Home Sweet Underwater-Eminent Domoain-Bank Cheating Home.

According to the Los Angeles Times, cities in San Bernardino and two other counties have a great idea to relieve the suffering of homeowners whose homes are underwater- worth much less than the mortgage they hold on them. The clever plan is for the city to confiscate the property using ‘eminent domain’ laws, and then return it to the bank with the understanding that a new loan to the current homeowner would be made at the current value of the house. Sounds just peachy, right?

In reality the bank is also an owner of the home. True, they are an ‘evil corporation’, but they own the home nonetheless.

This makes me wonder why the government is so intent on destroying the banking industry as we know it. Surely there are some entities dreaming of a world where all loans are held by the government. And when the government holds all loans, they will ultimately have the power to control all loans given, and be the judge in whether or not a certain loan (or type of house, boat or car) is appropriate for you.

But the point I’d really like to make is regarding the importance of contracts in our free society. The ability to enter into a contract, and to have it be honored by the law and upheld by the courts is what separates us from third world banana republic countries. When contracts are no longer upheld, or they are able to be dissolved for some motive popular to the people in charge, we are one step closer to a ‘might makes right’ system of government.

Cornell Law Professor Robert C. Hockett, advisor to Mortgage Resolution Partners, the designer of the proposal, does not see it that way, declaring “This is actually a pro-market solution”.

Hmmmm.

Lynnae

2011- Constitution Fetish-HOT, Pelosi-NOT

Adios Nancy Pelosi.

Image from FreedomWorks

A lot of buzz today because MSNBC legal correspondent Dahlia Lithwick described Republicans as worshipping the Constitution and having a ‘Constitution fetish’. It was only a few days ago when MSNBC contributor Ezra Klein said no one could understand the Constitution because it was “over 100 years old”.

What is the matter with these people? Are they idiots? I know they’ve hated the constitution for a long time, but what has emboldened them to be so forthcoming about it?

The constitution is the law of our land. Do you think this country is great because we are a bunch of cool people who are nice and have good ideas?

There are plenty of good, hardworking people in other struggling countries too. They just have not been BLESSED to live in a country with a legal structure that supports them in their efforts to live a good life. Without a legal system that enforces contracts you have no economy and no prosperity, but simply are left to drift at the whim of a king or dictator or what have you.

Your efforts would be futile unless you personally had the power to enforce your own security.

But in the United States this is not the case. And all this is made possible by this incredible document and those who defend it.

And to say that the existence of amendments show the weakness of the constitution is just ridiculous, since the very system for ratifying amendments is part of the constitution.

I thank God for our constitution!

-Lynnae

Executive Pay

I completely oppose any kind of salary cap on CEO's and top executives. If a company thinks someone is worth the money, they should be able to pay whatever they want to hire that them. There is a high value on business experience, insight, and successful risks and rewards that Washington will never understand, because most of the politicians and lawmakers have never been in the private sector.
If a company is paying said executives too much, then they will have financial problems that will lead to their ruin. You can't continue to pay execs those large amounts if they don't produce. Sometimes you see a company purchased and ran into the ground while the execs loot the wealth of that company.
The failure of that company should be the result. Government loans or bailouts should not be given to those who have already proven that they can't run a company. People may loose jobs as a result, but there will be other jobs, and the human resources in our country should flow to the solvent companies that are well managed and producing what the customers want.
Targeted taxes and retroactive taxes on executives are a horrible thing. They interrupt the contract that was made when hiring the talent. You may not like how much money someone is getting in their bonus, But that was the deal. Once the government, President or anyone else starts changing the rules as we go they create an uncertainty where businesses don't dare operate. There is enough risk in business without navigating the shifting sands of government intervention all the time.

If contracts become unstable the eventuality is that all decisions will be settled by those with political pull. Then our great country will be no better than a two bit banana republic.