Foreclosure Fol-de-rol
Martin Watcher has already delved into the hypocracy of having Governor O’Malley appear in ads promoting ways for those facing foreclosure to get help (the state spending money), when there was such a stink over former Governor Ehrlich promoting the state to tourists (the state making money). But there’s more to it than that…
It seems that the state will try to steer those in such situations into state and non-profit programs instead of getting help from the private sector. I have some questions. Are these non-profit and state programs already in place to help people immediately? If not- what do they do in the meantime? If they are ready for the onslaught of applicants, where was the publicity machine before this? If the state programs particularly are not in operation right now, how much taxpayer dollars will be needed to ramp them up? How much of the working people’s tax dollars will go to ramp up the publicity as well?
To be sure, some get-rich-quick schemers may have taken advantage of those who were over-extended. However, in the great “throw the baby out with the bathwater” tradition, to stop all private-sector help seems wrong. I know some actually were able to sweep in, pay the back debt, and then give the people the time to sell the home and save some of their equity. Without this help, their belongings would be out on the street and they would have been left with nothing. In many cases, it was a win-win-win situation. The lender got paid, the rescuer made a tidy-but-fair profit, and the homeowner saved their asss..ets! Now what are we left with? A situation where it is harder for lenders to get rid of bad debtors, the state spends more of the hard-earned dollars of taxpayers who do pay their mortgages on time, and those who bought more house than they could afford are robbed of the opportunity to learn a hard, but valuable, lesson. They are now at the mercy of a government hand-out program??
Trending: Thank You
O’Malley getting free “Aren’t I a great guy who cares about you” publicity is just the tip of the iceberg.
(Crossposted on Maryland Chesapeake Blog, where there’s more, including the Bobby E. vids.)
