Obama’s Mortgage Modification Program: Adored by Leftwing Media, Failing Program Has Never Delivered on Its Lofty Promise to Help 3-4 Million American Homeowners
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on June 23, 2010
Failing: Obama's Home Affordable Modification Program has never delivered on its lofty promises
Remember when your dad told you, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is” and “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”?
Remember when Margaret Thatcher said, “The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money”?
Well, we’re at that point, patriots, with Pres. Obama’s mortgage modification and housing bailout. It’s failing big time… which conservatives, talk radio show hosts, economists, and tea partiers across the country knew it would. Too bad no one told liberals in Congress or in the Obama-fawning media any of those above-cited truisms.
Too bad no one was able to convince our Man-Child in Chief, our official Golfer of the United States of America (GOTUS), that you can’t spend yourself out of debt. Nor that when the government attempts to manipulate (aka “fixing”) the economy, it usually ends badly.
Here’s some biased “liberal spin” on the situation, delivered by ABC.
Here’s what’s really happening…
From Business and Media Institute, Media-Backed Obama Mortgage Program Flops:
Obama’s home loan modification program was talked up by the bailout-friendly news media as a potential “ray of light” for struggling homeowners.
But on June 21, Associated Press reported the mortgage assistance program is “falling flat.”
The broadcast networks supported the mortgage modification and housing bailout when Obama launched it in 2009, after criticizing Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s plan for not doing “enough” to fix the problem. ABC, CBS and NBC haven’t mentioned the new figures since AP reported them.
“More than a third of the 1.24 million borrowers who have enrolled in the $75 billion mortgage modification program have dropped out,” AP said. “That exceeds the number of people who have managed to have their loan payments reduced to help them keep their homes.”
The “ambitious” Home Affordable Modification Program was supposed to help 3-4 million people. As of last month the number of dropouts (436,000) exceeded the permanent modifications by almost 100,000 (340,000).
This was part of the same housing bailout Rick Santelli condemned on CNBC saying “the government is promoting bad behavior.” Santelli’s rant against the housing bailout helped inspire thousands of Americans to protest bailouts and runaway government spending at Tea Parties around the country in 2009 and 2010.
But Santelli’s opposition to a bailout was an exception among the pro-bailout news media. As recently as Feb. 18, 2010 ABC’s Robin Roberts was praising the program as “what may be a ray of light for the millions of homeowners struggling to hold on to their piece of the American dream.”
Roberts and Bianna Golodryga downplayed problems saying that there had been “hiccups” in the program, but placed the blame for those problems on banks unwilling to work with homeowners, rather than on the government.
Golodryga’s report also included an expert who criticized the program from the left saying it was “nowhere near the size and scope of what we need to, to stem this tide.” Golodryga is engaged to White House budget director Peter Orszag, who announced his resignation June 22, 2010.ABC’s Jeffrey Kofman also found left-wing criticism of the program to incorporate in his story. On Feb. 18, 2009, Kofman mentioned concerns “that a $75 billion bailout can’t single handedly turn around an $11 trillion housing market. But they say it is a start.”
Roughly a month later, CNBC’s Diana Olick acknowledged that the $75 billion program had “fallen short” of helping the 3-4 million homeowners on “Nightly News” March 26, 2010. At that time, she reported that only 200,000 permanent modifications had been done. But Olick didn’t criticize the Obama administration’s decision to expand the plan to more borrowers.
In 2009, when Obama’s two-part mortgage bailout was launched, CBS had no criticism or difficult questions in its “Early Show” segment March 5. The night before, Katie Couric described the plan as “relief for struggling homeowners” on “Evening News.”
Now it appears the bailout didn’t work and may jeopardize the economic recovery, according to CNBC’s Larry Kudlow.
Kudlow reacted to the latest mortgage modifications data on June 22, saying that “Housing in particular looks vulnerable to that double-dip [recession]. And all these goofy, temporary tax credits and mortgage modifications and other forms of temporary stimulus nearly steal activity from the future and never work permanently, as Milton Friedman argued [years ago].”
Related reading:
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Democrats Won’t Balance Budget, Tax Increases to Be Launched Against Middle Class Rather Than Cut Gov’t Spending… Who Cares What Obama Promised? (video) and Cowards: Democrat Politicians Hiding Out from Town Halls This Summer to Avoid Angry Voters (video) and What Now? Obama Media & Team Obama Failed to Report Automatic Paycheck Deduction Hidden in ObamaCare Health Bill (video) and Congress Suddenly, Literally Faced with Crappy ObamaCare: “Unintentional” Language in Bill May Force Congressional Members to Give Up Their Own Platinum Packages & Be Part of the American Public and ObamaCare “Fine Print” Nightmare Continues: Now 60 Doctor-owned Hospitals Canceled Because of Democrats’ New Oppressive Health Law, Thousands of Jobs Killed
Founding Bloggers: What’s Wrong With This Picture?
Gateway Pundit: Dems Refuse Compromise on Unemployment Benefits; Go On Vacation and Private Sector Lost Nearly 10 Million Jobs in Last 3 Years – Public Sector Gained 720,000 and Shocker. Employers Say Dem’s Policies Are Hostile to Job Growth and More Hope & Change… Obama Says GOP Wants Healthcare That Discriminates Against Children (Video) and Why Is the State-Run Media Hiding This Photo From You? and Obama Urges G-20 Nations to Continue To Run Massive Budget Deficits and Top Obama Official Admits “The Economy Is Still Lousy” and Angry Constituents Confront Lib Dem Patrick Murphy For Ducking Town Halls (Video) and Finally Boehner Speaks Out: “Bush Tax Cuts Did Not Lead to Deficit” and It’s Official – Obama Is Worst President in History on Job Creation; Worse Than Hoover on Job Losses and Commie Official: Without the Communist Party, Obama’s OFA Group Could Have Easily Disbanded and Now We Know… Obamacare Includes 3.8% Tax On Home Sales For All Americans …Update: Maybe Not
The Anchoress: Obama & Hayward; Two sides of a coin
Heritage Foundation, The Foundry: Morning Bell: Why Obama’s Stimulus Failed
Legal Insurrection: Harry “Havoc” Reid and Health Care Cost Report Deliberately Held Back? Update: Denial. and The Numbers Were A Lie All Along: and He Who Controls The Health System, Controls “Information”
Don Loos, Big Government: Union Contract: Duly Suspended Employees Get Paid For Overtime Missed!
Stop The ACLU: Fish Wrap – “Hey, Pass The Unemployment Extension All Ready!”
Uncommon Knowledge, Big Government: US Taxpayers Pay for Germany’s Socialized Medicine – and Other Terrible News
On My Watch — The Writings of SamHenry: Who Do we Trust Now? True Cost of Government Health Care Suppressed in Two Administrations
Radio Vice Online: Obamacare…more unintended consequences
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[...] mortgage modification program is an utter failure. What a shock. But there is a bright side for 2,000 Americans – new jobs! Woo Hoo! Bloomberg: [...]