We bought our first house with the help of a federally subsidized loan program

[proud2BlibKansan]

It was for low income first time homeowners. 26 years ago, DH and I had just finished college and had one child and figured we might be able to buy a house in 10 years.

Then a man who worked with my mother and dabbled in real estate told her about a federal loan program where HUD subsidized the mortgages. Reagan was president and wanted to end the program so we were encouraged to apply before the funds were gone. Carter had put extra funding into the program and Reagan opposed it. So we applied and were accepted. We applied for a traditional mortgage and HUD determined what portion of that mortgage payment we could afford to pay every month. HUD paid the difference. Every year, we had to send our tax returns in to HUD and they determined what our house payment would be. And when we sold the house, we were allowed to deduct any money we had spent on improvements and then split the profit with HUD.

It was a fabulous program that put us into a brand new house many years before we thought we would become homeowners. And as our income grew, and the payment went up, we eventually sold that house and bought another. We would likely not be living in the home we live in today had we not been helped to become homeowners 26 years ago.

This is the kind of low income home mortgage program the Republicans want to end and they are blaming the economic crisis on these types of mortgages. I just realized the other day that we had benefited from the federal government's involvement in mortgages.

Our son is the same age I was when we bought our first house and I don't see home ownership in his future anytime soon.

And this is one more reason I really hate Republicans.

[av8rdave]

1. Isn't it sad how the R's want to blame everything on

the most disadvantaged and powerless of our society? I guess if you're going to pick a target to project blame for the damage you cause, it's best to pick those least able to respond with a unified voice.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. I also would never have been able to afford college without federally subsidized student loans

which are no longer available.

The GOP wants to destroy the middle class. Bastards.

[av8rdave]

3. I can't help but feel it's a veiled form of racism, since they know

that minorities make up a large share of the economically disadvantaged population.

You're correct. The GOP's version of a utopian USA looks much like Mexico or the Phillipines. The haves, LOTS of have - nots, and nobody else.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. I think they just hate all poor people

They are ashamed of ever being poor - if they were. And they go on and on about how they worked so hard to rise out of poverty.

Yet they support policies that destroy the middle class, as if people rise from poverty to extreme wealth with just a little hard work. :crazy:

[av8rdave]

6. Al Franken had an interesting take on that in one of his books

He had a cartoon entitled "Supply Side Jesus." The point he was making is that one of the underpinnings of supply side economic theory is the philosophy that if you're rich, you deserve it, and if you're poor, you deserve it.

It's an easy philosophy to like if you're rich!

[ChazII]

4. Excellent point. n/t