Rick Santelli of CNBC Says it Best
If you recall I said I would reserve my comment on the housing rescue program announced by President Obama yesterday until I had all of the details.
Well, Mr. Rick Santelli of CNBC this morning pretty much wrapped up my feelings of the subject so far.
Rick Santelli’s statement this morning has been spreading around the ‘internet world’ like wildfire… Maybe someone in Washington, D.C. will hear it.
I’ll have the full market wrap up later this evening.
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Where were/are the ‘revolutionaries’ when it’s the banksters getting the handouts. Easy to pick on happless working people, many of whom were defrauded into impossible mortgages. But how about some anger about bailing Bear, Fannie, Freddie, AIG and all the big banks for a lot more than has been offered to underwater home-owners. If it’s going to be liquidation season — and maybe that’s the right course, though it’s easier to say than to live through I’m sure — then let’s start at the top and stop picking on the little guys.
There are a lot of little guys, with their X-boxes, iPhones, Cadillac SUVs with gleaming, spinning rims, who found it ‘hard’ to pay their mortgages. I am a little guy who was offered a $475K home loan in 2002, looked at my budget and chose a $225K home and pay my credit card bill and mortgage on time. Puuuh-lease! it’s easy to claim the role of ‘victim’, and much harder to roll up the sleeves and take responsibility. We have seen where the easy path, the path of least resistance has led us….
I love Santelli. He is always telling it like it is and loves to jack up Steve Leisman.
Rick Santelli sums up the thinking of, I believe, a majority of Americans.
However, what surprises me most is that the government always manages to do things that are against the will of a sizeable majority of the people, e.g. the bailouts and the “stimulus” package for one and not to speak of the occupation of Iraq, and still get away with it.
Is there no justice left?
Justice is coming. Of that, I have no doubt.
The government has subsidized home ownership in this country for decades. We have something called the mortgage interest deduction. If you have a mortgage you write off your interest payments. That reduces your taxes. Its the same as having the government write you a check. Maybe I should rant about that. I worked hard, drove the same car for 15 years, didn’t buy the big screen tv, and still don’t have cable, in order to save and make double payments to pay off my mortgage. So I don’t have a mortgage. I don’t get an interest deduction. That means when I pay my taxes, I am subsidizing your payments if you have a mortgage. That’s an outrage. All of you people with mortgages should be lined up and shot. [tongue firmly planted in cheek]
Ranting about the government giving money to homeowners (writeoffs, reduced interest rates, whatever) is not productive. The government has always done that. Some people who benefit from this program deserve to be helped. Some don’t. But the same is true for the interest deduction. Why should I subsidize the guy with a million dollar mortgage who is rich enough to afford a mansion? He gets the interest deduction. Or what if he’s not rich, but just lied on his mortgage application to get a loan that large? He still gets the interest deduction. There will always be undeserving people.
I think Santelli needs to quit worrying about what other people are getting that he is not getting and focus on whether the program will help solve one of the serious economic problems we are facing. And I’m a Republican who voted for McCain.
At this time, a week and a half later, Santelli is backing off his stance and down-playing the rant. Is it just me or does this deserve another rant re: free speech in America. Santelli has been muzzled in the ‘best interest’ of our country and the markets.
Let freedom reign….
I agree with Santelli and this brilliant blogger. Screw the home buyers. Bush had it right when he gave the money to the nice generous banks that offered these idiots the loans in the first place. Obama, wanting to help the idiot home buyers. W, we miss you.
Where has rick gone. Has cnbc shut him down for criticizing Obama, this is scary.