Listen to the President's speech today? Here's some lowlights...

"Step two: now that we’ve made it harder for reckless buyers to buy homes they can’t afford, let’s make it easier for qualified buyers to buy homes they can. We should simplify overlapping regulations and cut red tape for responsible families who want to get a mortgage, but who keep getting rejected by banks. And we should give well-qualified Americans who lost their jobs during the crisis a fair chance to get a loan if they’ve worked hard to repair their credit."

Pardon me? Reckless buyers? 10 million families - not individuals, FAMILIES - yanked out of their homes in foreclosure, and the reason they were is because they were "reckless" in signing a mortgage while they were working, lost their job because the banks started borrowing money with nothing but air, and when the banks crashed the economy millions lost their jobs? They were reckless because of the actions of previous Republican and Democratic administrations who, having off-shored their jobs and weakened their protections from predatory employers left them nothing to backstop that tragedy? Whle this was going on OUR Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Bernanke, when asked if the increase in home prices was sustainable, told the nation "I can't foresee the housing market in the United States falling". Maybe they were reckless because they listened to their government who failed to warn them that they could no longer trust their banks and mortgage lenders?

Gullible might be a better word. And now, you say, THE HOMEOWNERS have to work hard to repair their credit?

I loved this next one...

"Step five: we should make sure families that don’t want to buy a home, or can’t yet afford to buy one, have a decent place to rent. In the run-up to the crisis, banks and the government too often made everyone feel like they had to own a home, even if they weren’t ready. That’s a mistake we shouldn’t repeat. Instead, let’s invest in affordable rental housing. And let’s bring together cities and states to address local barriers that drive up rent for working families."

So when FDR took on the thieving banks that stole money and caused the last Great Depression one of the things he did was to make sure that a "middle class" could own property, just like their "betters". Along with decent jobs that is a vital piece of what separates us from feudal, fascist societies, that prevents the inequality that is getting lip service and little else. That would let tens of millions of American families hold their head up as equals to the property owners, something that had never before been within their grasp.

Invest in affordable rental housing? Are you kidding me? Are we now striving to be more like Somalia?

"That begins with winding down the companies known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. For too long, these companies were allowed to make big profits buying mortgages, knowing that if their bets went bad, taxpayers would be left holding the bag. It was “heads we win, tails you lose.” And it was wrong.

One of the things FDR did for us was the National Housing Act, giving us Fannie Mae, which allowed millions of people to get out from under the thumb of property owners, to have their own place, which eventually provided a foundation for the "middle class" to build wealth, something that had not been possible for the average working family until the vehicle of a house appeared. For 70 years that was a cornerstone of preparing for the time when one could not earn income any longer. Even with that, a third of all people retired with less than $10,000 in the bank, but for a hundred million people or more that one thing gave them a way to secure a chunk of money, a roof over their head, a tie to a community, and a chance not to live in poverty.

To call for the end of that is a slap in the face to the memory of the people who fought and worked so hard to bring us out of the Depression caused by the greedy bankers and capitalists, and soils the memory of FDR. If might also destroy a chance at a future without poverty for a large number of people. This would leave the middle class at the mercy of private money, the same private money that destroyed the savings and retirements for millions of Americans in the past few years. Mentioned in the speech was the 30 year mortgage, something that the creation of Fannie Mae brought us, because private money thought it too risky. Given the price of housing, and the lack of decent jobs being created, this very nearly guarantees that a hundred million people will never, ever have the tangible financial benefits that home ownership brings, and instead will cede that benefit to the Mi$$ RobMe capitalists, to to the thieving finance companies, to those who will own wealth, while the rest of us will become their gardeners and maintenance people, beholden to some landlord

(Perhaps we, as Democrats, should also hold classes to teach people how to not appear uppity to the landlords? 'Cause you can be out on the street in an hour. Chapstick futures might be a good investment, 'cause there is a lot of kissing up coming.)

Why not reform Fannie Mae and let them continue to work for the people, instead of selling us out to the banks? Fannie and Freddie didn't start this. Private capital brought us this mess, and that's a fact, Jack.

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/fannieFreddie2.jpg

With thanks to: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/11/examining-the-big-lie-how-the-facts...

F&F, late to the game, saw the profits and decided to get muddy with the rest of the kids in the puddle, but that was well after the banks, private capital, had created a sinkhole big enough to sink a country. We can't, CAN'T be so stupid and gullible as to let "private capital" screw us over again, right? We are smarter than that, I know we are...

Ahem...

"First, private capital should take a bigger role in the mortgage market."

Oh, just shoot me now.

People actually clapped for this, the demise of their future. Private capital is what brought us the tragedy that tens upon tens upon tens of millions are living through today. So now we are just gonna hand them the keys to the Kingdom and become their servants?

"Second, no more leaving taxpayers on the hook for irresponsibility or bad decisions. We encourage the pursuit of profit – but the era of expecting a bailout after your pursuit of profit puts the whole country at risk is over."

"Over" has a certain connotation. Does that mean we have stopped the $85 billion a month we are paying out today to bail the banks out, the banks that reported a $20 billion profit in the second quarter of this year?

But all is not lost. Since you won't have a home you will be living from your Visa card, and we now have a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to, uh, he'p ya.

There is more, and you can read it for yourself.

http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_phoenix_metro/central_phoenix/full-...

I remember when Obama took office, and instead of staffing the FBI with accountants like they did when the put the S&L officers in jail, he visited with the bankers and told them "I'm the only one standing between you and the pitchforks".

I feel like the middle class in America just got that pitchfork back, in their gut.

Good luck.