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Hillary Clinton: The Time For HOLC IS Now

This is a sink-or-swim moment for America. We cannot simply catch our breath. We've got to swim for the shores. We must address the conditions that set the stage for the turmoil unfolding on Wall Street, or we will find ourselves lurching from crisis to crisis. Just as Wall Street must once again look further than the quarterly report, our nation must as well.

- Senator Hillary Clinton

(Emphasis mine.) Looking past getting Wall Street through the next quarter, Senator Hillary Clinton presses her argument for a new HOLC:

[W]e must address the skyrocketing rates of mortgage defaults and foreclosures that have buffeted the economy and ignited the credit crisis. Two million homeowners carry mortgages worth more than their homes. They hold $3 trillion in mortgage debt. Nearly three million adjustable-rate mortgages are scheduled for a rate increase in the next two years. Another wave of foreclosures looms.

I've proposed a new Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC), to launch a national effort to help homeowners refinance their mortgages. The original HOLC, launched in 1933, bought mortgages from failed banks and modified the terms so families could make affordable payments while keeping their homes. The original HOLC returned a profit to the Treasury and saved one million homes. We can save roughly three times that many today. We should also put in place a temporary moratorium on foreclosures and freeze rate hikes in adjustable-rate mortgages. We've got to stem the tide of failing mortgages and give the markets time to recover.

The time for ideological, partisan arguments against these actions is over. For years, the calls to provide borrowers an affordable opportunity to avoid foreclosure as a means of preventing wider turmoil were dismissed as government intrusion into the private marketplace. My proposals over the past two years were derided as too much, too soon. Now we are forced to reckon with too little, too late.

As a result, the home-mortgage crisis slowly eroded the value of debt instruments upon which Wall Street firms were depending. That is how this house of borrowed cards began to fall. If we do not take action to address the crisis facing borrowers, we'll never solve the crisis facing lenders. These problems go hand in hand. And if we are going to take on the mortgage debt of storied Wall Street giants, we ought to extend the same help to struggling, middle-class families.

(Emphasis supplied.) Hear! Hear!

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  • Display: Sort:
    This is how you look out (5.00 / 2) (#2)
    by Lahdee on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 07:32:25 AM EST
    for Main Street.

    Reject the Bailout Bill (5.00 / 2) (#4)
    by Munibond on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 07:34:32 AM EST
    It is a toxic starting point.  HOLC is a better solution to the mortgage loan crisis, and there are many better ways to otherwise stimulate the economy.

    Wow! (5.00 / 2) (#6)
    by Demi Moaned on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 07:47:00 AM EST
    This is the kind of thing I wish we'd hear from more leading Democrats (not just the Presidential nominee).
    For years, the calls to provide borrowers an affordable opportunity to avoid foreclosure as a means of preventing wider turmoil were dismissed as government intrusion into the private marketplace.

    Is it maybe OK now to point out the failures of the ideological program that is just a cover for organized plundering?

    The most powerful Senator just did (none / 0) (#7)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 07:49:46 AM EST
    so I assume you can do it too.

    Parent
    I'm nobody (5.00 / 1) (#13)
    by Demi Moaned on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 08:07:07 AM EST
    Who are you?
    Are you nobody, too?

    The question is whether all the somebodies in the Senate and the House and the "liberal" punditocracy will follow this sensible lead or rush to undercut it.

    Parent

    Wait, who is the most powerful Senator? (none / 0) (#9)
    by tigercourse on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 07:57:58 AM EST
    Hillary is. (none / 0) (#11)
    by rooge04 on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 08:00:38 AM EST
    Hillary Clinton is (none / 0) (#14)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 08:11:30 AM EST
    Whether she exercises her power on this is the question.

    Parent
    Wow. (none / 0) (#22)
    by Fabian on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 10:22:40 AM EST
    That is some assertion!  She is the Junior Senator from New York and although the NY part of the equation gives her some clout, you've just elevated her above Reid and Kennedy, to name two.  Plus Obama and Dodd and...

    I'm not sure if I agree or disagree.  I'm just a bit stunned.

    Parent

    I think we've disagreed on this in the past. (none / 0) (#23)
    by tigercourse on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 10:49:17 AM EST
    I'd say that there are a whole lot of Senators with more power then her. Reid (sadly, he's a twit), Schumer, Durbin, and a whole host of others.

    Parent
    Hilliary not the most powerful yet (none / 0) (#30)
    by pluege on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 03:30:36 PM EST
    Right now Obama is a more powerful Senator. On 5-Nov-08 Hilliary will be the most powerful Senator.

    Parent
    Demi Moaned (none / 0) (#28)
    by cal1942 on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 02:03:17 PM EST
    Apparently you missed the fact that the quote you cited was from Hillary Clinton NOT Barrack Obama.

    Parent
    Not at all ... (none / 0) (#29)
    by Demi Moaned on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 02:07:03 PM EST
    though I can see how my wording gave that impression.

    What I meant is that good as Hillary's plan is, I'd like to see the entire Democratic Senate delegation behind it (including Obama).

    Parent

    My Nov vote goes to the (5.00 / 4) (#8)
    by votermom on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 07:52:06 AM EST
    candidate who gets behind this.

    Krugman is also advocating HOLC (5.00 / 2) (#16)
    by Carolyn in Baltimore on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 09:05:59 AM EST
    I believe it is the first step in making the mortgage collapse manageable.
    I believe this idea (not a new one - and one that worked when times were more dire) could take hold if it gets talked up enough.
    I also think investment in renewable energy and infrastructure and a renewed focus on real products (as opposed to derivatives) could help with the jobs arena. If Obama wants rustbelt votes that could go a long way for him.
    Obama can thank Hillary for reminding people about HOLC and mention several other people who are also promoting this as an alternative to bailing a leaky boat. Plugging the leak and then seeing what needs bailing makes sense if it is talked about in such terms.
    I think Ben Cardin and Babs Mikulski are about to get an email from me.
    FDR lives!

    Wow (5.00 / 2) (#18)
    by Steve M on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 10:00:25 AM EST
    I just read the whole thing.  This is powerful stuff, and she's going right into the lion's den to say it.

    She is not alone in this. (5.00 / 3) (#19)
    by Faust on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 10:13:31 AM EST
    Mr. Roubini (aka Dr. Doom) is advocating for a HOLC, as are other respected economists like Krugman. I've been reading stuff around the web and this is defenitely not some fringe idea.

    Or to put it another way Hillary isn't comming out of left field with this (pun intended). This is a perfectly reasonable way to pursue this problem and it has historical precedent.

    As Roubini said you either nationalize the banks or the mortgages or they are both toast.

    Lets work from the bottom up.

    Tell your friends and family about this idea (not a single person I've talked to knew what it was, but then I didn't either until a week ago) and encourage them to tell their congress critters you support Clinton's lead on this issue.

    My favorite line (5.00 / 1) (#21)
    by Coral on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 10:19:00 AM EST
    My proposals over the past two years were derided as too much, too soon. Now we are forced to reckon with too little, too late.


    Everytime HRC opens her mouth (5.00 / 1) (#26)
    by pluege on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 12:36:10 PM EST
    dems are reminded that they nominated the wrong candidate. She has been damn good since 3/2008. Its a crying shame (probably much worse) that she blew the first quarter.

    A Great Plan (4.50 / 2) (#17)
    by PlayInPeoria on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 09:09:38 AM EST
    I hope Sen Obama has read this.... actually, I hope he has met with Sen Clinton on the crisis.

    As a power house in the Senate... she can lead... but will they follow ..... or pull out the self promoting politics on this one.

    One thing that makes her such a power house... is that she puts the people first. No wonder we love her so much.

    Why present an article like (4.25 / 4) (#3)
    by frankly0 on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 07:33:58 AM EST
    this with some genuine forward thinking progressive ideas when we know our current nominee has zero interest in making anything like this happen -- if he even understands what it might entail?

    Why torture us with what might have been?

    Because Hillary Clinton is (5.00 / 4) (#5)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 07:38:54 AM EST
    probably the most powerful Senator and she should have some clout on this.

    I am supporting what I believe to be an important idea.

    I do not accept the imperial presidency concept, no matter who is President.

    Parent

    Unfortunately (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by frankly0 on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 07:59:31 AM EST
    I suspect that this idea won't be adopted in no small part precisely because it's Hillary's idea.

    Think about the optics of going with the proposal of the candidate who was not nominated, when the candidate who was nominated has nothing to propose on his own.

    I'm sure that the Obama campaign is in a position to squash this proposal just because they don't want it to make Obama look bad, and that Obama's enablers in Congress will simply fall in line.

    And BTW, has anybody taken a look at the one "innovation" that Obama has proposed? That would be the "joint letter" that he and McCain composed to address the current crisis. Has anyone ever seen a worse case of lukewarm pablum served up to the public as if it meant something? I understand that there was originally a clause in it that praised apple pie and Motherhood, but the Obama campaign removed it because it seemed too controversial.

    Parent

    I hope you are wrong (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by votermom on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 08:02:37 AM EST
    but fear you may be right.


    Parent
    The optics of what? (5.00 / 1) (#15)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 08:12:15 AM EST
    A Democratic idea being adopted by Democrats? Looks like good optics to me.

    Parent
    Example: choose Hillary Clinton as VP? (5.00 / 1) (#24)
    by oculus on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 11:41:39 AM EST
    You're right (none / 0) (#20)
    by Faust on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 10:15:09 AM EST
    lets just put our heads between our legs and cry about false equivalencies. You have fun with that.

    Parent
    It's a good (none / 0) (#1)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 07:13:55 AM EST
    op ed but from what I have read this isn't going to be included in the bill.

    Any evidence Sen. Obama (none / 0) (#25)
    by oculus on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 11:45:13 AM EST
    understands this?  Has discussed it with Sen. Clinton?  Has considered it?  

    Obama is a corportist (5.00 / 1) (#27)
    by pluege on Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 12:39:55 PM EST
    he wouldn't pursue what HRC is saying even if he did understand it (which my guess he does very well). His corportist posture is why he is so on-board with the bailout without any concrete stand, and why he is against using the opportunity to "fix" the anti-American family bankruptcy law, and is why Biden is his running mate - birds of a feather.

    Parent
    Hillary voted Yes on the (none / 0) (#31)
    by MyLeftMind on Tue May 19, 2009 at 02:10:24 PM EST
    2001 bankruptcy bill.  

    Parent