Rossi’s Foreclosure Lecture
July 26th, 2010 by Steven GardnerThe (Tacoma) News Tribune has its own fact-check operation going on the 2010 election and takes on the question of whether Republican Senate candidate Dino Rossi is a “foreclosure profiteer” as Democrats claim.
The fact is, according to the TNT, Rossi bought a foreclosed property, hasn’t yet sold it, and gave a lecture using a title about profiting in the foreclosure market.
The claims in a Democratic video seemed to be addressed at something related to the foreclosure market, but not related to what Rossi has done. People buying foreclosed properties has been going on as long as foreclosures have existed. At some point, you would want someone to buy up a foreclosed property rather than seeing it sit vacant with all that entails.
A more recent wrinkle are those who contact property owners in danger of foreclosure and work out terms that will either have them stay in the house or sign the house over. Former state Rep. Pat Lantz, D-Gig Harbor, introduced legislation targeting that business. You see the signs out there, “We buy houses.” Often those signs are defaced by someone who spray-painted the word “scam” over it. That isn’t what Rossi is doing.
The words that play over a video that Democrats produced say, “You’re in a strange business where your gain is really somebody else’s pain.”
Well, to some degree that means morticians and funeral arrangers, doctors, cops, newspaper reporters, used car sellers and lawyers also gain from others’ pain. That doesn’t mean those in pain are prey, necessarily.
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July 26th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Am I the only one on the planet noticing what’s going on around here? Sure, I’m a little paranoid but not overly so. What’s happening is this: the only people who are thriving right now are government workers; public servants, teachers, police and so on. In other words, unionized democrat types who follow our present administration blindly with utter disregard for capitalism and free enterprise. These are the people buying new cars, keeping up with their mortgages, taking vacations and paid sick days.
On the other hand, those who believe in free enterprise, entrepreneurs and capitalistic thinkers, generally Republicans, are being systematically wiped out from the face of society. These are the poor souls who are losing houses, failing in business and generally declining from the ranks of America.
Of course I’m speaking here of generalized trends. Those few free enterprisers left as token success stories that keep us from suspecting something’s fishy with our country.
But the majority or aggregate of my statements can be applied all across the country, I
n Colorado, where this paper originates, those bold enough to enter the medical marijuana marketplace and sell pot to “sick” people are making good incomes. Growers, vendors and dispensaries are pulling in tens of thousands of dollars every week. Good times for pot suppliers. And what of the “patients” they serve? They now have endless supplies of their medicine. Legal Beagles protect their rights to obtain their medicine because they’re deserving of it. And, for the most part, patients are doped up, shuttered in and tuned out of the world.
Whether or not legal pot is at issue, the end result is the same: people on dope are sitting on the sidelines and don’t give a hoot about anything but having access to their meds. Count them in the ranks of “dumbed down” Americans who couldn’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag. The question is, is there a deeper reason why the dumbing down qualities of pot have been legalized for users? Lets face it, most of the people applying for and getting their medical marijuana cards don’t have a legitimate reason, they just want to smoke dope. Its a wonderful excape mechanism that makes you forget how bad things really are.
But back to the original statement. What I am seeing is the progressive decline of higher thinking in this country, punished in a sense, being replaced with something out of a 1984 novel. The bottom line is this: if you’re a pigeon-holed blinder wearing government worker, you’re safe. Nevermind the increasing propaganda droning from your government workplace’s loudspeaker or compulsory mandatory memo that gets inserted into your (e) mailbox. You are destined to be mired in red tape, procedural doctrine, always needing to take the long path towards doing what you need to do because of “policy” dictates so for your job.
Housing is of the utmost importance here. Just today I was perusing through state assessor records available online listing recent foreclosures. The really interesting thing is that foreclosures are coming in at record levels. Know who’s losing their homes more often than not? Enterprisers, entrepreneurs, business owners, small time consultants, but not pot sellers or firemen. Does this really mean anything more than someone answering “steady employment” is the reason why. I don’t know. But what I do know is this wasn’t the case just a while back. Another interesting fact about these foreclosures is that most of the foreclosures happen fairly quickly. The aged common houses are put on the market right away. But those houses that foreclose which have added value, meaning those with something special like large property size, small balances to finish the mortgage, or generally undervalued are not showing up on the market. Why are these special properties being excluded from foreclosed properties listed on real estate maps?
I think Rome is starting to burn and Nero’s fiddling. I think things are bad and the only way to rectify the badness is to tear down the system thats in place and don’t be blinded by the little snippets of success stories coming out of Washington. I think that elected officials and government workers are not being held accountable to the American public who pay their ever rising salaries and are not grateful for the positions they hold but are rewarded for poor performance. I think that high level elected officials are two faced liars who seek only to propagate their own interests while casting an air of confidence. And most importantly I think that there is real suffering going on in this country with those who are not on the government payroll being hit the hardest. The message seems to be that you need to conform to survive. What’s up with that?
July 27th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
This is sad . A couple of years ago we had a new Predident and even those who are for smaller government types like myself were looking forward t some “change” in the political process. Working together .
This is just shameful. Hopefully the republicans don’t use similiar tactics. I have seen this type of politics in south kitsap also.
Too many families hurting , too many people looking for work . Too much debt in government for them to see clear to handle the problems . Lets get together people !
August 14th, 2010 at 7:44 am
There’s no way that can be true. Can it?
August 18th, 2010 at 7:40 pm
Great post. Not sure I agree with everything. But it was very well thought out.