USA Today: White House rejects La. (home) buyout proposal

[DeepModem Mom]

White House rejects La. buyout proposal
Agency would pay homeowners
By Oren Dorell
USA TODAY


WASHINGTON — A top economic adviser to President Bush said Tuesday that the White House has rejected the Louisiana congressional delegation's request for a new agency to buy homes in New Orleans and other areas ruined by Hurricane Katrina.

“We're very concerned” with the Louisiana proposal, said Allan Hubbard, director of the National Economic Council. Hubbard said the White House wants any buyouts to be paid for through the traditional congressional spending process.

The proposal, by Rep. Richard Baker, R-La., would create an agency called the Louisiana Recovery Corp. that could raise up to $30 billion in government money through the issuance of Treasury bonds. It would pay homeowners at least 60% of their equity and pay mortgage companies up to 60% of what they are owed.

The corporation would repair streets, power lines and other infrastructure in damaged neighborhoods and then sell the homes to developers. The proposal gained the support of Louisiana's nine-member congressional delegation, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

Baker pushed for support from the White House in a letter in which he quoted Treasury Secretary John Snow as saying the measure “has some real merit.” Hubbard and Donald Powell, the president's coordinator for Gulf Coast rebuilding, expressed reservations. Hubbard informed Baker Monday that the White House would say no....


http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20060125/a_nolahomes25.art.htm

[stepnw1f]

1. More Lack of Compassion from Conservatives

Gee... I guess they are all talk after all.

[KamaAina]

2. Bush to N.O.: Drop Dead

Here are some juicy little tidbits that illustrate the Bush**co mindset:

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1138202723122050.xml (brief registration, but well worth it if you're following the situation down there)

The Louisiana Recovery Authority has said 77,340 homes would fall into that category, more than three times the administration's estimate. But, significantly, Powell's figures do not include rental property, only owner-occupied dwellings. He said those homeowners are the most deserving of financial aid and could be covered by Louisiana's share of $11.5 billion in Community Development Block Grants that Congress appropriated late last year. Louisiana's share is expected to be announced today.

Hmmmm... no relief for rental property... renters too "chocolate", perhaps?

Though much attention has been focused on homeowners who did not have flood insurance because FEMA maps classified their neighborhoods as above the flood plain, even homeowners with flood insurance may not be much better off without a buyout option, particularly if their neighborhoods do not demonstrate a high rate of returning residents....

Joe Canizaro, who leads the Bring New Orleans Back Commission's land-use committee, has said there are ways besides the Baker bill to accomplish buyouts. But Canizaro at the time said he did not wish to elaborate because he was optimistic Congress would approve the Baker bill in some form.

The crafty Canizaro is a major real estate developer and, unsurprisingly, a Bush** Pioneer. One shudders to think what he might have up his sleeve as a Plan B. :scared:

[Mountainman]

3. Why would they want to pay for something they could steal and get away

with? That property will go to repukes who will sell it at a profit and the owners will see none of the money. You mark my words. The reason there was no response to Katrina was because they repukes wanted to get rid of the poor people and take their land. Katrina is their 9/11 excuse for doing anything they want. Repukes are greedy heartless fucks!

[OKNancy]

4. Kick

[funkybutt]

5. White House deals blow to Baker bill (La. recovery plan)

White House against Baker bailout bill
Bush point man says block grants enough


http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1138202723122050.xml

In a severe blow to state and local plans for rebuilding hurricane-devastated areas, the Bush administration Tuesday came out against a homeowner bailout proposal that many Louisianians say is the key to economic recovery and the rebirth of a redesigned New Orleans.

Donald Powell, President Bush's choice to oversee the Gulf Coast's recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, said grant money already appropriated by Congress would be "sufficient" to take care of homeowners who suffered the most in the storm. As much as $6.2 billion of that money is slated for Louisiana.

"Clearly the $6 billion isn't enough," Baker said. "It ignores the vital recovery in the parishes of Orleans, St. Bernard, Cameron and parts of Plaquemines. That is unacceptable."

:(

[cyberpj]

6. As usual, large corporate buddies w/get the rebuild, business only.

Yesterday's revelation about the 48 hr. notice should enable public opinion on this.

Then again, we're all to busy looking for jobs out here!!

[Skink]

7. Bush isn't Lincoln he's Jefferson Davis

[LynnTheDem]

8. FUCK YOU says bush to Katrina victims.

But he'll go visit Lott's new "better" house.

If ya ain't one of bush's "haves and have mores" then yer just part of the great unwashed masses that bush likes to fuck over.

[pitohui]

9. they just don't care abt us, do they?

it is most discouraging

[funkybutt]

10. they really don't

yesterday the news reported that 800+ billion dollars was being allocated to Katrina ravaged states for road and highway repairs. Mississippi got 740 of that. They have much less of this damage than La does but La and Al will be splitting the leftovers.

[funkybutt]

11. Kick! Just another dissappointment for NOLA

Maybe one day we'll get some good news.

[pitohui]

12. the only good thing abt it

--and i use the word "good" advisedly -- that at least we get to see republican versus republican, as baker has just found out what it's like to be told one thing to his face and then stabbed in the back

let the infighting begin, sigh

i bet we would have got a bunch more $$$ if breaux was still in office

[Judi Lynn]

13. Bush eyes grants, not agency, for La.recovery

Bush eyes grants, not agency, for La.recovery
Wed Jan 25, 2006 4:13 PM ET

By Kristin Roberts
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday opposed a plan from a Louisiana Republican to create a federal agency to buy homes destroyed by recent Gulf Coast hurricanes, saying grants to state governments were a better approach.

The Bush administration said it was concerned about creating an outside entity to funnel federal money into housing redevelopment, and instead allocated $11.5 billion in previously approved funds to states hurt by the 2005 storms.

"We believe a more direct, better approach is to provide assistance directly to the local communities so that they can get that to the people through things like a Community Development Block Grant," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

But the Bush administration's rejection of Louisiana Rep. Richard Baker's proposal was criticized by some government officials in Louisiana, which with Mississippi suffered most of the damage from hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma last year.

A group representing mortgage bankers also said President George W. Bush had yet to offer an alternative that was comparable to the plan proposed in Baker's legislation to create the Louisiana Recovery Corp.
(snip/...)

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2006-01-25T211334Z_01_N25192884_RTRUKOC_0_US-ECONOMY-LOUISIANA-KATRINA.xml

[babylonsister]

14. Then what would be the point of FederalEmergencyManagement

Agency? Or is that the point? :think:

[funkybutt]

15. Block Grants?

Are these like the cryptic and possibly fictional SBA loans.

We've been in the system since the week after Katrina and still haven't heard back as to whether or not we can get a low interest SBA loan. I'm beginning to believe SBA loans don't even exist. I've never spoken to or heard of anyone who has received one. And this was the much touted "hope" for recovery that we were innitially fed from this administration.

Are community block grants just a myth?

[KamaAina]

16. Could this all be part of a giant land grab by Bush**co?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=240934&mesg_id=240934

Think this through with me: to accept the failure of the Baker Bill would require that the Republican Party--friend to business everywhere--is prepared to see every company that wrote or underwrote mortgages in Louisiana take it in the pants. There would be massive losses, company failures, and significant disruption of the housing market in the United States.

So, class, who thinks that George Bush and the members of Ambramoff's Flying Golf Club in Congress are going to let this happen? No hands? Very good....

As if this weren't fun enough, consider my wife's thought this morning. Be prepared to be inundated with calls from helpful people willing to cash you out of your house for dimes on the dollar--of your lot value. When they figure this out (if they weren't in from the beginning), the vultures will no longer be circling. They'll be sitting in the tree over your sorry ass, practicing their four part harmonies and waiting to come in for dinner.

We are being swindled Texas-big, by people who know how its done. Forget fair buyouts. The speculators will flock in and buy up vast tracts of property for next to nothing. When you're done endorsing that paltry check to the mortgage company, the guys in the White Hats (the ones with hats only, no cattle) will jump in and take care of the rest of your mortgage. Well, not the rest of your mortgage. You'll go to your grave owing on that. But the mortgage holders will get theirs. Just you wait and see.

Just when I think I can't possibly hate the box turtle-fsckers more than I already did... :grr:

[pitohui]

17. no the land in question is of no value

it is not protected by levees, it isn't of any value, never was to begin with, the structure was the value

anyone who thinks the land is worth big money, i can line up right away with some people you can buy out

but you won't because, when push comes to shove, you know in your heart a pile of debris that needs to be demolished and replaced ain't worth anything and you're not gonna speculate w. yr own cold hard cash, it's more fun to pretend someone else can make millions out of the ruins

to me it's a question of fairness, people being told they didn't need flood insurance and so they end up losing everything financially, believe me, if you wanted to buy them out and wait and see if the swampland in question increased in value you're welcome to it!