Many speak idyllically about socialism, but few of its advocates in this country have had to live under its auspices until now.
By definition, socialism is “various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods,” per Merriam-Webster.
This defines the US mortgage market today.
Try getting a mortgage or refinance your existing loan. It is a discouraging and daunting experience. Even a simple technique that had been used for decades for “modifying” an existing mortgage for a lower rate (only the rate lowered, no other terms changing) is not done anymore.
More than 49 million Americans have mortgages, per the latest census data, with a median size of $190,000. That’s a lot of families, and that’s where the lion’s share of their paycheck goes. Unfortunately, only a very few can refinance and take advantage of today’s low rates.
Nor can the majority of Americans sell their existing homes and hope to ever qualify for a new mortgage if they were to move. They are essentially trapped.
The mortgage market has been taken over — socialized — by Washington’s far left. They have advocated and now have forced governmental ownership and the administration of the means of production (bank lending) and distribution (banks sell to Fannie Mae, which sells to Freddie Mac) to the American Dream.
This control of the flow of money is socialism, and control of money is the tool of the power-hungry.
The feds now dictate the rules under which Fannie Mae buys loans, which in turn determines what ratios a bank can lend at, stripping away its flexibility.
This isn’t “The Lion King’s” circle of life. This is the slithering snake of socialistic strangulating of our economy, This is the reason our economy hasn’t recovered as expected.
Goodbye, free markets.
What the left hasn’t learned yet is that when you travel in a socialistic circle, you never get anywhere.