Senate Passes Bill Giving Tax Breaks to Builders, Homeowners to Avert More Foreclosures

Senate Passes Bill Giving Tax Breaks to Builders, Homeowners to Avert More Foreclosures

www.foxnews.com

The measure passed by an impressive 84-12 vote, but even its supporters acknowledge it's tilted too much in favor of businesses such as home builders and does little to help borrowers at risk of losing their homes.

The plan combines large tax breaks for homebuilders and a $7,000 tax credit for people who buy foreclosed properties, as well as $4 billion in grants for communities to buy and fix up abandoned homes.

The measure, titled the Foreclosure Prevention Act, will be significantly redrawn by House critics who say it favors businesses such as home builders instead of borrowers.

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Well this is just GGRREEAAT!!!!!!! NOT!!!!

You know the same people who played a major role into getting in this mess. The same ones who were making big bucks off all this but now are reaping what the sew are getting the almighty bailout some more. First the banks and now the home builders. The bubble itself was burst because of the builders flooding the market with homes. They were making a fortune at the time but then towards the end they started getting stuck with houses. So now we get to bail them out. It just once again shows you democrat or republican it makes no difference corporate America gets the bailouts while the rest of us get the BLANK in the BLANK.

www.foxnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I like how they passed the bill by a significant margin even though they acknowledge that it doesn't accomplish what they want it to. Who keeps paying these buffoons to sit around agreeing with each other and then go out for steak dinners?

I have to agree that the homebuilders brought this one on themselves. My town has just about doubled in size in the last ten years or so because of all these homes, there's just hundreds of cookie cutter houses making up row after row. I used to live in a town that tripled in size in just five years as a result of rampant cookie cutter houses being build in grids.

The building around here in Northern Illinois is just rediculous. Our school systems have been absolutely overwhelmed. Brand new schools are having to be built but the school districts simply don't have the money. The one new high school in my district should have opened ten years ago based on need, but it wasn't started until about two years ago and won't open until this summer and they already anticipate it to be overcrowded within three years.

Who ever designed some of these developments needs to go back to school and re learn the basics. There's one development about twenty minutes away where if two cars are parked on the side of the street (which there is no ordinance preventing) it's impossible to fit a firetruck through. Now imagine what'll happen on a Friday or Saturday night when parties are going on and a fire starts or if there's some sort of accident within the community. Hopefully the fire fighters won't have any qualms about ramming their way through a couple of minivans or luxury SUV's that line those streets.

Then the infrastructure in town simply cannot handle the housing developments. The electrical work on these homes is extremely subpar, my grandparent's garage has a fusebox that can handle more than any of the new homes according to a local electrician. Then the drainage system is getting overwhelmed as more and more waste gets into the creek which causes flooding, not to mention they've only built one new retention pond.

Just a few years ago there was a very prominent businessman who owned a highly successful auto body shop. He wanted to expand his shop to an area just behind his property and he was going to legally purchase the property. However the village board (a pretty corrupt bunch in my opinion) had a few members were a tad bit jealous of his success so they went ahead and classified the area as a flood plain and therefore unsuitable. What'd they then do, they then allowed a housing developer to purchase that property and put up a huge housing development. Thankfully that development has been indefinitely delayed thanks to this little housing market crash.

The housing developers have been ruining small communities for years and they knew that this would happen eventually. They do not need a bailout, nor do they deserve one. Instead the average homeowner needs the help, not the people that got us into this mess and are only going to make it worse.

Interesting how our corporate ruled government works, they knew that this is not to help the people losing their homes, the same people that elected them, but is to help those that profited from the housing bubble.

Still the bill was passed, take a good look at the people that is holding office in our nation, they are the sames ones ruining our economy and guess what, we the tax payer will pay for all this.

Rediculous.

Want to guarantee that property values continue to plumet, keep building. That is exactly what this will do. The homebuilders were left out of the stimulus package and as an industry cut off all political donations. Can't have that in an election year toss 'em some pork. It's quite evident that Big Business only believes in a free market and capitalism for the rest of us. When problems of thier own creation come back to bite them in the butt they come crying to our illustrious representatives asking CONgress to bail them out with our money. Does anyone thing that these homebuilders will use this money to do something for the common man like maybe hire some folks?( i know it's not a strait handout, but some advantageous loss carryover for tax purposes). I'm proudly independent ( used to lean Republican before Bush) but I say if an industry needs help from the government during the bad times then it's more than fair to tax the hell out of them during the boom times.

[edit on 10-4-2008 by jefwane]

Jefwane they will take the tax brake and run for the hills with the pockets full of tax payer money.

Look what the bail out of the banking industry has done for the common people, no a darn think.

They have pocketed all the money.

I know this marg. I figure they'll use that money to give thier CEOs giant bonusses. It's so frustrating. Maybe I should vote this year for the person that will run the country into the ground the quickest. So that we can reset quicker. I'm pretty sure that would be Obama. No way in hell he can pay for everything he's promising. If they continue bailingout everyone coming to CONgress hat in hand at some point it's going to push the debt past our abillity to service it. When not if that happens it's not going to be pretty.

BTW Bill Gross head of PIMCO (largest familly of bond funds in the world i believe) has not only bet on that he's on TV and lobbying trying to make it happen. He loaded up on mortgage backed securities in one of his funds, started talking about price supports for housing( ain't it amazing how socialist these people turn when they've screwed things up), and at the same time put the largest short bet on treasuries he's had in years. Price supports for housing would make his MBS stuff actually pay off while at the same time locking in prices that the average american already can't afford. If this happens treasury prices collapse making his short treasury bet pay off. When treasuries collapse intrest rates moonshot so not only do you have unaturally high prices but you have a 10%-20% interest rate on that house you can't afford.

I agree Jefwane, but if we stop spending the trillion dollars war expenses in the middle east it will be plenty of money to bring back our nation to start fresh.

But look at most if not all the politicians in Washington, they are all up to their necks on corporate hold and they, one way or another are link to all the corruption going on in the markets.

They are actually bailing their personal interest.

I'm a homeowner, even struggling to pay a fixed mortgage now because of all the higher prices on everything else. Where's my help? I've played by the rules, made my payments on time, sacrificed other needs... where's my "reward"?

Oh... that's right... you have to be a screw up... cause all kinds of problems for others... and then ya' get your handouts... I see how it works.

Or maybe I dont... what? Only big business and big builders get the handouts to any benefit? Screw the little guy... screw the backbone of this country...

I suggest when we put these people in office, we expect a certain level of "good sense" -- in the manner that we should not have to pursue mass email campaigns for every "common sense" issue that comes before them.
I am apparently sorely mistaken. This being one of those issues, one need only look to Border Agents, Ramos and Compean, still sitting in prison over doing their job... what...? A year ago now? Ridiculous.

All my Reps in D.C. just received an email from me yesterday about those two... and it was prefaced with the exact thought above regarding good sense. It's one moron after another in D.C. -- until we rid ourselves of every single one of those currently holding positions in Washington (or at least an overwheming majority), then we will continue on this path of insanity led by outright stupidity.


And BTW -- who will be buying up all these foreclosed homes with a $7K tax-break attached to an already reduced price? The same elite investors who got us into this mess. It's all a game of manipulating the markets the way they want.

Just take for example Gold -- when it was over $1K/oz. -- a large holder dumped an assload on the market (at a huge profit, mind you), causing prices to eventually and steadily drop. So... now when they have dropped... that original "holder" buys up what he dumped, at the reduced price, hence adding to the actual profits as a whole.
And then they'll do it all over again...



[edit on 4/11/2008 by RabbitChaser]

Originally posted by RabbitChaser


And BTW -- who will be buying up all these foreclosed homes with a $7K tax-break attached to an already reduced price? The same elite investors who got us into this mess. It's all a game of manipulating the markets the way they want.


[edit on 4/11/2008 by RabbitChaser]

Correct and that is what makes me so mad about this bill. The same people who cause the problem is getting the bailouts. Think about this the banks are not lending money right now so the only people who are going to be able to buy these in bulk right now are the big boys who dont need loans. So they will come in a buy up all the inventory at a cheap price and get the tax break. Then only then will the banks start to lend to the normal joe but now wheres all this inventory so the normal joes will have to pay higher prices because they couldnt buy at the bottom. Cash is king in a world like this. Its gross.

Originally posted by RabbitChaser
I'm a homeowner, even struggling to pay a fixed mortgage now because of all the higher prices on everything else. Where's my help? I've played by the rules, made my payments on time, sacrificed other needs... where's my "reward"?

Didn't you hear - the "relief check's in the mail"!

And so, the legislature overwhelmingly rescued their employers - corporate America..., what else is new?

reply to post by mybigunit



but there's also the issues of gangs of unemployed mexican contruction workers... thats part of the reason why builders are being helped.

If the money isn't spent on helping the builders then we'll have to further overfill the jails and courts with desperate unemployed people
(we will of course turn a blind eye on the fact many are illegals)



also, someone mentioned the urban sprawl factor..

the builders are entruprenors/small business contractors...
trying to make a living
'They' Require Approved Permits to build those cookie-cutter & McMansion trac houses,
which only the local planning commissions of the city or county can supply
~for a fee of course~ so, one should properly place the poor planning on ones local government representatives.
PUD & HUD requirements and standards are followed to the letter, all stamped and approved with revisions over the years... so all those modern day communities are not a blight as suggested but rather a taxable blessing for your local community

Originally posted by St Udio
reply to post by mybigunit

 

so all those modern day communities are not a blight as suggested but rather a taxable blessing for your local community

Ill bet they arent getting much taxes now that the houses are empty now are they? There were a lot of mistakes in this whole deal made by a lot of people. Our government chooses to bail out the big boys instead and to keep the masses quiet they send them $600.

[edit on 11-4-2008 by mybigunit]

One thing that gets to me is how super inflation is going to get down the line to people in communities like mine.

See In a small town like the one I live in unless you have a plantation old home with many acres of pecan that is where the million dollar homes comes from.

Now some entrepreneur has decided that right across from my small housing community of affordable homes and taxes needs a high scale apartment complex catering to executives (don't really know whom those will come from) with two ponds and walking trail and gardens (originally a pecan field).

What this is going to do with my modest but very good housing community? it will raised our property taxes and we have no clue how much is going to be.

Now from where in he heck this projected high scale village is going to get people in a higher income bracket to pay for this property?

On top of that this will be followed by a high scale open mall, now I bet they will get a brake with the bill that just been passed.

But how about us the ones that has been living in this area for years, who is going to help us when the taxes on property skyrocket.

[edit on 11-4-2008 by marg6043]

Originally posted by mybigunit


Ill bet they arent getting much taxes now that the houses are empty now are they?

the houses that are empty, for whatever reason [?unsold ?foreclosed...]
are still being taxed,
perhaps the taxes due are not being paid now...
but there is sure a tax levy being added to the Liens on the house/property

& that tax will be recovered ~eventually~


the mortgage holders, the party that has title & deed to the house is ultimately liable for the debt... if the tax lein is not paid, the property is sold at auction.

so, local gov'ts may have periods of shortfalls in tax receipts from property tax delinquincies, but ultimately local gov't get it's pound of flesh.
and the bank/mortgage holder loses big time.




```````````

Oh, and as a sidebar... I don't really look at that $300 or $600 stimulus check as some sort of payola to keep the commoners quiet ---

the real reason for the stimulus checks is for banks & credit card companies to get a sustained influx of needed liquidity as the checks will take 2+ months to get distributed.
Now a good 20% of those checks will be used for instant gratification & impulse buying,
the other 80% of $150Billion will get deposited into checking-saving accts
thus pumping assets/colatteral/money/Liquidity into the Banks balance sheets [[ and watch as the elite execs at banks award themselves bonuses for managing themselves out of the immediate sub-prime crisis]]

[edit on 13-4-2008 by St Udio]

Originally posted by RabbitChaser

Oh... that's right... you have to be a screw up... cause all kinds of problems for others... and then ya' get your handouts... I see how it works.


[edit on 4/11/2008 by RabbitChaser]

welcome to "free market" economics, the american way!! free, only if you're willing to live a screwed up life and live on their handouts! otherwise, expect to be taxes to death paying for the screw ups of others. why the heck shouldn't the homebuilders pay for overspeculating the need for thier overinflated homes? or those that arranged these fraud filled loans to suffer for their stupidity. just the fact that they are bailing out these people...passing that expense onto the public...will put a tighter squeeze on the people. some who would have been just fine if they had just let it fall (in the same way it would fall if it was a REAL free market), will lose their homes because of the added stress to their budgets because of the bailouts.
but, na, no help offered to them, they will be in the spot they are in because of their own irresponsibility, they should have known they were getting in over their heads before they signed those papers....they should have known that somewhere in this great, massive country, people were screwing up, and the government would be coming to them to pay to bail these screws up out! it's the new american way!!! deal a near fatal blow to the economy, bail out your pets at the expense of the average american, and then proceed the average american for the mess to begin with when they start to fall because the idiots just couldn't stand to see the actual screwups suffer paying the consequences of their actions and shifted the consequenses over to somewhere else. then when the average people fall, set your little screw up pets up to rake in the dough!!

this is america's free market...you're free to screw up anyway you want, you'll be protected from most of the consequences, and the average american worker will pay for the screw up instead! sooner or later the average american will catch onto this little scam and decide that hey, it's better to be a screw up than to be an actual productive american worker, and well.....who's gonna be paying for the bailouts when we're all screw ups?

I had thought this was regular practice. They have "H.U.D" (Homes under development) here in Detroit . You can get the house on a land contract . Fix it up and you get tax breaks/profit ect.

I think there just trying to encourage cleaning up all the eye sores. But i may be wrong . Just read like the h.u.d thing they have had here for years.

Originally posted by St Udio

Oh, and as a sidebar... I don't really look at that $300 or $600 stimulus check as some sort of payola to keep the commoners quiet ---

the real reason for the stimulus checks is for banks & credit card companies to get a sustained influx of needed liquidity as the checks will take 2+ months to get distributed.
Now a good 20% of those checks will be used for instant gratification & impulse buying,
the other 80% of $150Billion will get deposited into checking-saving accts
thus pumping assets/colatteral/money/Liquidity into the Banks balance sheets [[ and watch as the elite execs at banks award themselves bonuses for managing themselves out of the immediate sub-prime crisis]]

Do me a BIG favor - place this comment on a full-page add in every paper in the country - I have a feeling you are among the 6 or 7 people in the country who is able to explain it correctly. Star for you.

you'd be surprised at how many city legislatures, town councilmen (women), mayors and such in my home town and neighboring villages are now landlords of various rental units scattered throughout the area, paid for with hud vouchers for the most part. lol....they knew a good deal when they saw it.