Ownership Society

[LSK]

"This Administration will constantly strive to promote an ownership society in America. We want more people owning their own home. It is in our national interest that more people own their own home. After all, if you own your own home, you have a vital stake in the future of our country."

- President George W. Bush, December 16, 2003

The Accomplishments

Increasing Homeownership

* The US homeownership rate reached a record 69.2 percent in the second quarter of 2004. The number of homeowners in the United States reached 73.4 million, the most ever. And for the first time, the majority of minority Americans own their own homes.
* The President set a goal to increase the number of minority homeowners by 5.5 million families by the end of the decade. Through his homeownership challenge, the President called on the private sector to help in this effort. More than two dozen companies and organizations have made commitments to increase minority homeownership - including pledges to provide more than $1.1 trillion in mortgage purchases for minority homebuyers this decade.
* President Bush signed the $200 million-per-year American Dream Downpayment Act which will help approximately 40,000 families each year with their downpayment and closing costs.
* The Administration proposed the Zero-Downpayment Initiative to allow the Federal Housing Administration to insure mortgages for first-time homebuyers without a downpayment. Projections indicate this could generate over 150,000 new homeowners in the first year alone.
* President Bush proposed a new Single Family Affordable Housing Tax Credit to increase the supply of affordable homes.
* The President has proposed to more than double funding for the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP), where government and non-profit organizations work closely together to increase homeownership opportunities.
* The President proposed $2.7 billion in USDA home loan guarantees to support rural homeownership and $1.1 billion in direct loans for low-income borrowers unable to secure a mortgage through a conventional lender. These loans are expected to provide 42,800 homeownership opportunities to rural families across America.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/achievement/chap7.html

[JuniperLea]

1. Priceless...

Well, not really, I guess. We will pay the price for this.

[Selatius]

2. According to dittoheads on CNN, it was Clinton that made banks give more loans to poor folk.

So the reasoning goes that it is the fault of Clinton for the meltdown. Bush is absolved. :sarcasm:

[Fresh_Start]

3. It was all Clinton's fault

there is no way that 'dream downpayment', 'zero downpayment' and loans for low-income borrowers who can't get a conventional morgage could have contributed to this.

[TomInTib]

4. "Homeowners" is such a misleading word.

As long as you have a mortgage, the only thing you "own" is the equity.

[agent46]

5. The neocons were all about...

The neocons were all about inflating the real estate market by deregulating the mortgage industry while at the same time driving unbridled development. I'll never forget a little clip I saw on TV one day of W sittin' all folksy and smilin' to the crowds at a Home Depot (Home Despot?) somewhere going all dewey about the ownership society and the new Amerikan Jeezuz. The poor suckers were eatin' it up. "Anybody wanna buy some wood?"

What a brilliant deadly scam this neocon coup has been.