Robin Weirauch Issues Statement on Mortgage Crisis
This in via email from the Robin Weirauch for Ohio’s Fifth Congressional District campaign:
Robin Weirauch Issues Statement on Mortgage Crisis
(Bowling Green, OH) Today, Robin Weirauch issued this statement on the mortgage crisis.
“Ohio’s middle class families have been squeezed this year by record-high gas prices, spiraling health care costs, or crippling college tuition rates – now, too many hardworking families are losing their homes.
When I was growing up, my mother worked hard to support my two brothers and me. Our home was the foundation of our financial security. Like so many other working families, our home was more than a financial investment – it was our bridge to our neighbors, our anchor in our community, and the place where we invested the dreams for our entire family.
The national subprime mortgage crisis has taken a drastic toll right here in Ohio. According to RealtyTrac, almost 100,000 mortgages in Ohio are currently in foreclosure. During this past September alone, almost 18,000 mortgages went into foreclosure, right here in our own backyard. These aren’t just numbers, they are families in our communities struggling to survive. And, Career politicians in Washington stood by while the crisis got worse.
The only way to end the national mortgage crisis is by having leaders in Washington who understand what middle class families are going though. I know what its like to live paycheck to paycheck, which is why I’ll fight harder than anyone to protect our families, crack down on predatory lenders, and restore the bedrock dream of American homeownership for all of Ohio’s working families.”
As a post script, I’ve gotten a few emails asking me why I’m only promoting Robin Weirauch’s campaign information. As is the policy of Glass City Jungle, I would put press releases from the Latta campaign on Glass City Jungle if they were submitted to me from that campaign, I don’t allow my personal preference towards a candidate or against a candidate interfere with the basic reason for the blog’s existence which is to share information so that you, the readers, can make up your own mind.
The Latta campaign like other Republican and a few Democratic campaigns in this area has not taken advantage of the ability to communicate their press releases in full, without editing.
December 7th, 2007 at 1:04 pmI hope Robin nails the sleazy Latta on this one. No doubt, were he in Congress he would have pushed these high-risk mortgages and the banks and financial institutions who wrote them. The GOP always sides with business interests over those of the middle class.
Ever since WWII, home ownership in America has been the backbone of the middle class. It was their ’savings’ plan, something that they could rely upon to accrue wealth. Those lucky GI’s who came home in 1945 to the GI Bill thanked the Democrats in Congress for helping them on the road to success.
Today the nasty Republicans slap the middle class around as if they were peasants in Medieval Europe.
The dream of home ownership will have to be deferred, as Langston Hughes wrote of the dreams of the black American. Today that dream is a living nightmare!
December 7th, 2007 at 3:01 pmWhat about personal responsibility? How about this concept, “You shouldn’t borrow more than you can afford to pay back?” If you take out a loan with a variable interest rate, you should expect that the rate will increase. How about people learn to live less on credit and more on cash? Learn to live below your means instead of above them.
I don’t think you can peg the large number of foreclosures solely on the lenders. People have to stop paying their mortgages before the foreclosure process starts.
Oh and one more thing, there is NO mortgage crisis. Yes, there is a subprime mortgage crisis. But traditional mortgages are being made every day.
December 7th, 2007 at 7:03 pmAt last! Someone makes sense about this. Is Toledo so high on the foreclosure list because our area lenders are more predatory than other cities? There is no shortgage of lenders to choose from in the Toledo area and anyone with half a brain should have no trouble finding someone to give them a second opinion if they think they aren’t getting a fair shake. I would suspect our mortgage lenders are no better or worse than other areas, but our job market has to be a major factor. I am sure there are some out there that will steer you in the wrong direction if you allow them, but I have seen many more people get into trouble when a two income family becomes a one income family through job loss, divorce or both. When the lawmakers do their thing to “protect” the consumers from these nasty predatory lenders, the end result will inevitably be increased costs for anyone buying a home and fewer buyers that qualify. The “creative” programs are actually good for some people, but clearly not everyone.
December 8th, 2007 at 6:15 pmFHA and VA loans have typically had higher delinquency and foreclosure rates than most other programs. What is being done to protect the consumers from those programs?
Amen to bobthedad and Adam. You should not borrow more money than you can repay under the terms of the contract that YOU signed.
This is not a mortgage crisis it is a responsibility crisis, a financial education crisis and is quickly becoming a crisis of political pandering (i.e. Robin Weirauch, George Bush, Wozniak and the rest).
December 9th, 2007 at 12:16 pmYou can indeed blame the high foreclosure rate on the both the loss of jobs and the wonderfully harsh bankruptcy laws passed a few years ago by the same companies that are now losing billions upon billions of dollars because of their absolute greed. Don’t worry, though, the engineers of this debacle, the CEO’s of Citigroup, et al will not suffer for their lack of personal responsibilty. They will walk away with 100 million dollar severance packages and go on to work in a private equity firm.
December 9th, 2007 at 3:25 pmCraig, who held a gun to these people’s heads and forced them to sign that mortgage contract?
December 9th, 2007 at 11:52 pmWho held a gun to the head of the mortgage lenders who no longer cared if people could actually pay back the loans they were issuing?
December 10th, 2007 at 9:07 am