About 62 percent of Americans are homeowners, a percentage that was supposed to be substantially bumped by subprime and Alt-A loan expansion. (That percentage WAS bumped, of course — temporarily.)
And, lest nobody else has thought of it, this dream of “homeownership for everybody “ was itself part of Bush’s “ownership society,” as well as being part of the larger and ongoing American hagiography of homeownership.
And that, more than Bush’s ownership society, is what I want to address in light of Immunity 2.0.
It looks like a bailout for holders of bad mortgages is off the screen.
And, contra Ted Rall, I’m kind of glad about that.
First, it would take Herculean effort, and a vast expenditure of trust, to separate out the unwittingly victimized from people who had at least a little suspicion they either shouldn’t be getting such good opening terms on a mortgage, that a shoe would drop later on their mortgage, or that a bank should ask for proof of income.
It would take yet more effort to separate out those two classes of people from “flippers,” investment/rental property owners, etc.
On the flip side, if Dems do bring up a homeowners’ bailout, I can start getting selfish and post a “bailout” list of help I’d like for myself.
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