American Dream

Mises Institute Summit 2008 Review

Mon, 11/03/2008 - 2:13pm | posted by C Scott Morris

The 2008 Mises Institute Supporters Summit

The Gold Standard Revisited

This past weekend was a chance for many of the Mises Institute’s supporters to get together, get familiar, and get updated on the Austrian tradition’s interpretation of recent events. The focus of this weekend seminar was on the gold standard, and the increasingly desperate need for sound money in today’s fiat fiasco of an economy. Speakers, local and international, delivered the message of monetary sanity to the supporters and students in attendance, as well as those who tuned in around the world via Mises.org. Talks were given by many of today’s

Say Goodbye to the American Dream

Sun, 10/05/2008 - 11:34pm | posted by Shana Kluck

Most of us have seen the passionate speech given by George Baily in It’s a Wonderful Life to the evil bank-owner, Mr. Potter, begging for leniency towards Potter’s delinquent homeowners and espousing why owning a home makes the residents of Bedford Falls better citizens and more productive members of society.

Mr. Potter is simply interested in making sure his payments are received on time and that foreclosures are issued to those who fall behind. He believes, and rightly so, that if a man has overextended himself and cannot pay his bills, the mortgage owner has the right to claim the house and boot the residents out.

George Baily, however, is more interested in promoting the “American Dream”- home ownership- and has built his life and Savings and Loan business around helping families buy homes… even if they’re not quite ready to take on that financial responsibility.

National ID will be a part of immigration reform

Wed, 03/10/2010 - 1:45pm | posted by Jason Pye

It looks like another hot button issue will be coming to the forefront of American politics this year as the Senate is planning on tackling immigration. You may recall that President George W. Bush tried to tackle this issue with the Democratic-controlled Congress in 2007. The proposal, sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), was meet with fierce opposition by conservatives and Republicans and ultimately defeated.

Reform that makes it easier for immigrants to come to seek the American Dream, should be welcome. Unfortunately, much of the opposition (though not all) was rooted in xenophobia, nativism and, in some cases, racism. Because of this there was no opportunity to have a substantive debate on the points of the bill, such as provisions of McCain-Kennedy dealing with REAL ID, which was a defacto national ID card approved by Congress in 2005.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Sen. Chuck Schumer may be incorporating a biometric national ID card in his proposal:

Under the potentially controversial plan still taking shape in the Senate, all legal U.S. workers, including citizens and immigrants, would be issued an ID card with embedded information, such as fingerprints, to tie the card to the worker.

The ID card plan is one of several steps advocates of an immigration overhaul are taking to address concerns that have defeated similar bills in the past.

Can We Finally Place The Blame Where It Actually Lies?

Thu, 09/18/2008 - 8:05pm | posted by Brett Bittner

I have had enough. Every story with even a hint of financial or economic news in the last six months has placed blame for the mortgage industry collapse on the propensity of mortgage companies to seek out “risky” borrowers to which they could loan money for a home. I must note here the reason for a business’s existence. Despite all of the “feel good” corporate speak espoused by the public relations department about the good, service, technology or information and how it benefits the world, their end goal is to return a positive gain for the owners. Without the profit motive, business would cease to exist.

So, in a free market, why would some of the biggest names in the mortgage industry, like Countrywide, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, purposely seek out the highest risk borrowers to loan money to? Quite simply, they would not. Specialty finance companies with strong collection and repossession teams are better suited for these loans.