Oh, yeah, support the troops.
"Stimulus aid to help US military families during housing crisis" by Alejandro Lazo, Washington Post | February 26, 2009
WASHINGTON - .... The housing crisis is hitting military families particularly hard, according to real estate agents and service member advocacy groups. Many who bought during the boom and must now relocate because of new orders are faced with selling their homes at a big loss. They are finding few buyers, or even renters, particularly in the hardest-hit markets. That is leaving some families facing options including renting at a loss, separation from loved ones or foreclosure.
The issue has caught the attention of Congress, which included language in the economic stimulus package to compensate service members who sell their home at a loss or have been foreclosed upon because they were forced to move after a base closure, reassignment or a combat wound required them to be relocated near a health facility. The program also covers surviving spouses of those killed in combat.
I'm not against the program; however, I notice once again that our militaristic culture will bailout the soldier (as they should), but won't bailout the average American.
Under the new provision, the government will cover 95 percent of a loss if a service member is forced to sell. The government can also choose to acquire the title of a home by paying off the balance of a service member's mortgage or paying the owner up to 90 percent of the home's previous value.
The $555 million undertaking expands the Defense Department's Homeowners Assistance Program, which helps military and federal personnel whose homes have lost value because of a base closure....
Seriously, when does the MILITARY SPENDING END?
The prospect of foreclosure is particularly daunting for career service members, as credit checks are required to gain security clearances. The increased financial stress comes at a time when many active service members have been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, military advocates said.
Michael Hayden, deputy director of government relations for the Military Officers Association of America:"We have an all-volunteer force and we are asking them to deploy overseas to fight the global war on terror. And yet we are also in the midst of all this crisis and the one thing we shouldn't have to burden our service members with is trying to manage their mortgages."
That the ex-CIA guy, or....
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And how about unburdening the rest of us, too.... instead of tossing money at hoarding banks?
Heck, if you don't like it, they will just seize the land!
"Court: No pay for seized Ky. property" by Associated Press | February 26, 2009
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Former western Kentucky landowners and their families are not entitled to compensation for property taken by the US government to build a military camp at the start of World War II, a federal court said in 2-to-1 ruling yesterday, ending a 15-year legal battle in the case.
Landowners and their families claim the government promised to sell back farmland taken for Camp Breckinridge near Henderson, Ky., after the war in the 1940s, but later sold it and mineral rights without paying them. The federal government asked the court to deny the claim, saying the time to seek compensation had long passed. The US Court of Federal Claims said more than 1,000 landowners and their families cannot make a legal case that they deserve to be paid back for thousands of acres the Army seized....
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Yup, you'll be singing under starry skies!
