unless part of the program is to bring down mortgage rates for everyone, the program is ultimately going to be unsuccessful in stabilizing the housing market,'' Mayer said in an interview.

The government should use its recent takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to coordinate nationwide interest rate reductions, Mayer said. Only that will lure enough new buyers into the market and substantially reduce the nation's almost 11 month supply of unsold homes, he said.

``We need to get financial institutions recapitalized, but that's going to be difficult to do unless we stop falling house prices,'' Hubbard said in an interview. ``The government is basically the mortgage market at the moment and so why not use that power?''

Taxpayer Cost

The McCain plan rewards banks rather than forcing lenders to accept partial payment as punishment for originating risky loans, Obama's Economic Policy Director Jason Furman said in an interview.

``The McCain plan is paying face value to the banks and is really unbelievable,'' Furman said. ``It has three problems: one is it costs taxpayers a lot of money and the second is it rewards past bad behavior.''

McCain's proposal also ``inhibits good behavior in the future'' by offering homeowners that owe more on their homes than they are worth an incentive to default so the government will bail them out, Furman said.

Alan Blinder, a former Federal Reserve vice chairman and current Princeton University professor, said the government shouldn't pay mortgage holders the full dollar amount due on bad home loans.

``You must buy at lower than face value,'' Blinder said. ``If not, you're just giving gifts.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Sharon L. Lynch in New York at sllynch@bloomberg.net.

[homedawg]

McCain's Plan will buy the mortgages at "real" market value, or face value if the mortgage balance is lower than "real" market value! :thumbs:

[coreyschucky]

McCain proposes suspending mandatory stock sales


By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer Philip Elliott, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 12 mins ago
Featured Topics:


LA CROSSE, Wis. – John McCain proposed Friday that the elderly be allowed to hang on to the stocks in their retirement funds and not be forced to sell them in a bad market.

The Republican presidential candidate would suspend requirements that people start selling off retirement investments when they turn 70 and a half.

"Spare investors from being forced to sell their stocks just in time when the market is hurting the most," McCain said to cheers at a western Wisconsin rally. "We have to protect investors, particularly those who are relying on investments for retirement."

Retirees forced to sell stocks in the continuing market chaos are taking tremendous losses. The Dow Jones industrials dropped 21 percent of its value in 10 trading days, and swung wildly in early trading Friday while the financial crisis deepened globally.

McCain also told the crowd of his mortgage bailout plan. He said in his debate with Democratic rival Barack Obama on Tuesday that his administration would spend $300 billion to buy bad mortgages and help homeowners refinance into more affordable loans.

[coreyschucky]

McCain proposes suspending mandatory stock sales


By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer Philip Elliott, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 12 mins ago
Featured Topics:


LA CROSSE, Wis. – John McCain proposed Friday that the elderly be allowed to hang on to the stocks in their retirement funds and not be forced to sell them in a bad market.

The Republican presidential candidate would suspend requirements that people start selling off retirement investments when they turn 70 and a half.

"Spare investors from being forced to sell their stocks just in time when the market is hurting the most," McCain said to cheers at a western Wisconsin rally. "We have to protect investors, particularly those who are relying on investments for retirement."

Retirees forced to sell stocks in the continuing market chaos are taking tremendous losses. The Dow Jones industrials dropped 21 percent of its value in 10 trading days, and swung wildly in early trading Friday while the financial crisis deepened globally.

McCain also told the crowd of his mortgage bailout plan. He said in his debate with Democratic rival Barack Obama on Tuesday that his administration would spend $300 billion to buy bad mortgages and help homeowners refinance into more affordable loans.

I agree with this wholeheartedly. For a person to be screwed out of there retirement based on there age is awful. Government should immediately stop all forced sales at that age and add an additional 2 1/2 years which it will most likely take to get out of the recession where headed into.:thumbs:

[homedawg]

I agree with this wholeheartedly. For a person to be screwed out of there retirement based on there age is awful. Government should immediately stop all forced sales at that age and add an additional 2 1/2 years which it will most likely take to get out of the recession where headed into.:thumbs:

Me too! :beerbang:



McCain said Friday that his economic plan would spare investors who have to start selling off their retirement accounts at age 70 and a half. As the economy struggles and Wall Street plunges, the value of these accounts have tanked.

McCain says investors shouldn't have to sell their accounts as the economy is at the lowest point in years. He says the investment rules should be suspended until the stock market recovers.

:thumbs:

[homedawg]

Someone should suspend Wall Street! djia under 8k? :bang: Pull the plug for awhile!:beer2:

[homedawg]

ICYMI: "Obama Tried To Sway Iraqis On Bush Deal"

At the same time the Bush administration was negotiating a still elusive agreement to keep the U.S. military in Iraq, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama tried to convince Iraqi leaders in private conversations that the president shouldn't be allowed to enact the deal without congressional approval. Mr. Obama's conversations with the Iraqi leaders, confirmed to The Washington Times by his campaign aides, began just two weeks after he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination in June and stirred controversy over the appropriateness of a White House candidate's contacts with foreign governments while the sitting president is conducting a war." -- The Washington Times

"Obama Tried To Sway Iraqis On Bush Deal"
Barbara Slavin
The Washington Times
October 10, 2008


At the same time the Bush administration was negotiating a still elusive agreement to keep the U.S. military in Iraq, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama tried to convince Iraqi leaders in private conversations that the president shouldn't be allowed to enact the deal without congressional approval.

Mr. Obama's conversations with the Iraqi leaders, confirmed to The Washington Times by his campaign aides, began just two weeks after he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination in June and stirred controversy over the appropriateness of a White House candidate's contacts with foreign governments while the sitting president is conducting a war.

Some of the specifics of the conversations remain the subject of dispute. Iraqi leaders purported to The Times that Mr. Obama urged Baghdad to delay an agreement with Mr. Bush until next year when a new president will be in office - a charge the Democratic campaign denies.

Mr. Obama spoke June 16 to Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari when he was in Washington, according to both the Iraqi Embassy in Washington and the Obama campaign. Both said the conversation was at Mr. Zebari's request and took place on the phone because Mr. Obama was traveling.

However, the two sides differ over what Mr. Obama said.

"In the conversation, the senator urged Iraq to delay the [memorandum of understanding] between Iraq and the United States until the new administration was in place," said Samir Sumaidaie, Iraq's ambassador to the United States.

He said Mr. Zebari replied that any such agreement would not bind a new administration. "The new administration will have a free hand to opt out," he said the foreign minister told Mr. Obama.

Mr. Sumaidaie did not participate in the call, he said, but stood next to Mr. Zebari during the conversation and was briefed by him immediately afterward.

The call was not recorded by either side, and Mr. Zebari did not respond to repeated telephone and e-mail messages requesting direct comment.

Mr. Obama has called for a phased U.S. withdrawal of all but a residual force from Iraq over 16 months, a position the Iraqi government appears to have embraced.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have been struggling for months to finalize a deal that will allow U.S. troops to remain after Dec. 31, when a U.N. mandate sanctioning the military presence expires. Iraqi officials have said that the main impediment is agreement over a timeline for U.S. redeployment and immunity from Iraqi prosecution for U.S. troops and civilians.

Obama campaign spokeswoman Wendy Morigi said Mr. Obama does not object to a short-term status of forces agreement, or SOFA.

Mr. Obama told Mr. Zebari in June that a SOFA "should be completed before January and it must include immunity for U.S. troops," Miss Morigi wrote in an e-mail.

However, the Democratic nominee said a broader strategic framework agreement governing a longer-term U.S. presence in Iraq "should be vetted by Congress," she wrote.

She said Mr. Obama said the same thing when he met in July with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Mr. Zebari in Baghdad.

A recent article in the New York Post quoted Mr. Zebari as saying that Mr. Obama asked Iraqi leaders in July to delay any agreement on a reduction of U.S. troops in Iraq until the next U.S. president takes office.

Miss Morigi denied this. She said the request for Senate vetting was bipartisan and noted that the first Obama-Zebari conversation took place 12 days after four other members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee - including Republican Sens. Richard G. Lugar of Indiana and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska - wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates urging consultation over any agreements committing U.S. troops and civilian contractors to Iraq "for an extended period of time."

When Mr. Obama spoke to Mr. Zebari, he was speaking in his capacity as a senator and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Miss Morigi said. "It's obvious that others are trying to mischaracterize Obama's position, [but] on numerous occasions he has made it perfectly clear that the United States only has one president at a time and that the administration speaks with one voice."

Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat who accompanied Mr. Obama in Iraq along with Mr. Hagel, said they made "no suggestion of any type of delay" in any agreements.

A congressional aide who was also present and spoke on the condition of anonymity said the senators asked for a congressional role similar to that required by the Iraqi Constitution for Iraq's parliament.

Still, the fact that the Illinois Democrat on June 3 clinched enough delegates to be assured the Democratic presidential nomination gives his comments special force - something that also applies to the Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a key proponent of the surge of extra U.S. forces to Iraq last year.

As a U.S. senator, Mr. Obama "has a foot in both camps," said Ross K. Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University. "It's within the jurisdiction of his committee and something he's entitled to speak about. It doesn't raise a red flag for me."

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe declined to comment on the matter.

Leslie Phillips, a press officer at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, also declined to comment even though an embassy note-taker was present during the senators' meeting in Iraq. "The embassy's role is purely to facilitate the meetings," she said.

Presidential nominees traditionally have not intervened personally in foreign-policy disputes, although campaign surrogates have done so.

Historian Robert Dallek has documented meetings with South Vietnamese diplomats in 1968 by Republican vice-presidential candidate Spiro Agnew and Anna Chennault, widow of Gen. Claire Chennault, the commander of "Flying Tiger" forces in China during World War II.

Mr. Dallek, author of "Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times 1961-1973," obtained tapes of the conversations from bugs the Johnson administration had placed in the South Vietnamese Embassy in Washington.

Negotiations to end the Vietnam War were taking place in Paris at the time between the Johnson administration and the North and South Vietnamese.

Mr. Agnew and Mrs. Chennault "signaled the South Vietnamese that they would get a better deal with Richard Nixon as president instead of the Democrat" Hubert Humphrey, Mr. Dallek said.

"Johnson was furious and said that Nixon was guilty of treason," Mr. Dallek said, but neither he nor Mr. Humphrey disclosed the matter before the election, which Mr. Nixon won.

:beer2:

[dananderson32]

and how disturbing is it to people to witness these mob scenes at McCain rallys in regards to Obama

"kill him"

"off with his head"

harassing and insulting the black camera man who worked the McCain rally

nice to see the true colors of racism coming out once again fired up by the fear mongering machine that is the republican party

[dananderson32]

and another state sees the light

Conn. court overturns same-sex marriage ban - Life - MSNBC.com


3/50 and only increasing :beerbang: :beerbang: :beerbang:

[dananderson32]

Obama always two steps ahead of johnny mac

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[homedawg]

Obama always two steps ahead of johnny mac

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Guilty By Admission! :beer2:

[dananderson32]

lets throw **** at the wall and hope it sticks because theres less then a month left and we have no chance at getting to 270 unless we run the board and we won't be able to do that so lets call him "Hussein", "terrorist", and everything else all the sudden out of no where in hopes that people will be scared like they have been the past 2 elections and will vote for McCain nope not this time HD people aren't falling for this garbage and attempt to instill fear in them they saw the results of that with this administration currently in place


by the way

Gallup Daily: Obama 51%, McCain 41%

[homedawg]

Anger Roils Crowds at McCain Rallies

By Jonathan Martin , Politico.com


The unmistakable momentum behind Barack Obama's campaign, combined with worry that John McCain is not doing enough to stop it, is ratcheting up fears and frustrations among conservatives.

And nowhere is this emotion on plainer display than at Republican rallies, where voters this week have shouted out insults at the mention of Obama, pleaded with McCain to get more aggressive with the Democrat and generally demonstrated the sort of visceral anger and unease that reflects a party on the precipice of panic.


The calendar is closing and the polls, at least right now, are not.
With McCain passing up the opportunity to level any tough personal shots in his first two debates and the very real prospect of an Obama presidency setting in, the sort of hard-core partisan activists who turn out for campaign events are venting in unusually personal terms.
"Terrorist!” one man screamed Monday at a New Mexico rally after McCain voiced the campaign’s new rhetorical staple aimed at raising doubts about the Illinois senator: “Who is the real Barack Obama?”
"He's a damn liar!” yelled a woman Wednesday in Pennsylvania. "Get him. He's bad for our country."


At both stops, there were cries of, “Nobama,” picking up on a phrase that has appeared on yard signs, t-shirts and bumper stickers.
And Thursday, at a campaign town hall in Wisconsin, one Republican brought the crowd to their feet when he used his turn at the microphone to offer a soliloquy so impassioned it made the network news and earned extended play on Rush Limbaugh’s program.
“I’m mad, I’m really mad!” the voter bellowed. “And what’s going to surprise ya, is it’s not the economy – it’s the socialists taking over our country.”

After the crowd settled down he was back at it. “When you have an Obama, Pelosi and the rest of the hooligans up there gonna run this country, we gotta have our head examined!”



“Flip-flop, flip-flop,” went the cry at Republican rallies four years ago, often with footwear to match the chant.
Now, though, the emotion on display is unadulterated anger rather than mocking.
Activists outside rallies openly talk about Obama as a terrorist, citing his name and purported ties to Islam in the fashion of the viral emails that have rocketed around the Internet for over a year now.
Some of this activity is finding its way into the events, too.
On Thursday, as one man in the audience asked a question about Obama’s associations, the crowd erupted in name-calling.
"Obama Osama!" one woman called out.

<script src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/js/2.0/video/evp/module.js?loc=dom&vid=/video/politics/2008/10/10/henry.mccain.angry.crowds.cnn" type="text/javascript"></script><noscript>Embedded video from <a href="http://www.cnn.com/video">CNN Video</a></noscript>

:beer2:

[dananderson32]

you don't see that as crossing the line HD?

"off with his head"

"kill him"

imagine if someone at an Obama campaign screamed "kill him" about McCain there would be an outrage but what does "country first" johnny mac care he will do whatever it takes including injecting racism into the campaign in order to win and its sickening to watch and see people stoop themselves to levels of racism in times of desperation when your down double digits in the gallop daily tracking poll, class act those johnny mac supporters are


"off with his head" unreal

[dananderson32]

Illinois sheriff scolds banks for evictions of 'innocent' renters - CNN.com

:thumbs: :thumbs: