Hillary And Oabama Remedies Of Foreclosure Ailment

June 4th, 2008 | Tags: Foreclosure Victims

Hillary and Obama both have their own remedies for curing the foreclosure ailment but economists say that neither is satisfactory and comprehensive. But each has been vying with the other to put forward the best prescription for the illness that is raging across the nation. The opinions of economists have not deterred them from taking a populist approach to win the hearts of voters. They played up on sentiments and emotions pulling at the heartstrings of listeners.

Obama assured a couple in San Antonio struggling to ward off foreclosures that tax credits would be provided and laws would become stringent to penalize erring lenders.

Clinton powwowed with a woman from Wisconsin who had just been served her first foreclosure notice. She advocated temporary freeze on foreclosures made against sub-prime adjustable mortgage rate.

Meanwhile the foreclosure crisis rages on as both Obama and Clinton try to win hearts with palliatives. Jim Rokakis, Cuyahoga County treasurer says that attention should have been focused quite some time ago, as the crisis had been raging for a long time. The local administration directly affected by it has started remedial measures on their own already. In 2007 there had been about 90,000 bank repossessions of units in Ohio – an alarming figure!

Economist L.Josh Bivens of Economic Policy Institute of Washington, comments that all the candidates have turned foreclosures into an emotive issue. Nobody has so far put forward a solution to the systematic losses incurred due to the march of foreclosures that is affecting the banking and real estate sectors. There does not seem to be much that the candidates can do but allow economics to take its course.

As Democrats both Clinton and Obama have a common programme but they differ in their approaches. Clinton has criticized the Illinois Senator for being too marginal. He does not offer anything solid and real for foreclosed victims. Clinton however takes on a more populist tone and sometimes her comments are contradictory. It revolves around her stand in a Republican backed legislation of 2005 that related to bankruptcy protections. Obama concentrated on allowing for tax credit to the foreclosure victims. It would cover 10% of the annual mortgage interest. Moreover $10 billion would be offered as bonds to help the middle-income group avoid foreclosures. Penalties would also be toughened against erring lenders who predated on unwary borrowers.

How much this tall talk will help only time can tell.