This'n'That: October 6th

The current Housing/Financial Crisis: The current fiasco had it's origins in the first and second "Slick-Willie" administrations as well as George H.W. Bush's [#41] presidential term. The Department of Housing and Urban Destruction's [HUD] 1991 financial statement was so inaccurate and lacking in current financial information that the Auditor, PriceWaterhouse, couldn't file an opinion. For the previous 15 years, the "Contracts for Rent" records HAD NOT been reconciled. That period was included in the Carter, both Reagan and the G.H.W. Bush administrations. Precipitated by the "King" riots of 1992, the following year Sec'y Henry Cisneros [HUD] memoed then President Clinton asking for "a multi-faceted urban policy," with tax and housing credits for the working poor, expanded home-ownership programs, and economic empowerment zones to encourage business investment. Clinton put $5 billion into "Empowerment Zones" which was intended to help communities to develop their own recovery plans and become economically viable. Apparently, Clinton isn't/wasn't a really student of history. If he had been he would have realized that the actions of his predecessors hadn't worked or were only marginally successful. The presidents and their attempts: TRUMAN [Urban Renewal], KENNEDY [War on Poverty], JOHNSON and NIXON [Model Cities], FORD [Community Development Block Grants], CARTER [Urban Development Action Grants], REAGAN, BUSH-41 and CLINTON [Enterprise Zones]. Looks to me like there are two schools of thought at work here; The Democrats doing what they do so well-Pissing away hardworking taxpayers' money through poor/no planning and the Republicans who use crap like this to buy votes. [Continuing on......] A New York Times Magazine article by Nicholas Lemann in January, 1994, stated in part: "Economic revitalization efforts pass every test but one, the reality test. They are popular among all the keys players in antipoverty policy; they sound good; they have bipartisan appeal; they are based on tax breaks rather than on spending so are easier to pass. The only problem is that so far they haven't worked-which creates a larger problem." Poor planning was in evidence when Johnson asked and Congress passed legislation in 1965 to create the Department of Housing and Urban Destruction. The legislation failed to enummerate the responsibilities of the lateral organizations as well as regional, state, county and local organizations. HUD deals with approximately 3,100 public housing agencies that disperse 80%[+/-] of all HUD funds and manage 1.3 million housing units. HUD has such arms as Federal Housing Administration [FHA] and the Government National Mortgage Asssociation [GINNIE MAE] The private Federal National Mortgage Association [FANNIE MAE] is the corporate "sister" of Ginnie Mae and is subject to regulation by HUD. Til nex'time.....