Home Improvements

Today, President Obama announced his $275 billion plan to help the troubled housing market, which if you remember, is where all of this mess began. Now, while I am still trying to understand all their is to know about this plan, I have found out that there may not be another fight on Capitol Hill over this one. Most of the money that will be used for this program, dubbed the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan (HASP), will come from the $350 billion that Congress already released to the White House before former President Bush left office. (Still has a ring to it!).

Of course the GOP (Grand Obstructionist Party) is already standing in opposition. After they battled out the stimulus, saying that it did not have enough help for the housing market, now they want to hold up progress yet again, saying it does "too much" for home owners! WHAT! Are you kidding me? Now they think it is doing too much? The Republicans need to understand that they cannot have their tax cuts and eat them too! They cannot have too little and too much at the same time, sorry, it is just a fact. They want to try and push their ways down the Democrats' throats, and then when we give them something that they want, they find all new ways to complain about it!

The HASP will help mostly two distinct groups. First, this plan will aim to help 3 to 4 million Americans in immediate danger of losing their homes. This could be because they have high debt, or are suffocating under the weight of those high rate, sub-prime mortgages. The plan would help these people refinance and help them stay in their homes. The other group includes about 4 to 5 million people who took out loans under Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac, and now find that they are under water (their mortgage is worth more than the value of their home). Their loans would also be refinanced.

I do not have any fears of this plan, but I will continue following the story, and keep everyone updated.

Set Your Sights on Afghanistan

Something that President Obama talked about during his campaign was that when we invaded Iraq, we took our eyes off of the ball in Afghanistan. Yesterday, Obama announced that 17,000 United States troops will be called to duty for efforts in Afghanistan. Obama had this to say in a statement issued by the White House, "To meet urgent security needs, I approved a request from Secretary Gates to deploy a Marine Expeditionary Brigade later this spring and an Army Stryker Brigade and the enabling forces necessary to support them later this summer."

This is something that I have felt very strongly about. We had every reason in the world to go into Afghanistan, on September 11, 2001, they killed over 3,000 American people. They deserved what they have gotten. However, we had absolutely no reason to invade Iraq, no matter how much Bush tried to sell the war. (That is another thing, if you have to try and sell it, it is probably not worth fighting to begin with.) We took needed forces away from Afghanistan so that Bush could have the war his dad could not finish.

I wish all the best to all of the troop overseas, mine, and my family's hearts and prayers are with you. God Bless you for all that you do for every single American citizen. You truly are courageous.