Saturday, October 11, 2008

Why People Aren't Voting for Harper

We get letters. Lots of 'em. Here's one from the left coast.

Canada to buy up to $25 bln in insured mortgages

Canada's own Bail Out plan begins..so how do you feel about the Government Owning Your House? A Stephen Harper Government to boot..and most importantly..WHY?!?! Has Harper not been telling us we are fine, stay the course...and then just sinks $25 bln into buying our homes?!..is it just me or does that seem weird and a bit of a BIG MOVE without consutling us??

ARE WE PAYING ATTENTION?

Why is the Government taking over mortgages? Harper is doing the same things George Bush was/is doing ..Bush has been working long, hard and quietly behind the scenes to get as much control over Government as he can and for Government to get as much control over people as they can..Harper has been/is doing the same thing ..no wonder he has no time for the environment and we are pretty screwed if he gets a majority...let's stop our own insanity Canada..Mr Harper is NOT our friend!

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

When Dion was asked if he would have done the same thing he wouldn't answer the question.

C. said...

Nice spin,
The government paid 25 billion for INSURED mortgage pools. This is not like the US where people have defaulted on their mortgage payments and the government is helping to pay the cost.

Here the government is buying "high quality assets". not paying for subprime mortgages like in the US and Europe.

http://www.reportonbusiness.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081010.wflaherty1010/BNStory/Business/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20081010.wflaherty1010

What the 25 billion will do is free up liquidity so when a first time home owner needs to borrow a reasonable sum, the funds are there to be had. The goal is to help the economy by keeping a pool of money available for lending and borrowing.

Furthermore, you say it as if it were Harper himself that bought the mortgages. Do you really believe that Harper owns every aspect of the government? You don't think that there are any Liberals left in positions after 13 years of power? Harper only had a minority for 2 1/2 years.

The crown corp that bought the 25 billion in mortgage pools was the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.
http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/corp/about/hi/index.cfm
This institution has been around since the end of the 40s.

In theory the tax payers won't be on the hook for this 25 billion, These are all low risk investments where they should get their money back.

I think this goes a long way in showing how strong our financial system is. We do not need to dump half a trillion dollars into our system just to help cover bad investments.

Our banks were ranked number one out of the G8..

Our Economy is expected to lead the G8 nations in this crisis..

Really what do you want the government to do?

This is the conservative plan, slow and steady, react to potential problems as they arise. Don't panic and don't blow your wad in one over zealous shot. Act prudently.

The problem with this crisis, is that no one knows what it is really going to affect. So it is hard to know where the problems will be. You can't make a plan to solve this crisis at this point, as we truly don't know what the whole crisis will be. We don't know what the US is going to do, and since most of our troubles stem from the US.. well not much we can do down there. They tend not to listen to us in the best of times.

The 700 billion thrown at the US economy represents a fair bit of hope and prayer as far as easing the problem down there. (note, easing and not fixing)

Finally, if things really got bad, and everything starts to go sour, whom would you rather have your mortgage with? A bank, who's goal it is to make money for its stalk holders, or the Canadian government?

Dante said...

No additional risk and a profit being made on the spread. Really bad economics.

This issue is another example of Liberals not knowing what they are talking about.

tedhsu said...

A note to the preceding commenters: I don't think there is a free lunch. If the government buys government insured mortgages, it seems to me that there is no insurance for the government and the mortgage securities should be valued (by the government) at a lower, risk-adjusted price. Basically you can't insure yourself. Please see my post at http://tedhsu.blogspot.com/2008/10/on-harper-governments-plan-to-purchase.html

Leon said...

Christopher Newton writes: "The government paid 25 billion for INSURED mortgage pools."

WHAT?! Are you daft?!?

The government is the one who insures the mortgages! So if they default, phew, the Canadian Government, as purchaser of the mortgages, is protected because they will still get paid ... by the CANADIAN GOVERNMENT!!

C. said...
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C. said...
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C. said...

Sorry for the take down and put ups.

True enough about the insurance.

Leon Wrote

Christopher Newton writes: "The government paid 25 billion for INSURED mortgage pools."

WHAT?! Are you daft?!?

calling someone daft is rather rude and not very good form when trying to prove a point. Let's try to be more Canadian about things here shall we?

But I still stand behind the action taken. These are low risk, and the chance of them defaulting is very low. The government creates liquidity in the market by taking these off of the banks, banks can lend more money to keep the economy going. Government makes money off of what they bought, costing the taxpayers nothing. If these types of mortgages default, I think that there will be more for me to worry about then just you saying, I told you so. The risk here is very low with the benefit being high.
What do you suggest that they do in place?

James Curran said...

Mortgage lenders have already cut many programs since last Monday. Variable rates are no longer available and six month terms are no longer availble. And, open mortgages are no longer available. Just ask your local mortgage broker.

Go to your bank and ask for credit this week. See how you make out. Your chances are slim and none.

Don't believe me? Give you banker and mortgage guy a call.

As for this notion of the taxpayer not having to pay anything? You're dreaming in technicolor.

Dante said...

Mortgage lenders do not cancel programs...the offer up products or remove the products if they can't supply them. I know it's a tough thing to understand if you are a socialist.

Taxpayers won't pay a thing. You are completely clueless.

James Curran said...

You ain;t got a clue. Go away when and come back Wednesday when you're sober.

Dante said...

I worked a number of years in Credit Risk Management for a Bank. What do I know about mortgage lending? I also worked a couple of decades in Finance. I suppose I need a PhD in Sociology to be considered an expert to you Liberals.

tedhsu said...

Okay Dante, now I have to speak up. I am surprised when you say that you worked two decades in finance. When you say that taxpayers won't pay a thing, how do you know you are right? What price is the government going to pay for the securities? Even if we ignore the credit risk that has been discussed in this thread, mortgage securities will at least have market (yield-curve) risk. Taking on a risk for free is equivalent to paying something.

As for credentials...I'd suggest not get into a p***ing match into who has the better credentials and just make arguments on their own merits.

Dante said...

First of all market risk (risk associated with match funding) can be hedged by any competent treasury manager. It probably isn't even needed. I think it unlikely that the interest rate of a government issued bond would exceed that of a homeowners mortgage in the next 3 or so years. If you think differently, you are a nut. Second of all, the default on mortgages these years are quite low. I remember $800,000 in a month being a large amount on a 60 billion portfolio. It was also mostly related to fraud.

BTW...I also worked in treasury.

Mowich said...

Ever heard of Canada Mortgage and Housing????? The Conservatives are NOT, read my post NOT buying up our mortgages. If you had done just a bit more research you would realize this and not have written before you had all the correct information. All along the Conservatives have told us they are on top of what is happening and that when intervention is needed, they will act. Now they have acted, correctly.

James Curran said...

A little more research? Give your head a shake. I've been a Realtor for 27 years. I'm perfectly aware of what CMHC is.

Gimme a break. All along the Conservatives said everything is just fine thank you very much. and that everything will continue to be fine thank you very much.
What election have you been watching? newsflash...everything is not fine.