Obama’s Housing Rescue Plan and the Responsible Homeowner

There is an uproar in the air.

Rants like the ones by the (in)famous Rick Santelli, has people up in arms, about not wanting to pay for their neighbor’s mortgage.  Rick’s rant reminds me of the Sudanese people who protested the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for their President, who has been accused of committing war crimes and genocide against the people of Darfur. The depths of ignorance that encourages such great manipulation is stunning. That the very same people whose friends, neighbors and relatives have been the target of genocide, now protest the arrest warrant of the person who is responsible for the genocide, is at best very sad and at worst, another crime of exploitation against the ignorant.

Like the Sudanese, some of our people are being misled, once again, by the likes of Rick Santelli. I know the example of manipulation and exploitation I gave above is hard-hitting, but the point is this: we shouldn’t miss the forest for the trees. Let us not cut off our noses to spite our face.

Obama’s plan to rescue homeowners who are stuck in high interest, fancy mortgages that they are unable to pay has gotten a lot of people’s (especially Republicans!) knickers in a bunch. Many have said that they do not want to rescue irresponsible people who have taken out a larger mortgage than they can afford or bought a larger house than they can afford.

For one second, lets set aside the fact that the taxpayer is rescuing irresponsible banks and financial companies to the tune of many billions, even though many have knowingly sold bad mortgages to people by misleading, mis-stating or misinforming them. That is a debate for another blog post.

Even if the American taxpayer was not rescuing the banks and financial industries, I would still recommend we stand by Obama’s plan to rescue the distressed homeowner.

Why do I say this? It is not because I stand to gain personally. No, I will not benefit from Obama’s plan, so there is no vested interest here. The reason I support Obama’s plan, even though it is not perfect, is this: If there is ever a chance that the housing market recovers and by virtue of its tight interconnection, the financial markets recover, the only hope is to stem the foreclosures.

The banks which are opposing or dampening the extent of Obama’s homeowner rescue package are continuing to exhibit the very same behavior that caused this collapse: that of greed, selfishness and short term mercenary avarice. What they do not understand is this: foreclosure benefits no one. NO ONE!. Not even the neighbor who has been very meticulous is paying his mortgage, very responsible in buying the home he can afford and who now resents having to rescue someone he considers irresponsible.

When a home in a neighborhood goes into foreclosure, all the bank is interested in, is to retrieve the principal they put into it. The homeowner might have had about 10% or 20% invested in the home. But the bank will very easily price the home down to get it off its books. What does that do to a neighbor’s home, the one who has been responsibly paying his mortgage? It automatically brings the value of his house down to match that of the foreclosure. In the end, as more foreclosures hit a neighborhood, the value of all the properties go down – it no longer matters if they are foreclosed or not.

So it is in the best interest of ALL of us, even those who have been religious about paying our mortgages, to stem foreclosures. The money spent will eventually benefit EVERYONE, not just the ones who are being rescued.

And Obama’s plan, tries to achieve some of it (provided the banks don’t lobby the House and Senate to add their riders to mangle the plan.)

Party at Capitol Hill Dunk Tank!

There is something to be said for the party at the Capitol Hill Dunk Tank that periodically invites the creme-de-la-creme from the Wall Street and Financial fraternity for cake, since they don’t eat bread. Even as we are crying foul at the massive re-distribution of wealth that is taking place under our noses, our house reps, in an effort to wipe our tears and divert us, have hauled up various economic criminals (bank and auto heads), real criminals (peanut tycoon), camouflaged criminals (Treasury and SEC officials who plead incompetence rather than malicious intent), and financial criminals (Madoff et al), to a Capitol Hill Dunk Fest.

Our brave leaders have put their heads in the lion’s jaws for our sakes. They recognize that we are yelling for blood. And that we want justice. Because we know, in our heart of hearts, that the money the CEOs have earned is not for an honest day’s work. It is “earned” with a loaded dice – by knowing the “right” people, “lobbying” for their interests, and fighting against legislature that benefits the country.

So they drag these suited, booted, arrogant, smirking, know-it-all, talking heads to Capitol Hill.

“Did you know that you were indulging in risky behavior when you encouraged your loan officers to push high interest mortgages to people who couldn’t repay them?
Dunk!

“How much money did you lend out last year after you took TARP money and how much did you lend out the year before when didn’t have access to TARP money? Why are both amounts the same?”
Dunk!

“How many millions did you pay as bonus to your employees with one hand, when your company was in the red and grasping taxpayer money with the other hand?”
Dunk!

“Weren’t your companies the ones that fought hard against legislation for building energy-efficient cars? Now why are you coming to us for help when gas prices make your cars unaffordable to run?”
Dunk!

“How did you come to Capitol Hill today? Did you use the Corporate jet?”
Slam Dunk!

Oh, I know, I know, one cannot shame the shameless. To all intents and purposes, a tongue-lashing is not the same as a lashing.

Our only hope of reprieve from yet another bubble is to enact strict and loophole-free laws before we hand out our money to the grubby hands of the banks. But since our interests are not protected here too, we must rely on Wall Street’s sense of shame and well concealed patriotism in order to help dig our nation out of the mess of their making.

Even if the dunkfest does not accomplish its goal – to shame the CEO’s into good behavior, it at least indicates that at least our lawmakers feel our pain, while they are handing out the futures of our children and grandchildren to dishonest and avaricious people. We should be able to take comfort in that.

Plumbing the depths – GOP style!

Here is a nice story: The sun is shining brightly. The seas are calm. The fish are swimming close to the surface of the azure blue waters practically begging to be reeled in by the fishing lines. And GOP is sailing their boat looking up proudly at their captain at the helm. He is doing a great job. Everything is under control because the GOP is IN control!

Suddenly, the weather changes. Dark, ominous storm clouds gather. The sea gets rough and choppy. The fish have swum deep into the sea, hiding in fear. The GOP’ers glance up at the wheel. The captain is nowhere in sight. He’s on vacation at his Texas ranch. So they look for the 2nd in command. Oh no, he’s gone hunting and has shot his friend in the face.

So they grit their teeth and ask for “all hands on the deck” to prevent the ship from sinking. Somehow they muddle through, to hold the ship afloat until the captain retires. Now they are looking for a new captain. Someone with a spine. Someone who knows how to stay in the limelight. Someone who will grab on to opportunity and hold tight. Someone who will stand firm (if muddled) about their conservative stances.

They cast around for a leader. They search high and low. For as far as they can scan the horizon, they cannot find anyone to captain their floundering ship.

So they finally cast their lines in the deep choppy waters of the GOP base and reel in a dead fish. This was the fish that John McCain, the previous de facto leader had reeled in earlier to help his sinking ship stay afloat. For lack of a better alternative, they resurrect it and lo! Here is our leader. Guess who?

Our intrepid, opportunistic, tax-dodging, unlicensed, Joe, the plumber!

Pay to play!

One of my favorite Tamil movie scenes is a comedy routine, performed by the actor Vivek. In that scene, Vivek is traveling on a motorbike, when he is stopped by a cop for speeding. The cop asks him to dismount and starts writing up a ticket. Vivek is all braggadocio and he blusters to the cop, ” I know the Police chief!”. The cop immediately stops writing the ticket and starts groveling. Vivek then puffs up his chest and cannot stop himself from saying, “BUT, he doesnt know me!” To which the cop responds by thrashing him.

It is a hilarious scene, but also a sad scene, because that is the true state of affairs in India. You get by, by who you know. And you get by, by bribery. Your business runs on whose palms you can grease. You can get off the hook by paying. You can land jobs, movie tickets, seats in restaurants, big contracts, anything, by paying money. And in the Govt. there is a fixed price tag for every job that your elected officials are already paid to do. You need a passport? No problem, just pay an extra Rs 500 along with the passport fee. Everyone down to the office peon gets a cut. You need get approval on a real estate form for building your factory? No problem, just pay Rs 100,000 and it will get done.

Money just doesn’t talk in India, it sings.

And people are so desensitized that bribery is no longer something to be ashamed of, corruption is no longer “under the table”. In India bribery is a blatant, “Sur la table”! In your face!

So when I read the screaming headlines of the past two days: “Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich busted in an early morning operation because he was caught on tape negotiating to sell Barack Obama’s old Senate seat” I felt a sense of deja vu. Been there, seen that.

But what I hadn’t seen before was the media frenzy at Governor Blagojevich’s brash and open misuse of power. As I watched the news media cover the whole sordid tale, the one thing that emerged was the indignation of everyone in Illinios at the fact that everything was “Sur la table”. They couldn’t believe that Blago, as he is fondly referred to, had lost all sense of dignity of his position, all sense of shame, any honor and any respect for the people he was representing. Blago so believed he was above the law that he openly taunted the FBI to investigate him and place wire taps.

As a fairly recent transplant from India to the US, I revel in and enjoy the cultural differences between the two countries. I found that one of most striking cultural differences is between the way Indians speak and Americans couch their words – it is simply the polish. It is a refined and genteel way of saying the unpalatable. Whatever Indians say bluntly, the Americans I know, will pretty the same thing up, and arrive at it in a roundabout manner.

Going by the media frenzy, especially on CNN, it appeared that Blago’s crime was not just the fact that he was corrupt. There are other corrupt politicians. Especially other corrupt Governors from Illinois. Blago’s heinous crime was that he was blatant: his every demand was open. His misuse of power was rampant. True to American form, the media came up with a “sound bite” in order to spare our sensibilities. Pay-to-play!

Presumed guilty until proven innocent?

The American media is a grand old institution. For most part, they do a great job covering various sensational cases. But one Achilles heel that I have noticed time and again, is the propensity of the media to presume guilt even before some cases go to trial. This has been a particularly virulent form of aggression and it does great harm to the defendant.

In the past few weeks, two cases come to mind: the Rod Blagojevich case of the Illinois governor who is accused of trying to sell Barack Obama’s recently vacated senate seat to the highest bidder. The press has gone bonkers about this case and every single news anchor I’ve watched so far, has spoken as if Blago is guilty. Truth be told, there are accusations against him, but nothing has been proven so far, because the investigation is still going on.

In the more serious case of Casey Anthony, who has been accused of killing her 2 year old child, the press has tried and passed a verdict on her. Nancy Grace on CNN has been especially unrelenting in accusing Casey of murdering her child.

Now, this may, in fact, turn out to be the case, but that is not the issue I am talking about. I am speaking about the fact that Casey will not be provided a fair trial under the law because Nancy has sensationalized the case so much. Not only that, she has spent many hours accusing Casey of being guilty. There are other people out there, some are “psychologists” who, purportedly, profiled Casey Anthony as a “sociopath” based on scant 3rd hand evidence.

Thanks to Nancy’s innuendo’s, outright accusations and sarcastic remarks, and others like her, who have heard the evidence (3rd or 4th hand), deliberated, tried and indicted Casey, she has lost the basic human right of presumed innocence until guilt is proven in court with no shred of doubt.

While I am all for the media making hay while the sun shines, it must not be at the expense of other human beings. Everyone deserves a fair shake at justice and in these two cases (in the recent past) justice is not being served. Let the police and the court systems do their job. The media, in these cases, seem to have erupted like vultures after a carcass.

Please don’t misunderstand me – I don’t imply either guilt or innocence in these two cases.  I would like to withhold any private opinion – simply because it is not my place to judge until the courts have tried and come to a verdict. I implore everyone else to withhold judgment until then too.

I would urge the media and the people to BE FAIR and BE NON-JUDGEMENTAL – If not for the sake of the defendants, at least for THEMSELVES!

Lame duck ducks!!

I don’t consider myself a big fan of George W. In fact, like many others in the US, I do believe he is at fault for a lot of our economic pain.

But I have to be fair and applaud him for  his gamely handling of the shoe-throwing incident at Iraq. I have to admire him for his fantastic ducking reflexes and his diffusing the situation immediately afterward with the joke about the shoe size. I must especially commend him for the White House press secretary, Dana Perino’s recent press conference when she said that Bush had requested the Iraqis to desist from overreacting to the incident.

Much has been written about the shoe throwing incident. Perhaps, the one of the most vitriolic articles about this is written by one of the New York Times writers, Nicholas Kristof – “Paying down the deficit with whizzing shoes“. I know I laughed when I first read the blog post, but as I started reading the comments in response to that blog, I started feeling a bit uneasy. There was a deep undercurrent of anger in many of the responses. Now, who am I to judge what people feel is George Bush’s legacy to the US? But I still felt a certain sense of disquiet at Bush’s image in this country. Much blame has been laid at Bush’s door. I am sure a lot of it is well deserved.

But this actually begs a larger question: wasn’t the US constitution written to protect the people from a despot? How is it that Bush became so powerful that he could do all the damage that he is reportedly accused of? Why do we assume Bush and only Bush is culpable in the mess that is left behind at the end of his era?

Where is our share in all this? Is not omission also a part of commission? Are the people themselves not responsible? Who voted Bush into office, not once, but twice? Who looked the other way or convinced themselves that he was “protecting” the country when he set up Gautanamo Bay and when he instituted the Patriot act? Who voted for Bush because they felt he was perfect for being one of the most powerful men in the world, simply by virtue of the fact that he was someone they could drink a beer with? Who allowed the congress to renege on their responsibilities to the people by continuously allowing Bush / Cheney to do whatever they wanted with the legislation? Who ALLOWED the Constitution to fail?

WE, THE PEOPLE!

Palin Planet!

At breakfast today, I told my son, “You know, it’s time for me to write again about Sarah Palin!”

As a fledgling blogger, I am very interested in checking out the stats of my blogs. And the discovery I made was not surprising.

So when my son asked me why I wanted to write about Sarah Palin yet again, I unabashedly told him that my posting about Sarah Palin gets a more consistent viewing than many of my other blogs, barring the one about “Even a cat has Karma“. Good enough reason to write about what the “Palin ingredient” does for the media.

Whatever Sarah Palin may represent to the rest of us, we all seem to have a love-hate relationship with her. Every feeling about Sarah is extreme. There are those who worship the ground she treads on, aka William Kristol, Sean Hannity, and some folks in Alaska.

And then there are those like me, who read about her and watch her on TV with incredulity. What on earth?…. is what we think when we hear her speak. Her brand of gibberish is certainly very entertaining and very very unique. She strives really hard to make sense, and I bet in her mind, she does make sense, but the words out of her mouth never seem to pause – they flow like the Ganges, ravishing all sane thought and idea in its wake.

What does Sarah Palin do for the media? Well, I have not yet heard anyone openly acknowledge her star power, so I will. As far as the Internet goes, any mention of Palin, has a Web site auto-ping and grab content to display on their site (0f course, with a link back to my blog!) – so that’s exposure right away. The minute I press the Publish Post button on this blog, I am going to get a ping back. Not bad.

As far as TV shows go – the ratings go through the roof, if the channel advertises that Sarah is going to be on the show. Why does this happen?

Again, two very different reasons – First off, lets not disregard the devotees, for they make up the true ratings.

They come out in droves to watch her, comprehend her utterances, interpret it to suit themselves, salivate over her good looks, discuss her hair, make-up, clothes and figure. These true ratings, in my opinion, are made up to two distinct categories of people – the men, some of whom comprise of the pimpled adolescent boys or the bored husbands who like to imagine her as the hot, bespectacled librarian. These are the kind who love to see eye-candy and get a kick out of seeing the Palin photo daily on the news. Honorable mention in this category are the Brits and the Pakistanis (led by the stalwart Zardari).

The second category is the women. These are the working women, housewives, forty-somethings, and women who dream of fame and recognition. To them, Sarah represents a dream come true – “someone like me” becoming famous. Some of these women are actually smart, good looking and educated. But their filter for viewing Sarah is themselves. They see her as themselves and so cut her slack for her incoherent talk, her rambling rhetoric and “interpret” her sentences for the rest of us, in the multiple blog comments.

Secondly, there are the infidels, like myself, who dare to be skeptics. This category comes out in droves too when a Sarah Palin show is aired, and this is the number that embellishes the ratings. These people come to see the Sarah Palin shows for entertainment. True entertainment. We watch in awe that someone like Sarah gets to be on prime time. We watch in horror and pain as she ties herself up in a flurry of her words, like a python slowly tightening its hold on its
prey. We watch in fascination, as the TV host lets her get away with answers that have no bearing on the question asked. And we watched with fear, when we thought she might, she just might, get to become VP and cast the pall of her intellect on America.

So there you go, my in-depth analysis of Sarah Palin’s media advantage . Love her or hate her, you can never just ignore her.

And that’s true STAR POWER!!

If only we would stop to THINK before rushing in to FIX!

“Folks! A lot of people miss those old drive-in theaters. But I say, any theater can be a drive-in, if you ram it with your HUMMER!” So, quipped Stephen Colbert in his Colbert report.

Seems to me that this is how we Americans solve our problems. Just ram in, preferably with a Hummer and you will be fine! This is exactly how I see our latest economic crisis being handled. First, Paulson convinced the Congress and the Senate to dish out $700 B of taxpayer money with no questions asked, so that he could ram it through the financial system, regardless of whether the banks wanted it or not (according to some reports) and hoped that it would solve the problem.

It didn’t.

All it did, was create a situation like the one I have seen in India before. When one goes to a temple in India, there is usually a loooooong line of beggars seated at the entrance with their palms stretched out. And you better decide upfront if you want to give alms that particular day. Because, be prepared, when you start doling it out to one person, the other beggars appear out of the woodwork and you cannot escape. So, you keep delving into your purse to find more cash until you run out of the green stuff and then and only then, will the beggars disappear.

So Paulson created a situation like that, only on a MUCH larger scale. We now need to ram more money into the system. Just what exactly the system is, no one knows. All we know is that it is NOT middle class American people.

So we do what we are best at doing: American problem solving – there is a problem, pour in cash, it will go away. We don’t blink, we don’t think, ala Sarah Palin. We just dive in and pour the cash. That’s what we are now trying to do with the Big three Detroit Auto makers. There are already reports of many more companies asking for a handout.

…While Middle class America is left seated at the temple door.

Can we stop for a moment and THINK? Can we try to identify the problem before rushing to fix it? I know, I know, the auto makers say that they wont last this month without money. But it cannot have happened in a jiffy exactly like Paulson said the financial storm happened in a jiffy.

What, exactly, are we trying to solve here? What is our major problem?
1. Is it the American auto manufacturing that we want to save?
2. Is it American jobs we are trying to save?
3. Is it both?
4. Are there not other options for creating jobs and other futuristic options for personal transportation?

For instance, I just read in Fortune magazine that Abu Dhabi is creating a completely self sufficient city in the middle of the desert. Read, “A Green city blooms in the desert” by Julia Joffe in the December 2008 Fortune magazine. The city is called “Masdar” and it will be home to 1,500 businesses, 50,000 residents, and 40,000 commuters, will use 75% less electricity and 60% less water. Personal transportation pods will be powered by lithium batteries and will replace cars.

The cost of building this city: $22B, about 2/3rds of what the Auto makers have requested Congress to pay for their initial bailout. It is estimated that they will come back for more before 2009 is out. Experts suggest it will cost the taxpayer between $75B and $125B. And we are not even sure if cars are the transportation mechanism of the future!

Wouldn’t a project like the one planned by Abu Dhabi create jobs immediately? Wouldn’t it create renewable energy, help America lead the world in urban planning and pour money where we need to be in the future? Wouldn’t it also solve our future transportation needs? Are cars the ONLY way to travel? And are the auto manufacturers predictions of car sales for the future going to hold out? Are we pouring money before stopping to take a breath?

Don’t get me wrong: I have tremendous admiration for the good men and women who represent the American public in the Congress and the Senate. I think they are doing a fantastic job, to the best of their ability. They have been tough on the Auto makers and have learned from their experience of handing Paulson money with no strings attached.

Only, if only we would stop to THINK before rushing in FIX!

Confession!

I have a secret confession to make – one that I know will make me the butt of jokes of the “elite” who love to talk about gaffes and such. But since I have long nourished this feeling (meaning, I’ve nourished this for the past 3 months!), I am going to come out and say it.

I am a bit in love with Joe Biden, our VP elect.

For many years I’ve read about people referring to so-and-so as authentic, real, oh so real! And during the election, the media got particularly strident about authenticity.

I could never figure out what they meant about a “real” person until I heard Biden speak on the stump once. I had heard him speak many times before, but this once was particularly powerful. He spoke about America being ONE NATION, UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE. I could sense he meant what he said, there was no facade, no learning and regurgitating of lines – he just spoke from his heart. When I heard him, it finally sank in, what “authenticity” meant.

And I am in love with the idea of an authentic person. It warms the cockles of my heart.

Sarah Palin and me!

I watched Sarah Palin’s TV interviews after the election. She was completely indiscriminate – anyone who popped a microphone in front of her face, got a dose of her now famous “girly next door” discourse. She talked long and she smiled and she winked. And she defended herself against the Katie Couric embarrassing interview. Then she defended herself against the allegations of the $150k purchase. All well. Fun to hear, great to see – she’s certainly easy on the eye.

But where she suddenly had an eerie resemblance to one of my “failin’s” – one I am tryin’ to correct strenuously was when she answered questions even before the interviewer finished askin’ the questions! Of course, she mostly answered gibberish, I hope I cannot lay claim to that credit, but she would jump up and answer before she even heard out the question. And there, woefully, I saw myself reflected in Sarah Palin!

Enough is enough. Seeing my failin’ starkly displayed in a Sarah Palin interview will, I hope, put an end to this. Friends, soon you will see my failin’ failin’. Gone! Forsooth!