Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/315771
PresidentObama is going to make me rich. That's because the Obama administra- tion, which has done everything in the gov- ernment's power to hamper economic growth, just loosened lending standards so that peo- ple with poor credit can buy homes. Why not? It worked out well for some people the last time the government loosened lend- ing standards. "The Obama administration and federal regulators are re- versing course on some of the biggest post-crisis efforts to tighten mortgage-lending stan- dards amid concern they could snuff out the fledgling housing rebound and dent the economic recovery," reports The Wall Street Journal. Dent the economic recovery? Thanks to ObamaCare and Obama's massive expansion of government regulations, the economic recovery looks more like a train wreck. Well, Obama must be thinking that desperate times call for des- perate actions, so let's start the housing madness all over again. I failed to benefit from it last time — and what a grand time it was — but I am not going to miss my chance this time. See, back in 2002 or so, just as the housing bubble was forming, I was about to buy a townhouse for $165,000. I had the money. The owner was ea- ger to sell. But my Midwest- ern cautiousness gave me cold feet and I backed out of the deal. If only I had known that gov- ernment stupidity was about to cause the value of the joint to soar over the next five years. See, following 9/11, then-Fed- eral Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan lowered interest rates to stimulate the economy. People were suddenly able to afford houses they couldn't afford before. Home sales be- gan to shoot up. As demand for housing rose, so did housing values. As housing values climbed, homeowners saw their equity climb. Others decided own- ing a home was the way to easy wealth, so they began to buy, too. Soon, a frenzy was under way. Bidding wars were break- ing out. It was common for sell- ers to receive multiple offers well beyond their asking price. It appeared to many peo- ple — even rational, well-edu- cated people — that the rapid rise in values would never end. That caused specula- tors to jump into the mar- ket, which drove up values even more. It was about then that unqualified buy- ers jumped into the fray. Roughly 25 percent of Americans have a bad credit record or unsta- ble employment history. But this didn't stop loan origina- tors from going after them, too. Mortgage brokers and banks get commissions and fees every time they originate a loan — even a risky loan — and loose lending standards allowed them to write loans for virtu- ally any old fool, not just people with bad credit. Lost your job? No problem, we'll finance your loan. Want to buy a dozen condos as rent- als? Sign here and we'll get you the cash. After all, the lenders were thinking, we can sell the loans to someone else, who will sell them, through mortgage- backed securities, to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, quasi- governmental organizations that the government will have to bail out in the event of a housing-market collapse. Finance companies cre- ated special mortgages — "subprime" loans — for peo- ple who didn't qualify for the safer "prime" loans. Because subprime loans came with greater risks, higher inter- est rates were charged — usu- ally 2 or 3 percentage points higher. That made these loans extremely profitable — un- til the people who got them stopped paying them back and the entire economy, propped up on funny money, went into freefall. Well, the insanity of that time — made possible by loose lending standards — caused the townhouse I didn't buy for $165,000 to soar to $525,000 in 2007 — before falling to about half that value following the collapse. I won't miss out on a deal like that again. This time, I'll ride the boom to its peak and sell just before the inevitable mar- ket correction! And that's how Obama is go- ing to make me rich. TomPurcell,authorof"Misad- ventures of a 1970's Childhood" and "Comical Sense: A Lone Hu- morist Takes on a World Gone Nutty!" is a Pittsburgh Tribune- Review humor columnist and is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons Inc. Send com- ments to Tom at Purcell@cagle- cartoons.com. TomPurcell Not missing out this time Here's how to play: Find a horrible tragedy anywhere in the world and in six degrees or fewer—blame Hillary Clinton. Several hundred Nigerian schoolgirls are kidnapped by the terrorist cult, Boko Haram. The media pays absolutely no atten- tion to it. Weeks later after a so- cial media campaign to highlight this appalling act of violence, the world finally notices: #Bring- BackOurGirls Even Fox News picks up the story! Steve Doocy on Fox and Friends offers, "And who exactly made sure that they [Boko Ha- ram] were not placed on the ter- ror list? Hillary Clinton." See? The Six Degrees of Hill- ary Clinton Game (SDOHCG) is so easy anyone can play! More than 200 young girls were abducted by militant mon- sters and somehow it's not the fault of the kidnappers—but of Hillary Clinton! Next round: Our embassies have been a target of violence as long as we've had embassies. "We narrowed down the total to 39 attacks or attempted attacks on U.S. embassies and embassy personnel," Politifact writes. "Of these 39 attacks, 20 resulted in at least one fatality." These num- bers only include attacks on dip- lomatic targets during the Bush Administration—and only over- seas. That's not counting the domestic strike on the Penta- gon and Twin Towers on Bush's watch. There have been 13 pub- lic hearings about the attack in Benghazi in 2012. That's 3.2 hear- ings for every American life lost in the attack. (The parity would be 9,526 hearings about 911.) Ex- cessive? Yeah. Why? Because the GOP has a reflexive parlor game: The SDO- HCG. Basically, name something awful, assume cartoonish evil and say Hillary Clinton. Congressman Darrell Issa at a fundraising dinner in February of this year proclaimed, "I have my suspicions, which is Secre- tary Clinton told Leon [Panetta] to stand down." I have my suspicions that Dar- rell Issa is ghoulishly can-can- ning on the graves of four dead Americans to try and keep Hill- ary Clinton from the Oval Office. Let's have 13 hearings on it just to make sure. Even Monica Lewinsky writing an article for Vanity Fair is a per- fect premise for this stretching exercise. It's summed up impec- cably in the headline of NY Daily News columnist Linda Stasi, "Monica Lewinsky's story re- minds us Bill Clinton is to blame, Hillary Clinton doesn't deserve female voter support." Wait. What?! Lynne Cheney, the mother of Mary Cheney, went on The O'Reilly Factor and opined: "I re- ally wonder if this isn't an effort on the Clintons' part to get that story out of the way. Would Van- ity Fair publish anything of Mon- ica Lewinsky that Hillary Clinton wouldn't want in Vanity Fair?" Fill-in host Laura Ingraham re- plied, "Makes perfect sense, and I'm really mad I didn't think of it first." Anita Hill broke her decades- long silence this year too. Just a few weeks before the Lewinsky article came out, Anita, the doc- umentary debuted in theaters. It details Hill's ordeal in testify- ing about Clarence Thomas' sex- ual harassment during her time as his law clerk. And yet no one said Ginni Thomas, the Justice's politically entrenched wife, was behind the documentary. Be- cause that would be insane. But if Ginni Thomas were Hillary Clinton suddenly "it makes per- fect sense." And to answer your next ques- tion: No, Hillary Clinton didn't ask me to write this column. But then again, as former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino figured out, Hill- ary doesn't need to. "The me- dia and Democrats can commu- nicate without talking, right," Perino supposed on Fox News', The Five, "They just look at one another and it's understood, and so you don't have to have a plan, there's not going to be any se- cret document. It's just some- thing like, 'we know that we need to do this.'" That explains why Perino and her colleagues wear those tinfoil hats, so they won't have to com- municate with Democrats. Blame Hillary for that. Tina Dupuy is a nationally syn- dicated op-ed columnist, inves- tigative journalist, award-win- ning writer, stand-up comic, on- air commentator and wedge issue fan. Tina can be reached at tinadu- puy@yahoo.com. Tina Dupuy How to play the Six Degrees of Hillary Clinton Game Allenhasintegrity Editor: Charles Allen has real integ- rity. Having worked at Red Bluff Elementary School District (RBUESD) as the Technology Co- ordinator for four years, I know, first hand, what kind of adminis- trative educator Charles Allen is. I have worked with Mr. Allen for three (3) of those years under his leadership improving, moderniz- ing and making RBUESD a much better learning environment for students, teachers and the com- munity – this is fact. I still am a Technology Direc- tor (at another school district), and I say from direct educa- tional administrative experience, that there are those who posture as being for kids and they do a great job looking like they are, with supreme sanctimony, while in reality always doing what's best for them. The great educators and teachers will always be deter- mined by what's in their heart with a passionate mind for the betterment of the students. Do- ing for personal interest and stu- dents is possible and, maybe there is nothing particularly wrong with that. But, if a differ- ence is to be made for the pos- itive – the improved, you want someone who puts the progress of kids before all - before them- selves. In my opinion, Charles Allen is such a person. In education, I often hear that everyone is a hero as a frequent marketing spin – many are, and usually from my viewpoint ev- ery day, they are the individuals that strive to break the interest agendas and conflicts that the community at large never hears about. In electing a new Superin- tendent of Education for Te- hama County, just look into their hearts. — Allan Bradley, Red Bluff Silly politics Editor: I am concerned about the silly business being bantered about regarding the race to become the next Tehama County Superin- tendent of Schools. It is important that the next Superintendent build upon the foundation of a strong focus on local school districts estab- lished by Lou Bosetti and Mar- vin Locke. The role of the county office of education will become more important as the state transitions into new curriculum standards, new funding mech- anisms, and new accountabil- ity systems during the term of the new superintendent. It is im- portant that the new superinten- dent revitalize what has become a moribund operation and help it perform its important role for all students. Nevertheless we are spend- ing time about whether one can- didate really has a master's de- gree or not. While there may be some credibility issues about whether Charles Allen misrep- resented his educational attain- ment, it seems to me the big is- sue is why the County Office pays top administrators a stipend for educational degrees. In 25 years of local school administration in Tehama County I never received any stipends for my master's de- gree or my doctoral degree. I was paid to do the job. I am fairly certain that the CEO's of Mi- crosoft or Ford do not get extra money because of their MBA's. I would hope the new Superinten- dent would stop this archaic ap- proach to paying top executives for the letters after their names. Another sad issue was brought up when a recent let- ter to the editor stated that Al- len "deserves the job." The word "deserve" implies privilege; no one deserves to be County Su- perintendent. Voters need to de- cide which candidate will bring needed change and energy to the County Office of Education, not which candidate "deserves" to be next in line. It will likely be a close contest. I have sorted out the issues and I will be voting for Harley North. — Joe Harrop, Red Bluff No on Measure B Editor: The Tehama County board of Supervisors are now receiv- ing a salary of $1,250 per month. Plus full health, a car allowance, a phone allowance and a expense account not bad for part time help. Now they say they need a raise of over 200 percent to $3,795 per month. Not bad when most people get a raise of 3 per- cent or less. The last thing Tehama County needs is a board of highly paid professional politicians more in- terested in keeping their high paying jobs then doing what is best for Tehama County. The politicians are already saying that a small thing like $167,700 per year won't raise taxes and maybe it won't but if you keep adding small increases then the next thing they will be saying is we need to increase taxes or we will have to cut the fire dept., the police dept., or the road dept. but you never here them say lets cut the politicians salary. Let's keep Tehama County ru- ral vote no on measure B. — Wayne E Murphy, Red Bluff Your opinions GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIAL BOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@red bluffdailynews.com Phone: 530-527- 2151ext. 112 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS Tom Purcell I have my suspicions that Darrell Issa is ghoulishly can-canning on the graves of four dead Americans to try and keep Hillary Clinton from the Oval Office. Let's have 13 hearings on it just to make sure. OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, May 21, 2014 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6