Letters: Clinton, Carter get bailout blame

Jodi McFarland | By Jodi McFarland | The Saginaw News
on November 07, 2008 at 4:08 PM, updated November 07, 2008 at 4:12 PM

Editor, The News:

In 1977, President Carter with the Democratic Congress created the Community Reinvestment Act. It mandated that all banks meet the credit needs of communities.

Carter gave us inflation rates of 15 percent, the highest in 34 years; interest rates of 21 percent, the highest in 115 years; and a severe energy crisis.

In 1995, President Clinton imposed even stronger regulations and performance tests that caused banks to substantially increase loans to low-income borrowers or face fines or possible restrictions on expansion. These revisions allowed for securitization of Community Reinvestment Act loans containing subprime mortgages.

In 1997, good loans were bonded with poor ones and sold as prime packages to institutions here and abroad. Therefore, these two presidents played a significant role in the catastrophic consequences for the U.S. and international economics. Hardest hit were the inner city residents, who fell victim to low or no down-payment schemes, unexpected adjustable loan rates and deceptive loan applications.

In 2003, the present administration presented hard facts to Congress with great concern regarding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac problems. In 2005, Sen. McCain went to Congress again with hard facts regarding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac problems.

In 2006, the Democratic Congress took over and promised to make things better.

This is better?

Russell E. Launstein
Bridgeport Township

Live within means

Editor, The News:

Where does this end? Our family financed only our house and cars. We got a credit card only after my husband retired 12 years ago in case we went out of town and needed our car fixed.

Others spend money on three to four credit cards, have a cabin up north, a big boat, snowmobile, Ski-doo and even a travel trailer. They also go on lots of trips, financed by their credit cards. Then after our economy gets tight, they can't afford all this and want to declare bankruptcy.

Who pays? The people who live within their means and save a lot, and now that Wall Street is in trouble, so are our savings.

I'm not saying I don't buy anything but necessities, but I do not go out and get my credit card maxed out to get them. I save for them.

The U.S. government should have my attitude of spending only on what fixes our economy, not having pork barrel spending, wars we do not need to be in and watching Wall Street and loan companies closer.

They let loan companies give out credit cards to people who could not afford to have them.

Now the government settles back taxes by letting people pay only part of their debt and letting rich people and company executives have too many loopholes to pay less taxes. And when they go under, the top dogs still get paid thousands of dollars while others lose their jobs and all their savings through that company.

Let's look out for the guys who live within their means and hold accountable all those who don't.

Kay Smekar
Saginaw Township

School of choice

Editor, The News:

I am writing about Ashley and Merrill schools fighting over students.

My children go to Merrill. I live in the area of conflict. My children never have been enrolled in another school district. I live where they should go to Ashley but chose not to enroll them in that school. I feel that my children are getting a better education at the school they have been attending.

Schools should not look at my children like they are dollar signs or a means of getting more funding from the state. My children are human beings and should be treated as such, as equals to all the other students in any district.

If a bus from Merrill comes a half-mile into the Ashley district to pick up my kids because they want to go to Merrill, then I think Ashley should just get over it. They are mad because my kids and a few others are not going to their school.

My childrens' education should be left up to them, my husband and me. My children are more comfortable in Merrill and made it known to me they didn't want to switch schools.

If Ashley is having a problem with this, then maybe it should realize it doesn't offer the best in education my kids need. Merrill is a better school district. I also think they should trust in the parents to decide what is best for our kids.

This a School of Choice, and it's my choice to send them to Merrill. Ashley just needs to leave us alone and let our children go to the school they feel most comfortable in.

Isn't children getting an education what's most important?

Melissa Castillo

Slumlords welcome?

Editor, The News:

Living in Carrollton Township my whole life, the last 20 years on North Michigan, I'm saddened that so many blight complaints are between 1 and 5 years old.

Two Township Board members have been at my house and have walked the neighborhood. Action was taken. However, later it starts back up, soon five years have passed since the first complaint and I find myself making the same complaints several times a year. Why?

Several years ago, a home in my mother's neighborhood sold and rental housing was born, even though the property was low density (to encourage and preserve attractive single-family residential uses). Between three and eight unrelated individuals moved in and the parties began and blight soon followed. Now there are six on Monroe. So much for being "protected from anything that would cause its current quality or condition to change or deteriorate or cause it to fall out of use." The degree of nonconformance is overlooked. There is an ordinance, why is it not enforced?

My neighborhood has trash, rubbish, junk, junk vehicles, building materials. There probably won't be any improvement dealing with the blight and the overwhelming problems these rentals are causing. If you put in a complaint, you're going to have to wait. Mine is 5 years old. Good luck.

Maybe I should give up. I went to the last board meeting and the inspection issue will be looked into, no guarantee. You drive into Carrollton Township and blight is all you see. I guess I have to conform.

Slumlords welcome. Buy a house, run it into the ground, your neighbors can't stop you.

Andrew Lamia
Carrollton Township

Toss out the bums

Editor, The News:

The audacity of Congress to add pork to the $700 billion bail-out is cracked. They should all be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail.

People are still blaming Bush. He's the cause of everything from single moms in the ghetto to the useless Detroit Lions. The 451 pages of pork on this bill included everything from the manufacturer of wooden arrows to the shearing of sheep. My personal favorite is $192 million for the rum producers in Puerto Rico.

Four of the worst offenders are Carl Levin (requested $430 million in 2008), Hillary Clinton (No. 1 among all senators with 261 earmarks in 2008), Joe Biden (sought $250 million this year for Delaware) and Barack Obama (requested $740 million in just three years).

If they send me a bill for the loan industry mess, I'm sending it on to Bill Clinton. Clinton expanded mortgage loans among low and moderate income people. Great plan -- have lending institutions lend money to people who are not going to pay them back. The two worst offenders at Fannie Mae (the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages) ran the financing of Obama's campaign.

Nancy Pelosi said, "We must begin to shape the financial stability of our country and economic security of our people." This is the same woman who requested an earmark of $25 million for a waterfront redevelopment project of her husband's.

These self-serving, greedy, lunk-headed politicians make me ill.

Vote every single one of them out of office and start over. Have four-year term limits. They can't stay honest any longer then that.

Richard Curry
Thomas Township