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Friday, February 20, 2009

Are you hoppin' mad?

So it appears the housing stimulus plan works out to be $275B to aid 9 million families.  Last time I checked that worked out to be about $31K per family.  We better take a closer look:

It looks like $200B is aimed at " 'rescuing families who have played by the rules and acted responsibly,' refinancing traditional mortgages for up 5 million homeowners who now are close to owing more than their homes are worth."  Personally I would like to see what's their  definition of "played by the rules and acted responsibly".   $200B/5M means they are giving ~$40K per family to apparently compensate them because they are upsidown in their home.  Huh?  If you buy a home and the value goes down...don't you just stay in the home and suck it up?  What does lowering their payment accomplish?  Seeing as how the average price of a home in the US is now $175K...that means that the taxpayer is effectively subsidizing ~22% of these homes. Grr...

Now for the other $75B...that is going to people "stuck in sub-prime mortgages they can't afford as a result of skyrocketing interest rates or personal misfortune"...apparently all 4M of them.  $15K for each of them.  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

It's a damn shame us hardworking folks who "buy houses they can afford with mortgages they understand (say the 30 year fixed kind)" are the ones getting screwed.  But just remember...it is in YOUR best interest...HA!  What a joke.  Do they even know what our interests are anymore?  Apparently not because they feel a high speed train from LA to Vegas is in my best interest...