Comments
Harry Alford is the co-founder, president/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. Website: www.nationalbcc.org.
Well that explains the hyperbolic accusations of racism.
Yes, Bush did pander to minority groups by encouraging banks—at taxpayer expense—to make favorable loans to minorities. But in doing so, it is the taxpayer and whites in particular that were harmed. It was racism towards whites.
Now this guy wants us to feel guilty because those banks got stuck with loans exceeding the value of the houses they cover. When house values drop below the mortgage balances, people walk away from their loan. The banks—and ultimately the taxpers that backed those loans, thanks to Bush—are the losers.
Posted by at 6:29 PM on April 8
And yet, without it, a lot of blacks would have been unable (under legitimate standards, as it was) to buy houses. Then we would be hearing about the “home ownership gap.”
I still think the Federal government should do something about it, because the Federal government’s Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 caused it.
Posted by Question Diversity at 6:53 PM on April 8
This entire fiasco was not a large scale hate crime as it being portrayed to be. No one put a gun to their heads to sign the mortgage papers, It was all on free will. They should be held accountable.
Posted by White American at 7:01 PM on April 8
Give me a break! If you can not afford something you should not purchase it! It is called forward thinking! Just because they offered it to you does not mean you have to take it! Perhaps Blacks should start taking some responsible for there actions and quit blaming everyone else!
Posted by Vancouver Steve at 7:08 PM on April 8
Oh by God! Cry more! If you can’t read the leases you signed, you don’t deserve your money. Stop buying stuff you can’t afford! Grow up!
Posted by Diamed at 7:11 PM on April 8
“It is the biggest negative shift in assets and wealth ever put on a group of people in this nation. It is setting back the wealth of Black America by two generations. Is it racist? Certainly! Is it evil? Yes indeed.”
Sir. When you take out a mortgage on a house, the house is not yours until you pay the mortgage off. Most subprime mortgages were made for the entire value of the home (100% financing) or even more than the value of the home (with closing costs and fees rolled into it). The bank foreclosing on the home of a black person with zero equity represents zero transfer of wealth and assets from that black person.
Posted by Civilized Neighbor at 7:13 PM on April 8
I say give all the blacks a home in NO….maybe the’ll stay there!
Posted by at 7:17 PM on April 8
Quote about ‘redlining’:
“It was cold hard racism usually intended for Blacks and based solely on the color of their skin. It made no business sense as it is based solely on racial animus.”
No. It was cold hard numbers demonstrating that most of the people in the red circle have a history of not paying bills and skipping out on financial obligations.
The whole subprime mortgage enterprise was a criminal fraud. Who came up with the idea of loaning vast sums of money to people WHO DON’T OR CAN’T PAY THEIR BILLS?!?!?!?! Of course criminals are going to target the least educated, most gullible dupes. Just look at the mentality of the author of this article. Blacks don’t even comprehend the basics of what home ownership means. Talk about easy targets.
This whole fiasco can be laid at the feet of the very people who crusaded against ‘redlining’ in previous decades.
Posted by at 7:24 PM on April 8
Actually back in the sixties there was a practice called Blockbusting.Realestate companies would seek out blacks and try to sell homes to them in white neighborhoods.This would induce whites to wisely sell their homes.The result was realestate agents could sell these homes with the usual commision.It makes me wonder if the realestate industry is running our immigration policy.Could it now be engageing in Nation Busting.Look at all the whites who are selling their homes and fleeing Britain and California.I am not kidding. Years ago I saw a Buisness person talk about how our immigration policy was great for the realestate industry.
Posted by Tony Soprano at 7:36 PM on April 8
Just about every article in the Louisiana Weekly leaves me with the feeling that integration is impossible.
Posted by Boudreaux at 8:30 PM on April 8
My wife and I were offered a ridiculous mortgage, which we refused. I guess the plotters knew that more blacks would fall for it?
Posted by Whiteplight at 8:50 PM on April 8
Lest you confuse Harry C. Alford as being some idiotic White liberal, his mug shot clearly shows:
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/business/display.htm?StoryID=59603
that he is an idiotic African liberal.
If he attends some storefront divinity school soon, he can help to replace the very reverend Jeremiah Wrong in Chicago. He seems to have all the critical thinking talents the Chicago rev had. Should he succeed, his eventual reward won’t necessarily be a heavenly home, but a $1.6 million palace in a White suburb.
Posted by Annoyed In Illinois at 8:55 PM on April 8
My Goodness, the way he describes the inner most workings of the bankers’ minds it sounds like he was right there in the room with them hanging on to every word they were saying and every conspiracy plot they were hatching. Unless of course he is psychic. Or could it be it is just his very own racist theory.
Some more racists facts:
There are the white school teachers who somehow sneak into black homes at night whispering in the black students’ ear to not do their homework and to fail school. This of course implants a subliminal message in the minds of the students which of course explains their poor academic performance.
Then their are the racist record producers who tell young black artists that they refuse to pay them for anything other than vulgar rap music. Without this form of racism we would see more young blacks at the Philharmonic.
We all know how the white US government put drugs in the hood on purpose just to hook the fine upstadning black youth of our inner cities.
Let’s not forget the racist social workers who convinced the poor blacks to stay at home, unemployed and get paid to make babies. The poor blacks thought this was a legitimate job. They were lied to again by the white man.
It seems no matter what happens to blacks they are always victims of racism. I still haven’t heard why black on black crime but I am sure it’s coming.
Posted by Lucas M at 8:57 PM on April 8
This it totally insane. These Librals suffer from schizophrenia.
Posted by the Soviet Republic of New Jersey at 8:58 PM on April 8
As I always say, when dealing with blacks, it’s lose-lose; damned if you do and damned if you don’t; you can’t win; it’s pointless trying to help blacks.
Redlining and reverse red lining. Lose-lose.
Blacks wonder why white people don’t want to be around them. Even helping them will get you branded a racist.
Posted by sbuffalonative at 9:10 PM on April 8
The ” largest hate crime ” in history is when white-Christian ,corrupt ,politicians stopped ” representative democracy “, aka , republic form of constitutional government to parasitic, racist, ” non-representative diversity “, aka, multiculturalism in all Western Civilized countries ,including America.
Posted by Michigan patriot at 9:27 PM on April 8
Actually back in the sixties there was a practice called Blockbusting.Realestate companies would seek out blacks and try to sell homes to them in white neighborhoods.This would induce whites to wisely sell their homes.The result was realestate agents could sell these homes with the usual commision.It makes me wonder if the realestate industry is running our immigration policy.Could it now be engageing in Nation Busting.Look at all the whites who are selling their homes and fleeing Britain and California.I am not kidding. Years ago I saw a Buisness person talk about how our immigration policy was great for the realestate industry.
Posted by Tony Soprano at 9:39 PM on April 8
Mr. Alford, they didn’t steal from you because they were “racist.’ They stole from you because they were greedy and unprincipled. Plenty of white people have had their lives derailed by unscrupulous lenders, too. Black paranoia got tiresome a long time ago.
Posted by Dwayne O. at 9:48 PM on April 8
I suggest these members of the conspiracy:
http://domesticpolicy.oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1557
Every participant in this hearing, which happened as late as fall of last year, either aggressively pushed the idea of giving blacks loans they do not deserve, or groveled before this idea.
Posted by Irish at 9:49 PM on April 8
“The conventional “Redlining” has long been used against Black neighborhoods victimizing homeowners, renters and businesses. Insurance companies, banks, investors, etc. would take a red pen and encircle a geographical territory. Nothing within that red circle would receive investment, coverage or business interaction. It was cold hard racism usually intended for Blacks and based solely on the color of their skin. It made no business sense as it is based solely on racial animus.”
The sheer absurdity of this black racist assertion is obvious with even the most cursory consideration: If this were the case then this would SCREAM a rich business opportunity to make a FORTUNE. If this were true why would the author of this article and his fellow black racists not start their OWN businesses and provide these much needed loans, insurance and investment to these black neighborhoods being ignored by those evil racist whites? There’s money to be made and those stupid whites WITHOUT A SINGLE EXCEPTION let their racism take precedence over making money!
Of course anyone except the most delusional knows the great risk in predominately black communities: Just look at the crime stats. Where exactly is a car most likely to be stolen, for example? And might that not have some impact on the cost of insurance? And where is a house or business a better investment, a safe area or a crime-ridden area? (“Location. Location. Location.”)
The fact that these loud-mouthed stupid ignorant black racists who blame whitey for their OWN self-created problems don’t jump in and open their OWN businesses to take advantage of these rich business opportunities being ignored by everyone else, PROVES that even THEY know everything they say is hogwash. If you think white businesses are overcharging or ignoring blacks, THEN OPEN YOUR OWN DAMN BUSINESS AND RUN IT THE WAY YOU THINK IT SHOULD BE RUN!
No, the purpose of this kind of rhetoric is only to encourage MORE racial hatred against whites fueling ever more the environment in which over one million whites are victims of violence at the hands of blacks each year, twelve times the reverse.
Posted by at 10:03 PM on April 8
By Harry C. Alford, NNPA Columnist
National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA): The National Newspaper Publishers Association, also known as the Black Press of America
The author is a columnist for a Black publication - consider the source…
Posted by Blue Eyes at 10:03 PM on April 8
The Louisiana Weekly is a pathetic attempt at “Black” journalism. With their delusional “anti-White” columnists (such as Mr. Alford) writing for them, they don’t need to publish an Entertainment section.
If Alford had been a White man, I believe he’d be hospitalized and heavily medicated for paranoia by now. Because he isn’t White, of course, means he’s allowed to display the full range of his disturbed thought process - and (presumably) get paid for it, as well.
Lucas M. - your “racist facts” were great and right on target! This will give Alford four more conspiracy theories to rant about in the coming weeks.
Posted by Janelle at 10:25 PM on April 8
Don’t forget - most blacks with subprime mortgages obtained them from black mortgage officers. No one screwed black people worse than other black people. Explain that, Alford!
Posted by Jill at 10:46 PM on April 8
Yeah….the problem with this is all the “rayciss” white folk stealing from blacks actually went bellyup.
The truth is the industry was deregulated by Clinton. Bush failed (as he has repeatedly failed during his terms) to reverse the damage. Finally, some enterprising socialist jackasses decided it would be a good idea to stop seeking profit with their loan companies and, instead, seek to pursue the goal of “social justice”. As is typical of such endeavors, the whole thing was a spectacular disaster of epic proportions. Mostly, it’s because it’s based on a lie. That lie being there is nothing wrong with lending to this population because they are just like everyone else, only “institutional racism” keeps them from engaging the tools for generating wealth and obtaining the american dream. The reality is quite different. These people are not capable of even the most basic responsibility. The result? Whole neighborhoods blighted with houses that are first abandoned, then become worthless (as crack addicts move in to squat). Good money was loaned for those houses. Supposedly, the house collateralizes the loan against the worst possible outcomes. But nobody ever considered that property could become worthless at such a high rate. The loan companies lost everything.
Posted by at 12:21 AM on April 9
Asking blacks to do the right thing, be responsible, think for themselves, I agree with this writer, huge hate crime, after all the documented history of America, those responsible for thinking these people could accept and perform these tasks are definitely racist.
Posted by abc at 5:38 AM on April 9
“My wife and I were offered a ridiculous mortgage, which we refused. I guess the plotters knew that more blacks would fall for it?
Posted by Whiteplight at 8:50 PM on April 8”
Ditto. The lender offered to loan us twice as much as we had determined we would be willing to pay for a house. The only way we could have taken out such a loan was with lousy terms (balloon-rate or perhaps even interest-only), and the monthly nut would have pushed us over into bankruptcy by now. We simply opted to live within our means. Were we “redlined”?
Posted by CSinAL at 11:02 AM on April 9
Once again I’m amused at how a prominent black man, a upper 10% guy, helps verify the IQ bell curve theory. Whitey has duped the black man again, via reverse red lining.
Various percentages of blame can be assigned to many parties in the subprime fiasco. However as with most of these issues, at least 51% firmly lands on the individual, except if your a minority. The Reverend, whoops I forget president/CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce Harry Alford, conveniently doesn’t mention many many white man are taking in the shorts too. White people are being foreclosed on, plus a very large percentage of White people own financial industry stocks (Citigroup, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch etc.) either directly or indirectly via pensions, 401K’s and mutual funds. Take a look at those share prices and what it’s done to the rest of the market.
Individual responsibility and common sense. Do you think any of this would have ever happened if all the mortgage underwriters still required 20% down payment? Oh wait, I forget the white forces will not let a black man save 20% So a husband and wife are not to ask themselves what if one of us loses our job, gets sick etc. etc. The mortgage broker supposed to ask these what if questions to protect us from ourselves?
Yes plenty of blame to go around, to many forgot the basic lesson of finance 101, values don’t always go up. The Tulip Mania story used to be mandatory teaching, recently I’ve asked many of financial professionals if the remember the story and I get a questioning look. Might want to review http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania
Posted by Dead in Denver at 11:57 AM on April 9
Banks care about green not black. Many were forced to make loans to people who obviously didn’t qualify, but because of civil rights laws and government pressure they made them anyway. A bigger down payment usually means lower monthly payments. Moreover, people with good credit can get lower interest payments because they are a lower risk. High risk, and lower down payments means higher interest or adjustable rate mortgages. Many blacks bought houses they couldn’t afford. The government or life cannot protect you from your own stupidity. No one said that life was fair, but blacks, like the author, want the government to make it so.
Posted by Sardonicus at 12:14 PM on April 9
I live in a mostly white, fairly affluent area where many white folks are losing their homes due to having made poor decisions. I suppose they’re all just collateral damage in this nefarious plot.
Posted by Wotan at 2:26 PM on April 9
This actually is relevant to a related, but different controversy, the origin of slums and White flight. It seems that Blacks have been getting solid middle class homes in solid middle class neighborhoods thanks to the practices of “blockbusting” and subprime mortgages. But they have been getting good proprties in safe neighborhoods. So why do these good neighborhoods invariably decay into ghettos and slums within just a few years? If somebody sold me a good home at a bargain price, I’d take care to maintain it. I think the question answers itself, and a few more questions you can think of, as well.
Posted by Machifer at 4:20 PM on April 9
Evidently it has not occurred to Alford that plenty of white people with bad credit who took on absurd home loans are also facing forclosure.
These people are really not losing anything. If the subprime loans had not been available, these folks would have been renting all along, and still wouldn’t be homeowners. They should simply be grateful that they got a nice income tax deduction on their mortgage interest for several years.
Any house a married couple can not keep if one of them is laid off is “too much house.”
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 6:46 PM on April 9
“No. It was cold hard numbers demonstrating that most of the people in the red circle have a history of not paying bills and skipping out on financial obligations.”
What are you talking about? Arguing about ‘redlining’? Sounds a little like those who argue with leftists that, “No. Sharks in the atlantic ocean do not still follow the old slave ship routes. They merely follow ocean currents.” The only ‘redlining’ that has been going on in America has been ‘Enterprise zones’, and ‘empowerment communities’, courtesy of the US government, for starters. You can guess where the red lines are drawn. Of course, naturally the media and our universities would present an opposite reality as the truth.
Posted by at 11:13 PM on April 9
What Alford seems not to realize is that the people who have been foreclosed after defaulting on subprime loans have really lost nothing. These loans were usually 100% - meaning no down-payment was made, so they aren’t out their down-payments (a coventional mortgage generally requires 20% down, in order to avoid having to purchase mortgage insurance.) Without the availability of these loans, most of these folks would still be renters, and still wouldn’t have any equity. On the other hand, they enjoyed years of mortgage interest deductions on their income taxes, which they would not have received had they been renting.
In short, they were really renting from the banks, but able to deduct most of what they spent - since most of a mortgage payment early in the amortization period is interest. They’re ordinary renters again, but for years they got to take large income tax deductions that ordinary renters can’t.
The real losers in this story are the investment funds that bought the “tranches” these bad loans were packaged into. They took it on the chin. Other losers include the greedy speculators who took out subprime loans intending to resell the properties at a profit, only to end up stuck like Chuck when real-estate - overpriced in many areas of the US - took the inevitable correction and dropped in value. It’s hard to feel sorry for these speculators; they knew the risks they were taking. As for the balloon loan payments, the borrowers should have remembered that There Ain’t No Such Ling As A Free Lunch. The government strongarmed lenders into writing loans to high-risk customers (those with bad credit), in order that more minorities would become homeowners. Banks are not going to absorb that risk for free, any more than insurance companies do; someone who is a high risk always ends up paying extra, whether because they don’t pay their bills on time, or because they have moving violations on their driving record.
What I find outrageous is that the government is actually considering using taxpayers’ money to bail out these buyers and lenders. The government doesn’t have any money, you see; they have to take it away from someone who works to earn it. I’m sorry, but “hate” has nothing to do with it; I merely resent being asked to pay to insulate someone from the consequences of their own gross irresponsibility.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 5:05 PM on April 10
OK so now its a hate crime. That means that whites will be paying the banks for the black screw up. Whites are the real slaves.
Posted by at 8:42 PM on April 11
