"Housing" bill? Let them sleep on airplanes.

This was predictable.  All too predictable.

Emergency Congressional legislation originally proposed to help people who may lose their homes as a result of predatory lending practices and the housing downturn, will now help . . . Are you ready for this?

Airlines, home builders [!], Ford, General Motors, American Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Goodyear Tire and Rubber, realtors, banks, manufacturers ...

The Senate and House are in overdrive to pass "housing" legislation before they adjourn so the individual members may campaign for re-election.  The rush to adopt a "must-pass" bill (for election purposes only, not to really help people) opens the floodgates to corporate lobbyists.

Keeping people in their homes has become an afterthought.  After all, folks on the verge of losing their homes can't exactly afford K Street lobbyists.  But all manner of corporate interests can afford the tab.  And the payoff is enormous.

Car manufacturers are looking at the possibility of rebate checks up to $40 million a pop.  How's that look next to your $600 economic stimulus check?  Home builders are due for millions more -- each! -- in rebates.  (A refund of taxes previously paid on outlandish profits in the past few years.)  Airlines and miscellaneous manufacturers are also in line for rebate checks.

All told, these latest corporate tax rebates currently stand at $6 billion.  That's in addition to some $40 billion in business rebates that came with the initial economic stimulus package (the one where you and I get $600 each).  No doubt there will be much more in the coming months for the pigs feeding at the Federal trough.

[NY Times, Big Tax Breaks for Businesses in Housing Bill, 4/15/08] 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.

And who, exactly, is looking out for our interests?  Our elected representatives?  Not so far. But that can change. 

All you have to do is demand it.  Don't ask, don't plead, don't request.

Demand.

Comments

[Mark Coe]

There are two things you should never watch being made: sausage and legislation.