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6A Daily News – Saturday, November 12, 2011 Opinion Mortgage refinance plan another dud D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer's home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. Letters are published at the discretion of the editor. Mission Statement We believe that a strong com- munity newspaper is essential to a strong community, creating citizens who are better informed and more involved. The Daily News will be the indispensible guide to life and living in Tehama County. We will be the premier provider of local news, information and advertising through our daily newspaper, online edition and other print and Internet vehi- cles. The Daily News will reflect and support the unique identities of Tehama County and its cities; record the history of its com- munities and their people and make a positive difference in the quality of life for the resi- dents and businesses of Tehama County. How to reach us Main office: 527-2151 Classified: 527-2151 Circulation: 527-2151 News tips: 527-2153 Sports: 527-2153 Obituaries: 527-2151 Photo: 527-2153 On the Web www.redbluffdailynews.com Fax Newsroom: 527-9251 Classified: 527-5774 Retail Adv.: 527-5774 Legal Adv.: 527-5774 Business Office: 527-3719 Address 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080, or P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 When you're in trouble, nothing beats a helping hand — provided you can reach it. Certain home- owners with "underwater" mort- gages are about to find that out. Say you're a homeowner with such a mortgage. The value of your home has dropped over the last few years until it is much less than you owe. It looks like you'll never get any relief. Then the gov- ernment announces another plan to help people like you — the ones who have struggled to pay their mortgages on time. So you apply. Surprise: there are technical terms (which nobody mentioned ahead of time) that mean you don't qual- ify. And you realize that the only thing worse than dealing with a continuing problem is having your hopes raised and then dashed. On second thought, the only thing worse is to find that, regard- less of whether you qualify, tax- payers are on the hook for up to $60 billion to pay for the program. Yes, it's happening again. Undeterred by the underperfor- mance of several previous efforts, the Obama administration has announced yet another plan to refi- nance the mortgages of homeown- ers who owe more than their house is currently worth. However, this version of the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HAMP) has many of the weaknesses of previ- ous ones. And it's unlikely to be any more successful. To matters worse, the cost of the refinanced loans will be borne by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which the government already controls _ and it could add as much as $40 billion to $60 billion to the even- tual cost of their bailout. So far, the two have received about $160 billion of taxpayer money. Fred- die Mac just asked for another $6 billion to cover third-quarter loss- es. HAMP was announced to great fanfare in 2009 with promises that it would assist up to 5 million of the 11 million under- water mortgages. It followed sev- eral other unsuccessful plans by Congress and the Bush adminis- tration. However, to date HAMP has helped only 900,000 home- owners, and only 72,000 of those homeowners owed more than their house is worth. The latest version promises to help borrowers who have paid their mortgages for at least six consecutive months, regardless of both their current finan- cial situation and how far the value of their home has fallen. Mort- gages must be current; any homeowner who has a late payment in the last six months or more than one late pay- ment in the last year is ineligible. The mortgage can- not have been refi- nanced in the last 30 months. New appraisals won't be nec- essary, and title insur- ance will automatically transfer to the refinanced mort- gage. This means that the fees for these services and certain others will not be charged, thus reducing the cost of the new loan. However, only mortgages that were bought by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac before June 2009 are eligible. Thus, many home- owners with underwater loans are likely to go through the applica- tion process only to find that their mortgage doesn't qualify. David John As with previous HAMP incarnations, these important details are either hidden or not in the publicity surrounding the revised program. So if you are one of the lucky few homeowners who qual- ify for the revised HAMP program, you have had a happy day. The rest of those with underwater mortgages will see another hope go down the drain — followed by up to $60 billion of our tax dol- lars. David C. John is the senior research fellow in retirement security and financial institutions at The Heritage Foundation. Readers may write to the author in care of The Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Washington, D.C. 20002; Web site: www.heritage.org. Information about Heritage's funding may be found at http://www.heritage.org/about/re ports.cfm. Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 6031 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319-2102 STATE SENATOR — Doug LaMalfa (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 3070 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Jerry Brown, State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: gover- nor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2595 Cean- othus Ave., Ste. 182, Chico, CA 95973; 893-8363. U.S.SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Happy to be home again Commentary It is always good to come home, even after visiting grandchildren; sleeping in our own bed, having an alarm clock rather than toddlers wake you at unpredictable times, and just catching up on what we missed while gone is refreshing. It took me a week to catch up, so I had no col- umn last week. When we arrived at the Sacramento airport a week ago Monday we experienced quite a shock; it was 28 degrees when we left Min- neapolis; in Sacramento we had to take off our jackets and roll up our sleeves. Of course the weather did become more Minnesota –like later in the week. It appears that fall is finally here in Red Bluff; leaves are dropping from the trees and floating in the breeze, days are shorter, and shadows are longer. It felt good to be home, and it was reassuring to see not much had changed. Scanning the local paper was not so surprising, except our Spartans did win their first football game of the season. The front pages reflected the same problems we were trying to confront before we left. Lots of crime on the front page; there were pictures of grossly tattooed citizens con- nected with violence and theft; low level drug busts were still in the news; the Fair Grounds continues with seri- ous financial problems; the jail is facing over population because of the state's program to shift inmates; the city con- tinues to struggle with its bud- get and personnel issues; mar- ijuana regulation continues to be a contentious issue, with the Feds complicating the confusion; letters to the editor continue to express bold opin- ions, to quote Scripture, and to belittle previous letter writ- ers; the schools wait for bud- getary numbers from the state; unemployment continues to be high; no action has been taken to consider the Robert Wood Johnson rankings of our coun- ty's health; and I-5 is still a work in progress. There were a few interest- ing items in the SF Chronicle as well. Pacific Gas and Elec- tric continues to have prob- lems with its natural gas lines, even now that it has most like- ly been shamed into pressure testing its lines. Most recently a "dent" of unknown origin caused the closure of the northbound lanes of Highway 280 because of a mud slide triggered by a rupture in one of their lines. The homes within a stone's throw of the rupture must feel they are playing Russian roulette with PG&E. This rupture was near Woodside, a more upscale area than San Bruno, with people who have far more political clout than in San Bruno. Perhaps there will be more pressure on PG&E from those citizens than from their own natural gas lines. There was a report recently that the Federal Government could save $6 billion per year by increasing the age of Medicare eligibility from 65 to 67; the report also says that the populace would end up spending $8 billion more on medical costs than before the change. Studies are subject to review, but it is disconcerting that when our leaders make proposals we are not always given all the information needed to make rational decisions. For exam- ple, the Medicare Part D program was passed by the second President Bush, in close consultation with drug industry representativ es, without Congress or the public knowing the full cost. Esti- mates of the cost of the Iraq invasion were also vague and for the most part have proven far less than what we have been told the "actual" costs have been; there is no doubt those actual costs are also understated. There was an interesting article about "typo squatters," something I had never heard about before. From time to time I get emails from what appear at first glance to be legitimate sources telling me my email account will be closed if I do not verify my address and password. Enough people must respond to these pseudo-warnings to make it worth the while for the senders to broadcast these emails all over the Internet. A man in Barbados, David Csumrik, has allegedly regis- tered several email sites using variations on the spelling of Google; if you mistakenly type "goggle" instead of Google, you go to Csumrik's site and immediately fall vic- Joe Harrop tim to more spam than the army ate in WWII. There are a vast number of sites that take advantage of typos by the less than nimble fingers of the multi- tasking Internet users. These are "typo-squatters." In making a list of syn- onyms for "con artist" or "sleaze ball" be sure to add this new term; it may become the "word of the year for 2011." The Art Walk was a refreshing event; the streets and the venues were filled with many people, and folks were actually mak- ing purchases. Both the Art Walk and the Beef and Brew events were opportunities to see many people, sample some merchandise and snacks, and feel good about our town. They remind us why we like living in Red Bluff. The Red Bluff High Spar- tans finished off the varsity football season with consecu- tive wins by a combined score of 120 to 20. We weren't able to attend any of the home games this year because of our travel schedule, but we will try to be more faithful next year. The games are always fun, win or lose, and they act as a kind of social glue for our community. It is very good to be home. Joe Harrop is a retired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State. He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net.