Mike Huckabee said it best I think...

" You can't make decisions at the top without knowing how it affects those on the bottom"

Try as they might it is simply not possible for people of the monetary caliber of Hillary an Barak to know what the bottom is like. For a real time knowledge on the subject you have to be there for a while...neither of them has been there for a long, long time and Hillary I don't think has ever been there and so I find it almost intolerable that either of them could mention even in passing that they feel the plight of the middle to low income families here in the US because frankly that is just a pile of bullshit. Having been to a few town meetings where people actually cried real tears does not substitute for years of struggling to make ends meet, fighting uphill against inflation, predatory lending and depressed wages. Hillary can say that she walked away feeling their pain just before she retires to a $1200.00/night hotel room to freshen up in the Jacuzzi...it's easy to say it then.

The very fact that these candidates are playing monopoly with tens of millions of dollars belies their own claims to symapthy for the poor and underpaid in this country.

Obama showed somewhat more understanding of what mandated health care means to the bottom of the income rung...it's just another bill that can't be paid creating yet more pain and distress. The Fact that Hillary sees Mitt Romney's Massachusetts plan as a sucesss shows just how far out of touch she is with the realities of life on the edge of homelessness. Not only has Romney condemned the low income 15k and up to commit as much as 20 percent of their income to expensive and undefeined health insurance coverages by mandate of law....he has also left the Department of Revenue in charge of the collection which means that wages will be garnished, assets will be seized and homes may even be auctioned off to make the mandate work...that's the problem with mandates...they don't fucking work and they never will..yet Hillary is willing to give it a go! Behind all of that soft " I feel your pain " rhetoric is a heartless bitch who will put you in the street if you cross her.

Obama is not too far behind her in the coercion department here but he is at least somewhat more in touch then Hillary is. He is smart enought to realize that you cannot mandate choices and that any mandate of this nature will inevitably create victims. Why Hillary does not see this is beyond me...all I can figure on this one is that she is still a little pissed off from the embarrassing moments of her last attempt to create universal health care that was voluntary and so now she feels the need to force hands. Very telling indeed.

Another point...freezing interest rates...Hillary lost that point rather handily to Obama. As he pointed out the rates are the problem to begin with...they need to be brought down!!!...not frozen!!! DUH! He's absolutely right on this. The same with Health care costs...they need to come down...not to be mandated. The mandate thing just demonstrates the depth of an individuals disconnect to the lower rungs.

The One Candidate that I know for sure came from poverty and made his way up based on sheer determination is Hucakbee. His ideas for reaching out the the little guy actually make a lot of sense to me. His vision for eliminating the coercion of the Internal revenue service along with creating a system of tax choices is so far the most brilliant application of economic good sense that I have heard with the exception of Ron Paul. Put the money in the hands of the people and empower them to take care of themselves. This is the only method that is ever going to work and not method is every going to achieve 100%. Furthermore only Hucakbee and Paul talk about resuscitating the dollar. All fancy legislation aside and all high sounding financial plans be damned to hell...if we don't pay attention to the dollar none of them will work! For people like Hillary who have lots of Dollars...the value of the dollar is not particularly important.

I listened very carefully last night to

Huckabee's so called fair tax is everything but that. It is a mandatory tax that will unfairly target the poor. The poor purchase predominately essential items and goods. All of the money that they earn or possess will be subject to 26 percent mandatory taxation. Keep in mind; as I stated, the poor only have money to spend for essentials survival goods.

If we tax them 26 percent for all of their purchases; won't they be poorer? Where will they get the money for their survival? I realize that Huckabee stated that the poor will be given tax rebates; but the poorest of us now do not pay any taxes at all. Social Security recipients, disabled veterans and other people on fixed income will not receive tax rebates; yet they'll be paying 26 percent more in consumption taxes. They can't get by now; how will they with a consumption tax?

The more affluent and rich citizens would do well with Huckabee's tax plan and I suspect that he knows it too.

"Do not be fooled by the snake with the smooth tounge"

Hawk

“ My plan covers all Americans and improves health care by lowering costs and improving quality. If you’re one of the tens of millions of Americans without coverage or if you don’t like the coverage you have, you will have a choice of plans to pick from and you’ll get tax credits to help pay for it. If you like the plan you have, you can keep it. It’s a plan that works for America’s families and America’s businesses, while preserving consumer choices.”

Hillary Clinton has unveiled the third part of her plan to ensure that all Americans have affordable, quality health insurance. Building on her proposals to rein in costs and to insist on value and quality, her American Health Choices Plan will secure, simplify and ensure choice in health coverage for all Americans.

This Plan covers every American – finally addressing the needs of the 47 million uninsured and the tens of millions of workers with coverage who fear they could be one pink slip away from losing their health coverage – with no overall increase in health spending or taxes.

For those withhealth insurance, the plan builds on the current system to give businesses and their employees greater choice of health plans – including keeping the one they have – while lowering cost and improving quality. Specifically, the American Health Choices Plan will:

1. Offer New Coverage Choices for the Insured and Uninsured: The American Health Choices Plan gives Americans the choice to preserve their existing coverage, while offering new choices to those with insurance, to the 47 million people in the United States without insurance, and the tens of millions more at risk of losing coverage.

• The Same Choice of Health Plan Options that Members of Congress Receive:

Americans can keep their existing coverage or access the same menu of quality private insurance options that their Members of Congress receive through a new Health Choices Menu, established without any new bureaucracy as part of the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program (FEHBP). In addition to the broad array of private options that Americans can choose from, they will be offered the choice of a public plan option similar to Medicare.

• A Guarantee of Quality Coverage: The new array of choices offered in the Menu will

provide benefits at least as good as the typical plan offered to Members of Congress, which includes mental health parity and usually dental coverage.

2. Lower Premiums and Increase Security: Americans who are satisfied with the coverage they have today can keep it, while benefiting from lower premiums and higher quality.

• Reducing Costs: By removing hidden taxes, stressing prevention and a focus on efficiency and modernization, the plan will improve quality and lower costs.

• Strengthening Security: The plan ensures that job loss or family illnesses will never lead to a loss of coverage or exorbitant costs.

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Taking bold action to end the housing crisis.

Senator Clinton is the only candidate with a comprehensive plan to keep families in their homes and keep the housing crisis from dragging down the economy.

More than 2 million foreclosure notices went out last year, devastating families and communities.

The foreclosure crisis is also contributing to the decline in home prices which has already cost families an estimated $1.3 trillion.

Many experts believe the worst is yet to come.

To stem this crisis, Senator Clinton has called for a 90-day moratorium on subprime foreclosures and an automatic rate freeze on subprime mortgages of at least five years or until servicers have converted the unworkable mortgages into loans families can afford.

In addition, Senator Clinton proposed to temporarily empower state housing financing agencies to help families refinance unworkable mortgages and temporarily increasing the portfolio caps at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and enabling them to purchase larger loans in high-cost areas.

These steps would immediately increase the availability of mortgages for responsible borrowers.

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And in other opinions:

When it comes to a rate freeze, Duncan and the Mortgage Bankers Association aren't exactly disinterested parties, of course. A freeze would directly impact the bottom line of MBA members. However, when I discussed Clinton's plan with a more sympathetic economist - one who'd worked for Bill Clinton - his reaction was much like mine and Duncan's. "This is an ugly correction, but it's a necessary one," says Jared Bernstein, senior economist with the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute. "This kind of an idea is a little bit of untying your shoes with a buzz-saw."

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Fugasspmetil !

you were too busy hanging out in the closet with the fugaspmetils !

You wanna see rates come down...then make foreclosures as difficult for lenders as bankruptcies are for borrowers.

Make it all but impossible for a lender to foreclose...in this way they will have an incentive driver unlike any other to be concerned about the montly expenses of their borrowers.

What about the poor American's that cannot afford health insurance. Hillary's plan will mandate that they pay for health insurance. They can't pay for it now because of housing, food and heating costs. Because of their limited income they have to choose what they pay for, now. Are they too starve or go cold so that middle income taxpayers have reduced medical care costs. Her plan is pandering to the middle class voters. run is correct, she doesn't know what it is like to be poor and could care less. The same is true of all political parties and their self caring constituency or followers. The name of the game is: "I got mine. I want more. I must win at any cost and to hell with the poor"!

To stem this crisis, Senator Clinton has called for a 90-day moratorium on subprime foreclosures and an automatic rate freeze on subprime mortgages of at least five years or until servicers have converted the unworkable mortgages into loans families can afford.

Would the 90-say moratorium be considered a "freeze"?

meaning that mortgage bankers CANNOT send a home into foreclosure?

Gobblwumpus ?

and I think you may be right about the targeting. However I see the problem of necessities as solved very easily with a food stamp program for people earning under 35k. Food stamps that are not responsive to price changes but ensure a gallon of milk or 5 lbs of cheese or 10 lbs of Top round....

a ten-pound bag of birdseed!

I'm starving and barfing from eating too much sand because there is no food around for me to pick at.

I don't care how anyone wants to paint them. It is unconsitutional to legislate purchases that have no option for refusal. Both Hillary and Obama are looking at some form of mandate....it's just that Obama see's it a little more fairly than Mrs. Clinton does.

How about a stamp of approval? :)

It took five years to get into this mess I think the foreclosure freeze should be 3-5 years to allow people to shop around for better rates, to retrain for new jobs and to be able to contribute to the local economy.

I also do not think that the renegotiated loan amounts should be market driven. Not at first anyway. For that 3-5 year period somebody with a sane viewpoint of intrinsic values should be apppointed to set the valuations of the properties.

increased market values of houses is one of the deadliest poisons to the free market system in my opinion.

Case in point. A person purchases a house for $100,000.00 5 years later he accrues equity when his house is valued at $250,000.00 the temptation is to take the equity out in cash. Big mistake..this freezes the debt but nothing can freeze a valuation...not in the free market system anyway. It's just too tempting for the average cash strapped homeowner to turn it down...then they find themselves in over their heads later.

who can't afford premiums. It's still cheaper than the expensive emergency room care they are forced to use now. You can label it "commie" all you want. It's better than "fuck the poor" which is essentially the GOP view.