EMAIL SIGN UP!
Most Popular This Week
- Wisconsin Bill Would Treat Organic Milk, Sharp Cheddar, Brown Eggs as "Junk Food"
- Patent Filing Claims Solar Energy ‘Breakthrough’
- Climate Change's 'Evil Twin': Ocean Acidification
- Disaster Capitalism Strikes as Hedge Funds Circle Near-Bankrupt Municipalities Like Vultures
- Ignoring Bee Crisis, EPA Greenlights New 'Highly Toxic' Pesticide
- Patent Filing Claims Solar Energy ‘Breakthrough’
- Wisconsin Bill Would Treat Organic Milk, Sharp Cheddar, Brown Eggs as "Junk Food"
- Climate Change's 'Evil Twin': Ocean Acidification
- In 'March Toward Disaster,' World Hits 400 PPM Milestone
- Ignoring Bee Crisis, EPA Greenlights New 'Highly Toxic' Pesticide
Popular content
Today's Top News
ACORN, MoveOn Target House Dems
The groups are targeting House Dems who opposed a housing bill that has more generous bankruptcy rules. (Photo: AP) cans hammered Barack Obama over his connection to ACORN during last year’s election, but now ACORN is taking a swing at some Democrats — with the help of liberal activists at MoveOn.org.
The role reversal arises out of the groups’ anger at moderate House Democrats who opposed a housing bill that has more generous bankruptcy rules for people facing foreclosure.
Next week this coalition will begin airing TV ads criticizing House Democrats who voted against the measure, which would for the first time give judges the authority to restructure home mortgages — a procedure known as a cramdown.
The House last week voted 234-191 to pass the housing bill with the bankruptcy provision, but 24 Democrats, mostly moderates, voted against it. ACORN, a coalition of housing activists, has made this measure a top priority in the new Congress.
It is the first time ACORN and MoveOn.org have joined forces to target a lawmaker from either party. The organizations say that they are actively seeking out residents in the districts of Reps. Brad Ellsworth (D-Ind.), Baron Hill (D-Ind.), Marion Berry (D-Ark.), and Tim Holden (D-Pa.) who have lost their homes, so they can appear in TV ads asking their congressmen why they voted against the bill.
“We think it is significant that progressives are joining forces to hold congressional moderates accountable for their votes affecting working families,” ACORN Executive Director Steve Kest told POLITICO. “We think that it signals how seriously we take these issues in the face of the economic meltdown.”
The liberal coalition doesn’t seem to mind taking on Democrats, though it’s unclear if the ad campaign would extend to backing more liberal Democrats in primaries against moderates like Ellsworth and Hill next year.
"We were appalled to see some congressional Democrats side with Wall Street while families in their districts are struggling to stay in their homes," said Robert Greenwald, president of Brave New Foundation, an organization spearheading the effort. "That is just unconscionable."
Color of Change, an African-American organization, is helping to finance the ad buy. The groups did not specify how much will be spent on the effort.
- Posted in
Comments
Note: Disqus 2012 is best viewed on an up to date browser. Click here for information. Instructions for how to sign up to comment can be viewed here. Our Comment Policy can be viewed here. Please follow the guidelines. Note to Readers: Spam Filter May Capture Legitimate Comments...
5 Comments so far
Show AllGood and effective move. Hope it later includes other progressive causes.
I wish there were more details about what 'restructuring' means - if housing prices aren't adjusted downward, to reflect their true market value, giving people more time and lower payments won't solve anything. In small towns, houses that sold for $15-25,000 a few years ago were going for $150-250,000 - that's unsustainable, especially in states with high real estate taxes. How will anyone be able to afford to buy a new house if the new plan just props up ridiculous housing prices in a no-job economy?
What is this "moderate" Democrat nonsense? These are Blue Dogs - conservatives, and in many cases, former Republicans. True, they are elected in socially conservative districts, but their true allegiance is to Wall Street and the lobbyists. They deserve to be thrown out.
From what I'm reading, this deflating housing bubble has a way to go before it flattens out. And that means that just about everyone who bought a house in the last few years without a whopping down payment will end up with their mortgages "under water". We're looking at more pain to come. We haven't reached a true market value yet, so perhaps the "rent to own" plan is the best bet for now. Whatever, it's a mess. I know I made the right decision. I sold my big expensive home for more than it was worth and bought a small home for more than it's worth, but I have no mortgage. I saw a depression coming and wanted a safe haven. What I want to know is why so many didn't see this coming?
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
We need to call our representatives to pass a law lowering the mortgage of over priced houses. What a scam the banks have run on the American people!
Concurrent with financial systems reform, discussed in a previous essay where equity sharing and not-for-profit equity investing would replace the current financial paradigm of for-profit equity investing, equity trading, and usurious credit arrangements, we need to evolve to a different system with respect to residential and other real property occupation arrangements.
In lieu of rent or leases, people should be allowed to acquire equity in their abodes and business properties. For example, in the case of an apartment, if one paid $500 per month to a property management firm, let's say $50 per month would go to property maintenance, and another $40 to administration fees, insurance, etc. This would leave the resident with $410 of accumulated equity added to their account each month. If we had a large cooperative housing organization (preferably world-wide, and preferably the only form of property ownership) then when someone had to move or wanted to move, they could take their equity with them to the new property.
With regards to mortgages, they are horribly usurious and should be banned. The scenario related above would also replace the current system of financing "home ownership loans".
A huge problem that we are facing now is the terrible inflation in the market values of real property (and capital assets, for that matter). If we pooled our equity, pooled our assets, and collectively wrote off our liabilities, then we could significantly write down the market values of real and capital assets.
Mike Morin
www.peoplesequityunion.blogspot.com