We might want to remember that there are other people involved in this mess besides borrowers and lenders. There are past sellers and future sellers. And there are realtors. This little bedtime story over-simplifies.

Ms. LaMarche,

What do you expect us to do when our Congress is complicit in this highway robbery of the American people of hundreds of billions of dollars in broad daylight? What do you expect us to do when we no longer can trust our government because it not only has failed us, but is criminal? Tell us where in the Constitution it says what to do when our country has been transformed into an oligarchic fascist state?

"Nationalize FRE and FNA

Hire a workout team to renegotiate all outstanding loans to homeowners according to their market place so that these loans can be repaid over a period of time without over burdening the borrower.

Hire a workout team to renegotiate with the bondholders so that they take a haircut according to the standard practices and risks of the bond market.

Since FNA and FRE have negative net worth of over 15 billion dollars, the shareholders can write off their loss over the number of years allowed in the tax code.

Little pigs come back to the trough; big pigs go to slaughter."

I agree with Claudius that our Congress is complicit in the mortgage crisis and many other catastrophes that have befallen the American people over the last several years.

One thing you can do to change things is to vote for people like Pat Lamarche instead of settling for the lesser of two evils every year. Lamarche has run for governor of Maine and was also a vice presidential candidate with David Cobb in the 2004 election.

Unless the next president rapidly implements a new deal that is at least as comprehensive an overhaul of the US economic system as FDR's New Deal was, things will continue to get worse for the 95%, while the top 2% continue to swim in ever larger boatloads of money...money that was formerly your money and my money.

The first test of any hope of real change will occur in February 2009. If Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve Governors are still employed by the Federal Reserve on February 28, you can be sure that the US economy will continue on its divisive trajectory.

Renting, nevertheless, steadfastly remains the American nightmare, as it is the nightmare of most people of the world. The price of homes may be dropping, but rentals are not following suit.
What would turn homes into income opportunities instead of mere equity opportunities, would be for our government to recognize that there is no physical basis for energy independence until homeowners are encouraged to become hemp farmers. Those resources that grow lawns could be producing instead the most efficient form of greenery that could produce biofuel, along with other products, that would allow home ownership to pay for itself.
Reason can never win while it appeases the forces of unreason, unless reason uses the time gained to arm itself.

Ah yes, the 'American Dream'. Four per cent of the world's population consuming eighty per cent of the world's resources. It must be saved!

"President Bush denied that they were simply bailing out Fannie and Freddie, saying, "the two troubled mortgage companies play a central role in the nation's housing-finance system"..."

Hmmm, that sounds a bit familiar...

"Given "exceptional pressures" on the global economy and financial system, the damage caused by a potential Bear Stearns default could have been "severe and extremely difficult to contain," Bernanke said. He stressed that the move wasn't a bailout but an effort to preserve the integrity of the overall financial system."

Americans aren't snoozing, they've been brain-deadened into total compliance and submission.

claudius said:

"Ms. LaMarche,

What do you expect us to do when our Congress is complicit in this highway robbery of the American people of hundreds of billions of dollars in broad daylight? What do you expect us to do when we no longer can trust our government because it not only has failed us, but is criminal? Tell us where in the Constitution it says what to do when our country has been transformed into an oligarchic fascist state?"

Pat is using the referendum, the most democratic way to bypass the oligarchy:

http://www.evergreenmountainresort.com/join.html

Claudius said:

"What do you expect us to do when we no longer can trust our government because it not only has failed us, but is criminal? Tell us where in the Constitution it says what to do when our country has been transformed into an oligarchic fascist state?"

The Founding Fathers who gave us the U.S. Constitution also gave us the answer to your question in the Declaration of Independence:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

Get off your couch and roll up your sleeves, people... we've got work to do!

RE: "Get off your couch and roll up your sleeves, people… we've got work to do!"

I don't know where to start... what do I do that will matter? Obama Mcsame don't matter one way or another...

"RE: "Get off your couch and roll up your sleeves, people… we've got work to do!"

I don't know where to start… what do I do that will matter? Obama Mcsame don't matter one way or another…"

The difference between Obama and McCaine is about the same as between the Clinton and the Bush Administrations. Clinton met your needs and Bush will kill you.

Pat LaMarche for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development!

"...whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

Not likely to happen any time soon. Most Americans are too busy working multiple jobs to make ends meet,or too busy watching American Idol and following the A-Rod/Madonna affair. Besides, they get their news from Fox and realize that the economy isn't really that bad, we just need to stop being so whiny and believe Bush that everything that's happened over the last 7 1/2 years is to be blamed on Congress.

Claudius, you are right on the mark. And NMlib, I'm one of those people who have to work two full-time jobs - it's true now, where's my activism?

I completely agree with Scott. If they are insolvent, then put the companies under Federal receivership. No bail outs.

Flash back over 5 years ago.

http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2003/3010ofheo_rpt.html

"OFHEO made a stunning statement about a worst-case scenario in which either Fannie or Freddie had a severe crisis which caused it to default on its debt. Such a default, it said, "could lead to contagious illiquidity in the market for those [debt] securities, [and] cause or worsen liquidity problems at other financial institutions ... potentially leading to a systemic event." This systemic event would deliver a shock to the entire financial system, and a "substantial loss in economic activity."

The report discusses the emergency credit generation that the Federal Reserve System might have to undertake to try to stem the crisis; but concludes that were the crisis severe enough, either Fannie or Freddie might have to be put into receivership, which would mean their liquidation. Therefore, the report asks Congress to pass legislation that would give OFHEO authority to put these institutions into receivership.

Further, the OFHEO report discusses the risks to the financial system posed by derivatives—not simply the derivatives held by Fannie and Freddie, but the unregulated mountain of derivatives contracts in general.

The report set into motion a shockwave through the financial community. Sharon McHale, a Freddie Mac spokeswoman, told the Feb. 6 Washington Post, that the report's "doomsday scenario was so speculative, it's just incredible." But the full wrath came from the highest levels of the London-Wall Street banking community, which struck hard.

On Feb. 5, a mere 24 hours after the report's issuance, the Bush Administration demanded that OFHEO Director Armando Falcon submit his resignation. Falcon, who been appointed to this post in 1999 by President Bill Clinton, had overseen the report's release. While the Bush Administration delivered the order for Falcon to resign, both the circumstances of the firing and subsequent events make it clear that the actual order for the firing originated from inside the boardroom of J.P. Morgan Chase—the world's largest derivatives bank with $29 trillion in derivatives outstanding—and the boardrooms of other major institutions that are heavily invested in derivatives and housing market paper."

Serfs have always toiled for their masters, and when the masters fuck up, the serfs are compelled to toil that much harder. Work hard people, your bankers need you.

It is insane.

The "AMerican Dream" of owning a home turned into a Capitalists wet dream when they realised they could turn a tidy profit.

I was raised upper middle class. Very modest. Educated. Mother was a doctor... but I was raised to believe you bought a home as a part of your nest egg. It was an investment not just in your bank account but where you lived .. . you built up equity..

WHen mortgages became so cheap so affordable.. that is when you got the flippers.. the buyers of houses purely for investment... it created really major housing bubbles and helped make this whole hype happen.

People never really learned how to be responsible home owners. Owning a home shouldn't be about just something you write off on your taxes... it is about community.. and sustainabilty. Or it should be.
Stupid Market you get greedy people and it breeds ignorant behavior.

The "American Dream" is a phrase that should no longer be written without qualification, and LaMarche doesn't hit hard enough here. Namely, the "dream" is predicated on the usual vestigial feudal nightmare. That is, land is owned by either governments or banks, denied people/communities at birth, and the "dream" is to eventually get on top of the economic pressures causing the denial, and get ahead. But after 500 years of colonization, and the fact that Americans have never owned so little real equity since the Great Depression, speaks far less about a "dream". And much more about a modern-day feudalism, with overlords, tribute, and the rest of the isomorphic/functional equivalents but just under different names.

I'll post this question here as there doesn't seem to be any other way to give feedback to CommonDreams and Ms. LaMarche is still a Green to the best of my knowledge...

Why is there absolutely nothing on this site about the Green Party's national convention that just took place? Progressive Newswire???? Nothing!

Oh, and Cynthia McKinney is the Green's candidate for President. But how would readers of the website that is the self-proclaimed site for "Breaking News and Views for Progressive Community" know this?

Even CNN had a small article on their site.

Pretty pathetic.

GB said yesterday that the "fundamentals" of the economy are sound. And they will continue to be sound as long as China and Japan keep giving. Why shouldn't they?

This is exactly what the Creatures on Jekyll Island had in mind when they put together the Federal Reserve Cartel, knowing that if and when any bank failed if it`s aFederal bank or not it would be bailed out and the burden would be put on our shoulders(TAX PAYERS) and the people responsible get away scott free.This could and should be avoided in the future by reinstating the Glass Steagall Act and a few others to stop the Raping of the citizens of this country.All I know is that I am sick and tired of the bull$hit when it comes to greed and power overtaking my American dream and yours.

We are paying compounded interest to reinvest in debt. Unless we begin to invest in industry very soon and let the top 10% take their losses in the financial sector, as they should, the crisis will only get worse.

So there is money for the bail out of these loan sharks, but not for body armor for the troops.

We don't have free enterprise. Small business has no chance. Big business can't fail. If they win they win big. If they lose the taxpayer picks up the tab.

So, I just want to get this straight. The U.S. government is going to bail out these two companies, all the people who have subprime garbage in this lending system are going to lose their homes, the people who lent them the money are going to get paid off to the tune of $5,000.00 from every man, woman, and child in the United States, while the homeowners left standing at the end of all this eat the loss of equity in their rapidly devaluing houses.

What is wrong with this picture?