Now Playing at Reason.tv: What We Saw at the Mortgage Bailout Demonstration

On April 16 in Washington, D.C., the Ad Hoc National Network to Stop Evictions & Foreclosures organized a demonstration outside a meeting of the Mortgage Bankers Associaton at the Washington Court Hotel.

reason.tv's Dan Hayes and Michael C. Moynihan checked out the demonstration and talked with some of the activists, who quickly changed the subject from home loans to Castro's Cuban paradise, the need to free Mumia Abu Jamal, forgiving student loans, the Rothschilds (!), Haitians eating a mixture of dirt and oil (!?!?), and much, much more. Approximately six minutes.

To view the video, click on the image below.

For the full song used in the intro and outro, go here.

Comments

[Naga Sadow]

Just fucking great! If these people keep me from picking a condo in Florida for pennies on the dollar, I'm gonna . . . gonna . . . I'll come back with a grand eloquent threat in a later thread. Frothing at the mouth at the moment, can't let others see.

[Bob Wiley]

...talked with some of the activists, who quickly changed the subject from home loans to Castro's Cuban paradise, the need to free Mumia Abu Jamal, forgiving student loans, the Rothschilds (!), Haitians eating a mixture of dirt and oil (!?!?), and much, much more.

Gimme gimme gimme, I need I need I need.

[robc]

Naga,

Be careful. As condo get abandoned and etc, association fees may go thru the roof. A good deal may not be so great if their are 40% vacancies and no one to collect fees from.

[Gilbert Martin]

" who quickly changed the subject from home loans to Castro's Cuban paradise, the need to free Mumia Abu Jamal, forgiving student loans, the Rothschilds (!), Haitians eating a mixture of dirt and oil (!?!?), and much, much more."

That's about par for the course for any lefty demonstration. There are a lot of perpetual protestors who make a "career" out of showing up at those things and each one seems to have his own particualar issue to eternally grind his axe on.

I've parts of some of the Iraq war protests on CSPAN in the past and there would be speakers that get up ranting and raving about anything and everything - most of it having nothing whatsoever to do with the Iraq war.

[Pig Mannix]

I've gotta say - the only redeeming thing in that video worth listening to was the Byrds...

[Other Matt]

Be careful. As condo get abandoned and etc, association fees may go thru the roof. A good deal may not be so great if their are 40% vacancies and no one to collect fees from.

Piss on associations and all those who have so little of a life as to want to be in charge of them. They are scum, second only to joe as the lowest form of partial life on the planet.

And you're entirely right, the money hungry busybodies can't concieve of cutting expenditures, so, assessments will go up and never come down.

Haitians eating a mixture of dirt and oil (!?!?),

Haitians are interesting people.

[J sub D]

I've gotta say - the only redeeming thing in that video worth listening to was the Byrds...

Unlike that abortion known as Hair, the Byrds made excellent hippie music.

[Pinette]

I wonder how many of the protesters have already received notices of default.
didja hear that woman complaining about people being made to feel guilty that they aren't paying off their loans and debts? These people have no fucking clue how society works. They genuinely believe that everything should be free; free housing, free food, free energy, free healthcare, free education. What they don't see is that when you take away the things that drive society - competition, profit, etc. - you take away the incentive for society to progress and you will stagnate the economy.

[Gilbert Martin]

What they also don't see is that there is no such thing as anything that is "free".

Somebody always has to pay. They just want it to be somebody other than themselves.

[dbcooper]

That pink sunglasses "scientific marxism" guy is so just in it to get laid or piss off his parents or something. Scum.

It's amazing how willfully stupid some of the genuine believers are though.

[Guest]

"unless you opposed Stalin, then your life expectancy was fairly low, right?"

Hahahaha. That's great! Notice how she fumbled trying to answer that question.

[NP]

So you decided to put up a video featuring a claque of clueless, deranged hippies that adds up to little more than a poor smidgen of absurdist entertainment. Very nice.

[Madbiker]

Echo Pinette: TANSTAAFL!

I shudder to think of my own level of financial illiteracy sometimes, but I am learning, slowly. At a point in time when I was in the market for a home, a sub-prime mortgage was presented as the best option for me to finance a home. Alarms went off in my ignorant head after I read the contract and fine print and I decided to rent instead. What convinces people to buy more than they can afford?

More importantly, when did the concept of voluntarily entering into a contract mean you no longer have to take the good with the bad when you cannot live up to your contractual obligations? One thing I never understood about ultra-lib thinking was their crying for people to be treated with dignity and remain independent yet not have to take responsibility for any wrong doing.

And Mumia is a s***head murderer.

[twistedmerkin]

that adds up to little more than a poor smidgen of absurdist entertainment

You're wrong about that. That video was awesome. And I agree with the dude with the pink shades. I also think that the means of production should be owned by people. And the profit should go to people. That's capitalism, right?

[libertarian]

I don't read EVERY website in the Internet tubes, but I have yet to see the point made that, for decades, it's been official policy to make homeownership "affordable." NOW, when the market is starting to make housing more affordable, all these do-gooders are up in arms, demanding that we save the homes via government intervention which will artificially keep the market value higher! Argh!

[dbcooper]

I don't read EVERY website in the Internet tubes, but I have yet to see the point made that, for decades, it's been official policy to make homeownership "affordable." NOW, when the market is starting to make housing more affordable, all these do-gooders are up in arms, demanding that we save the homes via government intervention which will artificially keep the market value higher! Argh!

Yep, amazing that socialists want a net transfer of wealth from non property owners to property owners eh.

[John C. Randolph]

Main impression I get from that video is the vast breadth of support the commies have on this issue. Why, they must have had dozens of people there! Maybe even *three* dozen!

-jcr

[John C. Randolph]

Alarms went off in my ignorant head

I don't think you exhibited ignorance, but prudence. You probably saved yourself a bankruptcy by not being willing to just do what the nice man said to do.

-jcr

[Egosumabbas]

I was at an anti-war demonstration, and much to my dismay, people were more into promulgating revolutionary socialism than expressing a principled stance against the war. Just. Like. Your. Video. Clip. Let's just say one should do research on who's running the show before associating with any public protest.

[Egosumabbas]

Huh. My links didn't get through. Anyway, I have a post describing the insanity at the Chicago Iraq War protest, and if you want to laugh at dishonest and dumb protesters, visit zombietime.com

[Gimme Back My Dog]

Has anyone here every been to a Libertarian Party meeting? If you picked out the wackiest three guys at one and let them start rambling, it would look a lot like this video. Right down to the privatized Federal Reserve discussion.

That said, Stubble McPinkglasses needs a good kick in the ass.

[libertarian]

Does anyone else think that those signs are pretty darn professional/expensive looking?

[Greg Hamer]

Haitians eating dirt and oil apparently is real enough

[LevStrauss]

I definitely agree with these wackjobs that the bailouts of the banks is bullshit but that is about it.

Other than that it is standard fare as far as paper mache revolutionaries go. This is what you get when you organize through indymedia.us.

Check out the site. You'll see some weird beliefs. I'm still waiting to see a protest because people are forced to wipe their own asses with tree killing toilet paper due to this corrupt capitalist system. The federal government should provide bidets to the masses. Power to the people!!!

[Naga Sadow]

And I'm back . . . where did everyone go?

[Naga Sadow]

Back in the 70's and 80's weren't lenders accused of rascism and classism for not lending to the poor. For the last ten years, I've been hearing a lot of babbling about "predatory lending". Sound familiar?

[et tu]

dbcooper and the libertarian: google housing bubble and you'll find plenty of people making the point that the collapse will make housing affordable.

[Frank_A]

Uggh.
All the ignorance about how a gubmint can plan an economy and even not notice that the Economic Calculation Debate was over decades ago when the Berlin Wall fell because East Berliners wanted meat and bread and blue jeans and MTV and Scorpions records and...

Capitalists Fat Cats and Their Running Dogs: 1
Proletariat Wretched of the Earth (ie Commie Scum): 0

[Hugh Akston]

My favorite part was pink sunglasses: yeah, I think the economy should be in the hands of the people, the government.

John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama. Real salt of the earth, the lot of them.

[Naga Sadow]

Thank you Frank_A,

I'll sleep better at night now that I know the score. I still want my condo though . . .

[Naga Sadow]

I love it when socialist talk about Cuba. If it was so great when you visited, why did you come back? Why not stay and make Cuba a true utopia? On a side note . . . does anyone know if the housing situation of Detroit is as described? Maybe I should buy a city block instead of a condo . . .

[mk]

I'm just glad that someone had the guts to take the Mortgage Bankers Association to task for their part in the TV converter box debacle.

Pink glasses douche should get with that guy and explain how digital tv is a good thing because Cubans won't have access to the digital converters and so the capitalists won't be able to undermine the Cuban youth with their clear, crisp digital pictures.

[libertarian]

Hey, Naga Sadow...........if all our socialists moved to Cuba, BOTH countries would be closer to Utopia!

[Naga Sadow]

I wish that were true libertarian. Socialists are douchebags that provide endless hours of entertainment through mocking via blogs. Who could ever take their place?

[Michael Ejercito]

I've parts of some of the Iraq war protests on CSPAN in the past and there would be speakers that get up ranting and raving about anything and everything - most of it having nothing whatsoever to do with the Iraq war.

Why can't these protestors stay on topic?

Must every discussion about the war in Iraq turn into a discussion of international Jewish conspiracies?

[Fred]

I think there is an great opportunity for some entrepreneurial young libertarian to create a start-up that sends paid protesters to the event of your choice.

"Unpopular cause? Make it look 'real' with an instant crowd! Our lowly paid street rabble (illegal Mexicans welcomed to apply!) will puff up any protest for just a low, low fee!

"Here's Bob, one of our helpful staff:

"Hey Good Looking! Be Back to Picket You Later!

"Call 1-800-Rent-A-Rant Today!!!"

[Daniel Reeves]

What they don't see is that when you take away the things that drive society - competition, profit, etc. - you take away the incentive for society to progress and you will stagnate the economy.

You're wrong in the sense that it'd much worse than that. If everything were free, then nothing would be done at all. Forget a lack of progress. There'd be nothing.

The problem with socialists is that they think that CEOs are greedy and that normal people aren't. That's wrong. Everybody is greedy. For example, the rise in a cost of gas in a zone about to get hit by a hurricane does not necessarily reflect the greed of the gas companies. It also reflects the greed of consumers. If gas prices didn't rise, then people would consume too much, meaning that there'd be nothing else to go around for others. Sounds like greed to me. Hmm, but I thought only the corporate fat cats were greedy?

[John C. Randolph]

if all our socialists moved to Cuba,

Hasn't Cuba suffered enough?

-jcr

[Stephen]

http://www.google.com/search?q=hatians+mud+cakes

[parse]

Moynihan checked out the demonstration and talked with some of the activists, who quickly changed the subject from home loans to Castro's Cuban paradise, the need to free Mumia Abu Jamal, forgiving student loans, the Rothschilds (!), Haitians eating a mixture of dirt and oil (!?!?), and much, much more.

Unless reason.tv engaged in deceptive editing of its own video, it was Moynihan, not the activists, who changed the subject.

[Lamar]

Subprime loans didn't make housing more affordable. They made it more expensive because so many more people could afford the start up costs. Making the start up costs more affordable doesn't mean the house itself is affordable. That's like saying I can afford a Maserati because the first month's payment is free.

[DDP]

On a side note . . . does anyone know if the housing situation of Detroit is as described? Maybe I should buy a city block instead of a condo . .

In Detroit proper (Wayne County) it's much worse than described, I think. But it's been that way for decades. Started with "white flight" a few decades ago, and the city hasn't exactly rebounded since. If, you have the money, please do buy a city block and do something - anything - with it. Like build a supermarket. Not one to be found anywhere near the downtown area, otherwise I would live there.

The suburbs (some of which are fairly nice) are hurting also. Macomb County and Oakland County went through MASSIVE (no, really - MASSIVE) home growth over the last decade or two. You can snatch up previously $300,000 homes for close to $200,000-220,000. They might even throw you a couple cars as well.

[DDP]

My punctuative skills suck.

[mike]

"I won't say that there weren't problems in the Soviet Union" at 2:01 in.

You think so Doctor? That has to be in the running for understatement of forever award.

[ed]

Dontcha just hate it when reality intervenes and people living above their means get whacked?

[Danny]

I just wanted to point out the stupidity in the sign, "Bail out people, not banks!" Banks are people, too. We shouldn't be bailing out any people. Corrective action is already happening since lenders are seeing why the hell not to lend to risky buyers, and hopefully people are learning that renting is okay, too. Apparently market forces are too slow for the average Joe to have faith in.