Americans Need Real Solutions to the Housing Crisis
America faces a housing crisis that it has not seen the likes of since the
great depression. Hundreds of thousands of families have lost their homes due
to the mortgage crisis in the past year and more are at risk if we don't act
now. That is why the US Senate must support some version of the Foreclosure
Prevention Act, which passed this past week in the US House. This legislation,
which is on its way to the Senate next week has been threatened with veto by
President Bush.
As usual, the President is wrong. The President has said that he would veto
the legislation if it comes to his desk because he doesn't believe that certain
types of people should be rewarded for their bad decisions. What the President
means is that poor people shouldn't be protected from predatory lenders and
that the government shouldn't have any regulatory responsibilities when it
comes to mortgage lenders.
The fact is that this housing crisis could have been avoided. It is the result
of twenty-five years of federal deregulation across the board combined with a
speculative investment industry gone haywire. A rational person would conclude
that after seeing so many foreclosures, maybe there is something wrong with the
system. But when it comes to the role of the free market and the
responsibilities of the government to legislate for the common good, the
Republicans just don't get it. Their belief is that the free market is always
the best solution to every problem. Just this week, House Representative Marcia
Blackburn of Tennessee said that the foreclosure legislation would "provide a
safety net for irresponsibility."
Tennessee's Republican constituency wants to live in the good old days when the
poor people knew their place and didn't try to do anything irresponsible like
own a home or expect a living wage. Their response to this legislation clearly
shows the misdirection of the Bush administration and his Republican
supporters. In contrast to that is the message of the progressive left in this
country, which has real solutions to the housing crisis, some of which are
contained in the legislation currently making its way to the US Senate and some
of which is not included. As Americans on the verge of a grave financial
crisis, it is important to get a grip on why we are in this situation. It is
in large part due to the deregulatory nature of federal policy, which has been
encouraged by twenty-five years of conservative and neoliberal administrations.
In a deregulated free market without proper government oversight, poor people
are victimized by predatory lenders and cannot count on the government to
provide regulatory oversight. This is at the root of the mortgage crisis and
the federal government has an ethical responsibility to step in now and attempt
to remedy the damage that it could have avoided by placing stricter limits on
what lenders can and cannot do in order to get a poor person to sign on to a
mortgage.
But in order to really address the root of the housing crisis, the federal
government must take steps to address the root causes of poverty, unemployment,
low wages and homeless in America. We must take steps now to raise the federal
minimum wage to a living wage, which is about $10.50 an hour plus benefits. We
must invest in job training and invest in our education system to ensure that
all Americans have a chance to attend college. We must invest in affordable
housing for all Americans. Finally, we need to invest in quality, affordable,
single payer health care.
I believe that we can build a community where all Americans can live with hope.
If we stop investing hundreds of billions of dollars on war and violence and
invest in our domestic infrastructure, we can begin to rebuild this country.
We must begin by paying Americans a wage that a family can reasonably expect to
live on. We must ask those who have received the most benefit from our system
to give the most by rolling back the Bush tax cuts. We must use the government
as an agency of good and regulate the more ruthless elements of a free market.
If we fail then we must ensure that the government is there, as a safety net,
to make sure that no one falls through the cracks.
Chris Lugo for US Senate
9 Music Sq So #164
Nashville, TN 37203
615-593-0304
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.voteforpeace.info
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