Why I Love Redheads

Posted In: Bailout, Homeowners, Housing, Mortgages, Speculators, Subprime

I love redheads. Just one, mind you— whom I happen to be dating. However, I’ve recently warmed up to a certain red-headed anchor who rose to fame with CNBC but now plies her trade over at the FOX Business Network. Liz Claman wrote a great piece back on August 21 about the recent housing bailout and the likely taxpayer “rescue” of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. She bluntly stated on her “Liz-Vision” blog:

Am I the only one completely frustrated right now? All this talk about the ‘inevitable’ government bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is making this red-head crazy. The bailout is so far unfounded but the smart money says it’ll likely come to pass. You can’t let these mortgage behemoths fail because they’re pretty much the only ones writing mortgages out there during this time of fear.

Okay fine, I get it, make us all feel guilty for not rushing to put a pillow under Fannie and Freddie’s ‘fermischt’ fannies. But they, along with many people who will be bailed out by the housing bill will be getting the biggest financial ‘do-over’ in a generation. Lenders who signed off on mortgages they had no business granting, homeowners who signed on the dotted line of totally inappropriate mortgage loans they could never keep up with, and companies that allowed it all to happen are getting cozy, comfy pillows thrown under them instead of forcing them to suffer for their sins.

Save for a tiny percentage of people who were victims of predatory lenders, most of these people happily pulled up a chair to the roulette table, gladly took the free drinks and began gambling away. Shouldn’t they have to swallow the bitter medicine now of having made a bad bet?

The author of The Best Investment Advice I Ever Received: Priceless Wisdom from Warren Buffett, Jim Cramer, Suze Orman, Steve Forbes, and Dozens of Other Top Financial Experts, asks another question:

Why then will we, along with the millions of honest, hard-working American homeowners who haven’t defaulted on their mortgages, have to pay out of our pockets to help those who blew it? Believe me, I have no problem helping out those of lesser means, those who perhaps got the short end of the societal stick, folks who try but need the extra help from the rest of us Americans. That’s what makes our country great… we are a society that takes care of each other. I’m grateful for that. But this?

I want to scream…

Reminds me of a line I once heard in a movie…