Obamaville January 24 - The Millionaire's Club

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With the President about to come on television and give his State of the Union address tonight I need to get a few thoughts on paper regarding the presidential c ampaign.

Last night we had the 18th out of what seems like 40-50 potential debates between the GOP candidates and if nothing else, it was quiet by comparison to the others.  What a change when the normally rowdy audience has to be quiet.  It was like March Madness without cheerleaders.  Eerie...

In the last 24 hours Gingrich released his contract with Fannie Mae and Romney released his taxes for two years.  Considering the massive hype by the media in demanding the information, most analysts had no clue how to analyze the information.  How could they, they didn't know anyone but Buffett could make that many millions a year.

It seems it took about 400 pages for the Romney taxes to get done under the existing tax laws and the jealously among liberal pundits was obvious.  After reviewing the material all day they are still distorting the information, twisting the facts and mangling the analysis.

Of course that is minor compared to the outright lies by Democratic spokespeople but lies have become institutionalized under the current Administration.  So let me just ask this because I think Obama is a nice guy but ill-prepared to be president, and that is after three years on the job.

Why is it nearly every single Obama economic policy staff member he brought into his Administration is gone, disappeared, silenced?  Why is it the only economic mouth piece for the president are political hacks from the campaign, and not an economist from the White House Council of Economic Advisors?  And why is a multi-zillionaire from Omaha the only economist the president mentions?

Now I like Buffett and I lived in Omaha but he doesn't work for the president, he seldom talks to the president, and even he must be wondering after three years what in the heck is the kid doing in the White House?

About the Romney return, he may not be Buffett but he is definitely the richest candidate for president since John F. Kennedy and I am delighted we finally have a candidate for president who can't be bought because he has all the money he needs.

Obama, the Democrats and even the Republicans have been talking about the need for tax reform.  So why has nothing been done for the last three years?  As I recall, Obama and the Democrats had veto proof majorities the first two years, and controlled the White House and Senate all three years.  So what is the problem?  Probably the same problem as the fact the Democratic controlled Senate has not passed a federal budget for over 1000 days, sheer lunacy in these trying times.

Romney paid about $3 million in taxes and gave $3 million in charitable contributions in 2010, and did about the same in 2011.  Like I said in an earlier article, he gave more to charity than all the other candidates and Obama combined.  Virtually all his income came from investments, was not earned income under tax laws, so it was taxed at 15%.  There is nothing in his return to raise any questions, only jealously from political and media pundits.

I would think the American dream would be for anyone to have been so successful in business that they make $21 million a year from investments, investments in many other companies in our country.  Still, the Democrats will condemn it.  For some reason "making it" in America is a bad thing.

As for Gingrich he may have more to explain than his super rich opponent.  Newt made well over $1 million with a consulting contract with Freddie Mac, the agency behind the collapse of the housing market.  While Freddie was driving more people into foreclosure than any time in our history to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars in tax losses, Gingrich was walking away with over $1 million.

Now I agree with Obama on one thing, only the super rich can tell us how to fix the tax code.  Obama has Buffett and I have Romney.  The question we must ask is do you want someone outside the government making these monumental decisions like Buffett, or do you want someone in the presidency who has the knowledge and experience and works for the people of the United States?

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What Happened to the Housing Sub-prime Mortgage and Foreclosure Crisis?

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Was it just three years ago that sub-prime mortgages, or was it the scandal of sub-prime mortgages, was the trigger that set off the worldwide economic collapse and it became the first priority of the newly elected Obama administration in terms of getting out of the recession? It seems like light years away yet there is probably no one in America whose home equity and 401K or other pension program is still not suffering as a result of the crooked manipulation of the housing market.

So where are we in attacking the first of the economic disasters that hit? Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two troubled mortgage giants, were seized by the government nearly two years ago and now own or guarantee 56% of all American mortgages, and they are losing billion of dollars. Nine out of every ten new mortgages originating today are backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or the Federal Housing Authority.

The government has already pumped $150 billion into the two giants and some economists estimate it will take up to $1 trillion to keep them afloat. They now hold $210 billion in bad loans. In July there were over 2.02 million homes in foreclosure and 5 million more homeowners were behind on mortgage payments.

The Federal Reserve now owns around $1.09 trillion in mortgage-backed securities. The Obama $75 billion mortgage rescue program was a failure. Housing prices continue to remain at a six year low while inventories are bloated. At the same time the Fed loans money out to lenders at a 0-.025% interest while mortgage rates remain at the lowest levels ever seen in modern times.

Curiously, Obama did not include housing reform in the financial reform package even though the fraudulent housing securities were the main cause of the economic collapse. Much work remains to be done to stop people from walking away from mortgages worth more than the homes, to halt the record number of foreclosures, to stabilize housing prices, to sell the huge housing inventories and to encourage home building and purchases.