The U.S. Senate has passed a version of the Foreclosure Prevention Act, the majority of which goes to pay for taxpayer handouts to corporate home builders, not to help struggling homeowners - LIUNA Newswire



I say, if you make a decision that will effect you for 30 years of your life, you should think it through, if you bought a house you couldn't afford, get an apartment, nobody twisted your ARM.

That being stated, I continue that, if you make a bad business decision, and you lose solvency, you should go out of business, case closed.

While it was introduced as a well meaning plan to help people keep their houses, it seems that the Senate version of the Foreclosure Prevention Act is tainted with it's fair share of pork, here's the scoop:

I stayed at the Capitol Hilton in DC this weekend to help give a seminar on E-Activism and Blogging, little did I know that just a few days before there were a group of lobbyists staying at the exact same place. Their mission was to seduce members of Congress into passing the "Foreclosure Prevention Act", which in it's little known areas will give up to 32 BILLION US DOLLARS in tax breaks, to the corporations who helped get us into this mess in the first place.

How? By letting these corporate homebuilders claim MILLIONS in tax refunds by charging their current losses against the huge profits they made 3 or 4 years ago.

They didn't mind building out of control when people were sucking up ARM mortgages like grapes. Now that the bubble has burst, they want to slide on their tax burden. According to LIUNA "The U.S. Senate has passed a version of the Foreclosure Prevention Act, the majority of which goes to pay for taxpayer handouts to corporate home builders, not to help struggling homeowners." Unfuckingreal, I'm pissed!

I wonder what would happen if you and I tried to claim this years losses against the gains we had in the last 4 years.

According to the *Metro Washington Council News, AFL-CIO (5/1/08):

"PIGGY" HOMEBUILDERS TARGETED IN FORECLOSURE BAILOUT PROTEST:Big pink chanting pigs rallied outside the Washington Hilton Hotel early Wednesday morning to protest billions in handouts to corporate homebuilders. Serenaded with chants of "corporate welfare on the rise, a bunch of pigs in disguise" and "off to the trough," representatives of the homebuilders industry boarded shuttle buses outside the Hilton to lobby Congress for passage of the Foreclosure Prevention Act. The Act - currently before the House - would provide billions in bailout to the homebuilder industry while giving little relief to homeowners, according to the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA), which coordinated the demonstration. "This bailout failed to pass the worker smell test," said Laborers President Terrence O’Sullivan. "We are stepping up our efforts to make sure Congress knows this bailout is unacceptable."

NY Times (4/16/08): Big Tax Breaks for Businesses in Housing Bill

The tax provisions of the Foreclosure Prevention Act, which consumer groups and labor leaders say amount to government handouts to big business, show how the credit crisis, while rattling the housing and financial markets, has created beneficiaries in the power corridors of Washington.

It also shows how legislation with a populist imperative offers a chance for lobbyists to press their clients’ interests.

This has proved especially true on the housing legislation, which many lawmakers and lobbyists view as one of the last opportunities before Congress grinds to a halt amid election-year politics.

In the Senate bill, the nation’s biggest home builders, some now on the verge of bankruptcy, won a provision that would let them claim millions in tax refunds by charging their current losses against the huge profits they made three or four years ago. Other struggling industries would benefit from this provision.

“This is our biggest legislative effort since the Tax Reform Act of 1986,” said Jerry M. Howard, chief executive of the National Association of Home Builders. Hundreds of the association’s members flooded the district offices of representatives and senators while they were home for the spring recess last month.

LIUNA Newswire (4/29/08) :

Through their subprime and high-risk mortgage lending subsidiaries, corporate home builders helped create the current crisis which has contributed to the loss of 359,000 construction jobs since 2007. The actions of corporate homebuilders have also contributed to as many as 3 million Americans facing foreclosure and the loss of nearly $1 trillion in investment value, weakening workers' retirement security.

The U.S. Senate has passed a version of the Foreclosure Prevention Act, the majority of which goes to pay for taxpayer handouts to corporate home builders, not to help struggling homeowners. The House of Representatives will soon take up the legislation. In print and online ads launching Wednesday, LIUNA appeals to the House to make the Foreclosure Prevention Act live up to its name. The NAHB, which had threatened to cut off political contributions if it does not get the legislation, is expected to lobby the House Wednesday for the tax breaks. LIUNA and others will demonstrate with 'pigs at the trough,' as the union has done in several cities to protest the proposed corporate homebuilder handout.

LIUNA is fighting for a solution to the crisis which helps to restore jobs, stabilize the housing market, return shareholder value to home builders and work with home builders to create a sustainable model for a healthy industry.

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