McCAIN DOESN'T WANT TO HELP HOMEOWNERS BUT HE JUST LOVES THOSE WALL STREET SPECULATORS

Wall Street insiders were sullen about the Bear Stearns bailout-- taxpayer money delivered into the hands of well off people who had made grotesquely bad (if not dishonest) decisions and who were able to make these decisions because of right-wing ideology that decries government regulation that protects the regular people from the rich and powerful. They were surly because shareholders would only get $2.00 a share and there would be no six-figure incentives for corporate managers to stay and make more catastrophic decisions. So the Bush Regime stepped up to the plate and grandly offered to make that $2/share $10/share, right out of our tax dollars. Something tells me actual conservatives (like Ron Paul would join actual liberals to oppose this incredible scheme.

Tuesday John McBush was in Orange County making a speech to Republican businessmen. He came down hard. "It s not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers.” Right on, McCain! Uh... no; he was talking about people who are losing their homes because of unregulated mortgage predators, not about Wall Street brokerages and speculators. He differs from all honest political leaders in that he blames the victims for the crisis.

Hillary commented on McCain's approach in the exact same words, we've been using here at DWT: "Herbert Hoover." To McCain $29 billion to help make criminal Wall Street speculators whole is absolutely sound policy, but Hillary's plan to use $30 billion to keep American citizens in their homes, is... how did he put it? "rewarding people who were irresponsible at the expense of those who weren’t.” Is he worse than Bush? Absolutely:

Overall, the approach Mr. McCain suggested is even more cautious about federal intervention than that of President Bush. The Bush administration is looking to lower down payment requirements, at least temporarily. Mr. McCain said that he opposed reducing the down payment required for mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration, a step meant to revitalize slumping housing sales.

Senator Obama, speaking yesterday in Greensboro, North Carolina was aghast at McCain's hands off approach as the economy hurtles towards collapse.

John McCain has said that he doesn't understand the economy as well as he should, and yesterday he proved it in the speech he gave about the housing crisis…

He said that the best way for us to address the fact that millions of Americans are losing their homes is to just sit back and watch it happen.  In his entire speech, he offered not one policy, not one idea, not one bit of relief to the nearly 35,000 North Carolinians who were forced to foreclose on their dream over the last few months-– not one.
  
We've been down this road before. It's the road that George Bush has taken for the last eight years. It's the idea that government has no role at all in solving the challenges facing working families-– that all we can do is hand out tax breaks for the wealthiest few and let the chips fall where they may. And whether the rest of America is struggling with rising tuition or skyrocketing health care costs; plant closings or crumbling schools, the answer is always the same: "You're on your own."

Well we can't afford another four years of Bush economics. If there's one thing this crisis has taught us, it's that we can't have a thriving Wall Street and a crumbling Main street, because we're all connected. Our economy has to be the rising tide that lifts all boats, and that's why I'll take immediate action as President to help struggling homeowners. We'll help families and lenders rework existing subprime loans into affordable long-term fixed loans and create a foreclosure prevention fund to help keep Americans in their homes. We'll provide a mortgage tax credit to give homeowners relief, we're going to crack down on mortgage fraud and predatory lenders so that this doesn't happen again. John McCain may call helping struggling homeowners pandering, but I don't think the families in North Carolina who are losing their homes would see it that way. I think they expect their President to fight for them, and that's what I intend to do when I am President of the United States of America.