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‘Tis the Season for Evictions [Updated]
Mitch and the Gang, along with the leader* of the House Republican’ts, happily played Grinch to all but their paymasters in the corporate elites. They continued to willfully extend the pain and harm to all the Americans they not so secretly hate for electing President Trump twice. The forgotten Americans must be shoved back down the memory hole if the GOPe is to rise again to its lucrative faux leadership role. So, the uncounted Americans facing eviction from home or loss of a small business got only a Life Saver pealed off from a Life Savers® roll into their stocking.
The federal moratorium on home evictions was only extended to the end of January 2021. It was to be left to the 2021 Democrat-controlled new House and Senate to leverage the government-created personal and business debt crisis into a leftist bloodless revolution. Thankfully, President Trump has effectively vetoed this insult to non-elite Americans. He should do more than demand $2,000 per person; he should answer more of the pork-barrel with a non-partisan populist demand for government to assume some of the private debt imposed by government edict.
President Trump rejected the insulting $600 payment to Americans, demanding at least $2,000. This, however, still does not get at the real problem of massive personal and small business property delinquent debt, caused by government malpractice. President Trump should demand more. If they will not respond to a phone call, President Trump should exercise his unilateral power to force Congress back into real session now, calling them back to D.C. on December 26.
Article II, Section 3
. . . [the president] may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper . . . .
I called this outrageous abuse of Americans months ago, wrote to Lord Governor Ducey’s waste of oxygen Senate appointee, Martha McSally to urge her to make this her re-election issue.** I wrote to Texas Senator Ted Cruz. I wrote to the poser conservative Congressman Andy Biggs. No response. At. All. They did not need me to write. They knew and Do. Not. Care. Oh, they may “care” but not on the level of taking action, of owning what they and the rest of government have done to America this year. Passing a federal 100 percent refundable tax credit to wipe out the massive mountain of debt and despair hanging over so many Americans’ heads would cause a significant addition to the national debt. That would cramp their patrons’ plans for their own goodies.
Here is how I painted the picture in May:
Senator McSally, I deeply admired your real courage when we were both young field grade officers, you in the Air Force and me in the Army. Your stand for the Constitution against the House of Saud and the Pentagon was principled and made a real difference. I greatly worry that you are on track to become a two-time loser in races for the US Senate. You can win big by returning to your roots and doing the right thing for millions of Arizonans. You must persuade Sen. McConnell to make personal and real small business “COVID-19 debt” 100% tax credit refundable on the next two quarterly tax payment dates: rent, mortgage, lease, and car/truck payments between the end of March 2020 and 1 July 2020.
The national and state executives, with the complicity of the Congress and state legislatures, crushed at least tens of millions of Americans’ lives, driving them into massive debt from which they cannot reasonably recover. All the federal programs so far have been good as far as they went, but did not get at the basic problem.
People are falling hopelessly behind on apartment/home rent, mortgages, business property leases, and car/truck payments. Make the property managers, mortgage holders, and vehicle note-holders an offer they cannot refuse. Make every dollar they forgive between the end of March and the end of June immediately 100% refundable on their quarterly tax payments at the end of June and September. This will be massive, but it is the actual cost of the decisions made by President Trump, affirmed by you, and the governors, affirmed by the state legislatures’ non-objection.
The latest planned failure by Mitch and the gang makes Republicans Scrooge to all the Bob and Bobbi Cratchets the GOPe has delighted in telling for a decade or more to just move, learn to code, and shut up because their economic plight is all their own fault. This imposed economic and personal catastrophe is the fault of the governing elite, not the Cratchets. Extending the eviction date to February is grossly cynical, yet that is all the Republicans in Congress could be bothered to do in the latest “relief” legislation.
UPDATE: Senator Ted Cruz took all the political damage and scored no real points as he joined five other Senators in voting against the massive lump of high-sulfur bituminous coal wrapped in a tissue of COVID-19 economic relief. He called out the problems but did not point to the pork displacing more and better targeted economic relief.
“With new shutdown orders targeting small businesses and disproportionately affecting minority and low-income workers, many Americans remain out of work and unable to make ends meet. According to one study, one in four small business owners will close their doors if economic conditions don’t improve soon. Had this bill been solely focused on re-opening the economy, getting Americans back to work, and jump starting a recovery, it would have had my enthusiastic support. For example, the final COVID-19 package rejects Democrats’ misguided attempts to bail out blue states’ underfunded pension plans and replenishes the Paycheck Protection Program – which will go a long way in helping small businesses keep their doors open and employees on the payroll.
[ . . . ]
“Generations of Americans are already stuck with a $27 trillion national debt, and Washington politicians are indiscriminately adding to the tab. This nearly 5,600-page spending package fails to make any meaningful spending cuts and instead advances the interests of the radical Left, special interests, and swamp lobbyists, with funding going towards expanding authority for more H-2B visas for foreign workers while a near record number of Americans remain unemployed, as well as laying the ground work for Democrats to implement the ‘Green New Deal’ by claiming a ‘need’ to meet the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable, or zero-emission energy sources.
The special interests and swamp lobbyists include those who own McConnell and his gang, as well as Kevin McCarthy and his unlovable losers. Those visas are valuable presents to the Chamber of Commerce and deliberate thumbs in the eyes of all those who dared vote for President Trump. This same crew, including the fake “Freedom Caucus,” is pretending to have a principled reason to lose the war with Google, Facebook, and Twitter, refusing to include Section 230 repeal in the massive “must pass” end-of-year bill or in the National Defense Authorization Act. To be clear, each and every legislator who claims that Section 230 must be repealed, but just can’t be done now, is a liar. They know and intend that any separate effort will be a planned failure.
The leftist-controlled Virginia legislature is taking symbolic eviction protection action for apartment renters, not small businesses facing rent, lease, or mortgage debt, or homeowners under foreclosure threat. Rhode Island establishment Democrats are steering left to protect their own cushy jobs by adopting “progressive” positions:
If the moratorium on evictions for nonpayment of rent is not extended, [Senate majority leader] McCaffrey said, one of the lawmakers’ first acts in the new session may be “some sort of moratorium” to prevent evictions while people are still struggling with job losses and other financial consequences of the pandemic.
According to the state Department of Health website, the existing four-month protection covers renters who can’t pay their rent in subsidized housing or in a home or apartment whose owner has a federally issued or guaranteed mortgage.
Increasing the supply of affordable housing in the state is one of [Senate president] Ruggerio’s long-running goals, and McCaffrey on Monday said he supports Raimondo’s plan to fund housing programs with a charge on high-end real-estate transactions.
The DC city council tried to ban any eviction action at all by property owners, who must protect themselves against tenant non-payments. This was rejected as unconstitutional by a judge in mid-December, surely putting Congress on notice of the debt crisis in housing. Judge Anthony Epstein did not, however, reject the continuing ban on any actual evictions.
The net effect of Republican’t planned failure is another real estate debt crisis of government’s making. They obviously plan to lose the Senate and take no responsibility, shaking down their old donor base on false promises of protecting property rights if only they are given back the majority in 2022, after which they will tell us we are still to stupid to understand they really mean they will do better if only we give them a Bush/McCain/Romney Republican’t president in 2024 who will play their game and not hold them to campaign promises.
President Trump should expose these self-serving hacks with the rarest of Constitutional moves. He should order them back into session immediately, to arrive on Capitol Hill no later than December 26. He should demand they immediately pass a clean bill that gives 100% refundable tax credits, payable on the next quarterly filing, for residential and true SMALL business rent, lease, and mortgage debt accrued between the end of March 2020 and December 31, 2020.
Force the issue. Expose Congressional Republican’t duplicity. Put them on the record now, while Senate Republicans still have a majority. If they are dragged kicking and screaming into passing this major real relief, the Republicans will be rewarded with victory in Georgia, forcing Mitch and the gang to engage in real, visible, opposition to the fraud and crime-ridden leftist Harris-Biden gang.
Published in Group Writing
This post is part of our Group Writing Series under the December 2020 Group Writing Theme: “’Tis the Season.” We still have plenty of open days. You can do better than disco, I’m sure, and Ricochet will thank you. Stop by soon, our schedule and sign-up sheet awaits.
Interested in Group Writing topics that came before? See the handy compendium of monthly themes. Check out links in the Group Writing Group. You can also join the group to get a notification when a new monthly theme is posted.
The unemployment rate is 6.7%. Are we going to let people stop paying rent every time the unemployment rate is above 6%? 5%? We need less government messing with the economy.
The last four years have given us plenty of opportunities to say “there’s never been a more clear-cut line between good and evil than now” but… there’s never been a more clear-cut line between good and evil than now.
Tell us again what the unemployment rate was in April, May, June. How do you think people thrown out of work near the poverty line are ever going to cover the government created debt? How do you imagine small business owners are covering rent/lease/mortgage costs as they continue to have their businesses suppressed by government edict and fright campaigns?
First of all, you can’t be counted as being unemployed if you have suicided. Or once unemployed and left penniless, you turned back to drugs or booze and died of an overdose or liver failure. So more than the unemployment rate needs to be examined.
Secondly, the problem is that the lockdown and restriction measures affect some industries much more than others. For instance, in banking, I imagine that anyone employed in Jan 2020 who is willing to wear a mask to stay employed at a bank or credit union still has a job. (BTW a local bank employee confided that he has been told to shut up about being opposed to wearing a mask, as his manager know that masks will continue to be worn right through to at least early 2023. This goes right along with statements Bill Gates has made early on, about how the pandemic society will evolve into a masked and “protected” society. Of course what Gates means by protection is actually surveillance.)
However the restaurant and hospitality businesses have been dealt an extremely harsh blow. By June 15th, 10 million people in that industry were unemployed.
Since I selected friends in those businesses on my twitter account, as my spouse was once employed as a chef, I get continual updates on the suicides of friends who once were employed as chefs, of kitchen prep workers, of owners and managers and wait staff. Yesterday a twitter friend stated they have yet to know anyone who has suffered with COVID, in terms of needing to stay in bed, but they have had four friends who have offed themselves.
It doesn’t matter what the unemployment rate was 6 months ago, what matters is today’s rate. I have a lot of sympathy for people struggling to make rent, but what is the exit strategy for deferring evictions? That back rent is not going away. Is the play to defer rent paying and then have tax payers pay that off at some later date? That is a moral hazard of punishing people that pinch pennies to the benefit of those that chose not risk not having savings. The government should not create moral hazards.
The taxes and loans are still required for the property owners and the government stopping evictions is effectively a taking of property. What should happen is that renters should negotiate with landlords. Maybe the rent comes down and some back rent is forgiven. This is now a renter’s market and negotiation is the fairest outcome. Maybe some young adults move in with an aunt and uncle. If people are truly broke, they get forced to find a new place and landlords have to eat the debt.
There is $1.4 Trillion of real estate in New York City alone and I don’t want to get stuck paying for all of it everywhere, because I assure there are billionaire property investors that wining and dining politicians right now working towards that. Every month that rent is deferred is another step towards a billionaire bailout. If you owe bank a $1000 you have a problem. If “you” owe the bank $1B, the bank has a problem.
The back rent problem, which you acknowledge is not going away, is government caused. Period. So, that taking needs to be made right by us collectively, since the U.S. government health “experts” created the problem with their entirely experimental “treatment” of locking down the whole population and beating the fear drum 24/7, while suppressing real public health (heart, lung, stroke, diabetes, suicide, overdose . . .). Our federal legislators and bureaucrats need to be smacked in the face with the actual bill, the dollars they are responsible for taking out of Americans’ pockets. Yes, that bill becomes part of the national debt, but so does every other government program and supposed fix to problems at least partially created by government action.
Why not make banks take the hit? It’s not as if the banks operate independently of the government or the Fed. They get virtually free money from the Fed to invest in stocks and bonds and make a higher rate of return than the interest they pay. Make the banks take the hit for the government’s shutdown of the economy.
If the Republicans hold the Senate, I think McConnell ought to be replaced. He has conflicts of interest with China, and his and his wife’s business interests there could be squeezed in any number of ways. Perhaps veiled threats have already been coming.
Or the government steps back and we let courts and mediators work it out. Debtors pay what they can and creditors eat the losses. People that prudent savers are not punished by the financial mistakes of others.
States and cities should be held responsible for the lockdown costs. The federal government does not have the authority to tell states to lock down and they should not pay the costs of doing so. If New York or California decide that they need to shutter businesses for the public good then those states should be responsible for making the business owners whole again. I would even like to see that responsibility pushed down to cities as well. If Austin is foolish enough to destroy its businesses, the taxpayers of Austin should be on the hook for the takings initiated by their elected officials. Pretending that there is a national responsibility for this pandemic lets the Cuomos et. al. make these decisions without accounting for the costs. The CDC and other federal agencies may recommend actions but they can’t and shouldn’t mandate them. The States are responsible for implementing policy and the States should bear the costs of the policies they implement.
Oh come on. If courts were willing to make tough decisions, Biden wouldn’t be “president-elect.”
Let me get this straight. Every single eviction is the result of government Covid lockdowns. There’s not a single person or family, in the entire country, who would have failed to make their rent payments or failed to make their mortgage payments in the absence of the Covid lockdowns and related policies.
This would have been the first year, ever, in which no one was ever evicted, but for Covid. Wait, I need to correct that. But for the government response to Covid.
Some relief may well be appropriate. It is very difficult to tailor such relief to those actually effected — some have been, some have not.
Seriously? Are you channeling AOC now?
I realize that it is possible that you are being sarcastic here, but I can’t tell.
No, the banks get the first pre-inflation, low-interest loans. They were supposed to be loaned out to stimulate the economy. Instead they were used to buy stocks and particularly US Bonds, in order to make a safe profit. This is the too-big-to-fail deal in action. Let them take the hit, they’ve already ridden the gravy train.
After I wrote this someone else suggested arbitration or compromise, shared liability courts to mitigate the damage; I think this isn’t a terrible idea either.
Some of the new money ended up in stocks, because there is too much money available for borrowing. Not just, the Fed, but all the central banks are doing QE of some kind. A lot of the extra money held by the big banks is parked at the Fed getting 0.75%, which is a risk free gift to them. The Fed should stop paying interest on excess reserves, since that is a gift to banks and counteracts their QE. That said, investment banks are up the food chain from mortgage banks.
Yes. And this is not a rhetorical question, but Why’s that? Or do you mean they don’t have to jump through as many hoops to borrow and invest than mortgage banks do?
It might have to do with that investment banks sometimes invest in mortgages.