Affordable Housing Trust Boondoggle

Congressional mortgage bailout legislation would create a costly “affordable housing trust” that would spawn new slums at taxpayer expense, and enrich the politically-connected developers who create them.  The Washington Examiner explains how in an editorial today, describing how similar programs subsidized by the Illinois legislature created dangerous housing in Chicago, including “collapsed roofs, raw sewerage,” and “vermin infestations.” 

The mortgage bailout legislation would also provide millions of dollars for left-wing special-interest groups, such as militants who harass bank managers’ children to intimidate banks into making loans to people with bad credit, and groups that lobby for taxpayer-funded welfare benefits for illegal aliens.  It would also cost taxpayers a bundle, bailing out politically-connected lenders that gambled away their money, and encouraging irresponsible borrowers to default to get a federal handout.  It will also invade the privacy of consumers and employees.