Wherever Leftists go, they cause destruction, bankruptcy, poverty and a breakdown of what Mark Levin has reintroduced into the modern lexicon, the “civil society”. And there is no more evident example of this than the housing market.

The same people who for decades decried the lack of “affordable housing” (another Marxist Cloak Phrase, in the same vein as “living wage”) have, over the last 30+ years, caused a total breakdown in what was one of the more stable parts of the American economy over the last 100 years. That being the real estate market.

With foreclosures at a record rate, the number of mortgages underwater rising from about 5% around the time TARP I was passed to around 25% today and with the commercial real estate market also teetering, we could be in for not only a double-dip Depression, but a new housing crisis that could dwarf what started two years ago.

The major byproduct of this whole situation was of course, the passing of the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 that was signed by President Carter. For a complete recap of how that act, along with ACORN and their chief attorney, Barack Obama helped to contribute to the current situation, read my post from last year, “ACORN: How A ‘Community Organization’ Helped Destroy the Mortgage Industry”.

Now comes word that the Barney Frank/Chris Dodd/Maxine Waters-led Crony Stalinist Slush Fund known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could cost the U.S. taxpayer at least $389 billion, if not a lot more.

From Newsmax:

For all the focus on the historic federal rescue of the banking industry, it is the government’s decision to seize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in September 2008 that reportedly is likely to cost taxpayers the most money.

So far the tab stands at $145.9 billion and rising, the New York Times reports.

The Congressional Budget Office has predicted that the final bill could reach $389 billion.

Some analysts even estimate the total may reach $1 trillion, which Sean Egan, president of Egan-Jones Ratings, recently told Bloomberg is “a reasonable worst-case scenario.”

Egan told Bloomberg that the final tally could hit $1 trillion assuming a 20 percent loss on the companies’ more than $5 trillion in loans and guarantees, similar to what other big mortgage companies, like Countrywide Financial, suffered.

The two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) now own more houses than there are in Seattle and are foreclosing on homeowners whose mortgages they guaranteed, the Times said.

Fannie and Freddie maintain the houses for a while, then resell them at a huge loss.

Just another example of the Left’s Utopian Dream going up in flames, while pushing this country closer to total and complete insolvency. I cannot wait to see how expensive “free” health care will be.

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As noted on Michelle Malkin’s column today, Nick Balzano, the loud-mouthed SEUI past President who got his purple panties in a wad because an Allentown, PA Boy Scout and his troop had the audacity to clean up a 1,000-foot walking path in the city, has quit.

His blathering a few days ago:

“None of them can pick up a hoe. They can’t pick up a shovel. They can’t plant a flower. They can’t clear a bicycle path. They can’t do anything. Our people do that.”

The next time I see a “public service” union employee actually work, I am sure millions across America will see the spirit of Teddy Kennedy at their nearest AA meeting, clutching a copy of The Book and singing hosannas. And all of the potholes in D.C. will be filled once and for all, to boot.

His resignation today (Source: Morning Call)

Allentown union official Nick Balzano has been a political punching bag all week because he threatened to file a grievance against the city for allowing a Boy Scout to clear a walking path in a city park.

Three days of taking body blows nationally from conservative pundits, a rebuke from the Lehigh Valley’s congressman and even a lashing from his own union led Balzano to voluntarily resign his position Thursday as head of the local Service Employees International Union.

Balzano said he and seven other executive officers of the local SEIU stepped down.

”I am proud of the work I and the rest of the executive board have done over the years,” he said.

He had ”nothing against Boy Scouts” and was just ”trying to protect my jobs,” said Balzano, who had served as union president for nearly a decade.

Go molest a rattlesnake, moron.

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More ACORN Funny Money….

Eric Zimmerman over at The Hill (Hat Tip – Big Government) reports that ACORN received a sum of $200,000 in Justice Department funds over the last seven years.

ACORN and its affiliates received $200,000 in Justice Department grants between 2002 and 2009, according to a report issued Friday by the department’s inspector general.

No DOJ grants went directly to ACORN, but a handful of grants were awarded either to ACORN affiliates or to other organizations that sub-contracted projects to ACORN.

The report, requested by House Judiciary Committee ranking member Lamar Smith (R-Texas), also found a few instances of ACORN mismanagement of federally contracted work.

For example, ACORN received a $20,000 sub-contract to do community outreach on crime prevention in New York. The organization that contracted with ACORN has not released the funds yet, claiming that ACORN submitted reimbursements “outside the scope of the agreement,” including “fringe benefits” for the salaried staffer working on the project.

In another instance the city of Phoenix contracted with the “ACORN Institute” to receive about $9,000 to canvass citizens and raise awareness about a tax credit and a tax assistance program. The city hasn’t paid ACORN yet due to “poor reporting by the ACORN Institute regarding another project not related to DOJ grant funds.” Phoenix is trying to terminate its contract with ACORN.

The DOJ did not audit the funds that went to ACORN or its affiliates, but did conduct an audit of one of the organizations that contracted with an ACORN affiliate. That audit concluded that the organization “did not properly manage the grant and did not adequately monitor some of its 36 sub-grantees, including the [American Institute of Social Justice],” an ACORN affiliate.

Smith seized on the report to call for a broader review of ACORN activities.

“Given the willingness of some ACORN employees to ignore the law, it comes as no surprise that the IG’s report found several instances in which ACORN and its affiliates failed to adhere to proper procedures,” Smith said in a statement.

“Because the Justice Department’s review found only small amounts of taxpayer dollars going to ACORN, it is imperative that the Inspectors General from federal agencies that have provided millions to ACORN undertake the same kind of review. The Justice Department IG’s report may prove to be just the tip of an iceberg-sized fraud.”

You can read the full report here.

When the next GOP President and Congress takes over, probably in 2013, they will need to have the DOJ’s printers, copiers and fax machines working as hard as the printing presses are now in handing out subpoenas and handing down indictments. And that is just counting ACORN and it’s parasitical, criminal affiliates. This truly will be just the tip of the iceberg.

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No holds barred and in-your-face. The way it needs to be done.

Andrew Breitbart on Hannity last night: (Source: Big Government – Hat Tip: ASPF)

Breitbart: There’s a lot of hypocrisy and the dust has settled for ACORN and at the end of the day they’ve recognized that Eric Holder, the Attorney General, has not initiated an investigation into ACORN after we now have seven tapes. There were five initially that came out, ACORN was defunded by the Senate, was defunded by the House, lost it’s link to the Census; while all that damage occurred, Congress didn’t come in to investigate them, obviously not the Attorney General’s office, and they’ve now realized let’s get back into business because they realized that the dust settled and they were not being investigated, it was Hannah, James, and me who were being investigated, that’s why we’ve been forced to offer this latest tape.

Hannity: Are you saying, Andrew, that there are more tapes?

Breitbart: Oh my goodness there are! Not only are there more tapes, it’s not just ACORN. And this message is to Attorney General Holder: I want you to know that we have more tapes, it’s not just ACORN, and we’re going to hold out until the next election cycle, or else if you want to do a clean investigation, we will give you the rest of what we have, we will comply with you, we will give you the documentation we have from countless ACORN whistleblowers who want to come forward but are fearful of this organization and the retribution that they fear that this is a dangerous organization. So if you get into an investigation, we will give you the tapes; if you don’t give us the tapes, we will revisit these tapes come election time. (Emphasis mine)

Hannity: This is a blockbuster, what you’re saying here. You guys have more tapes, you’ll release them before the election, that could have a big impact on the election, obviously…

Go to the Big Government link to see the video.

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The shell game continues. The only goal of the phony “defunding” of ACORN and it’s parasitical affiliates was to simply reshuffle its duties and taxpayer money.

From House.gov (Hat Tip; ASPF)

Dems Vote to Give ACORN Regulatory Authority

WASHINGTON – During consideration of H.R. 3126, legislation to establish a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA), Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee voted to pass an amendment offered by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) that will make ACORN eligible to play a role in setting regulations for financial institutions.

The Waters amendment adds to the CFPA Oversight Board 5 representatives from the fields of “consumer protection, fair lending and civil rights, representatives of depository institutions that primarily serve underserved communities, or representatives of communities that have been significantly impacted by higher-priced mortgages” to join Federal banking regulators in advising the Director on the consistency of proposed regulations, and strategies and policies that the Director should undertake to enforce its rules.

By making representatives of ACORN and other consumer activist organizations eligible to serve on the Oversight Board, the amendment creates a potentially enormous government sanctioned conflict of interest. ACORN-type organizations will have an advisory role on regulating the very financial institutions from which they receive millions of dollars annually in direct corporate contributions and benefit from other financial partnerships and arrangements. These are the same organizations that pressured banks to make subprime mortgage loans and thus bear a major responsibility for the collapse of the housing market.

So, an organization that is under investigation in more than a dozen states for voter fraud, embezzlement and tax evasion is to be given virtual regulatory authority over entities that they receive and disperse funds from. That is, when they are not stealing taxpayer funds meant for legitimate governmental duties.

Life in the age of ObamaCorn.

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Here is a new one from ACORN.

Instead of the usual dead, illegal or Mickey Mouse fraudulent ballots being used to steal an election, they now will send their agents to collect information from you and will cast your ballot for you.

From Fox News: (Hat Tip – txvet2 over at MichelleMalkin.com)

Brian Suozzo voted with an absentee ballot in the Working Families Party primary on Sept. 15 because, as his application stated, he was “at home recovering from medical procedure.”

Jessica Boomhower’s application said she would be attending a “work conference in Boston.”

Michael Ward couldn’t vote in person because he was “taking care of elderly parent.”

Kimberlee Truell was on a “Bus trip to casino,” as was Miguel Vazques.

The only problem with these absentee ballot records at the Rensselaer County Board of Elections in Troy, N.Y., is that they’re phony, voters and investigators say — and they’ve prompted what’s being called an unprecedented investigation of suspected voter fraud.

Thirty-eight forged or fraudulent ballots have been thrown out — enough votes, an election official admits, to likely have tipped the city council and county elections in November to the Democrats. Candidates would have been able to run both on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines in two weeks, and that could have given the Democrats the general election.

And this is all you really need to know:

Hillary Clinton garnered 2.7 percent of her total votes from the WFP line when she first ran for Senate in 2000, which increased to 5 percent of her total vote in 2006. In September, Clinton’s former campaign manager for her 2000 Senate run, New York City Councilman Bill DeBlasio, who has been endorsed by the WFP, beat two long-established politicians in the Democratic primary. Critics also accuse the Working Families Party of having a long association with the troubled activist group, ACORN. Bertha Lewis, ACORN’s CEO, is one of the party’s co-founders. The New York Times reported this month that “Patrick Gaspard, the White House political director, worked with ACORN in New York to set up the Working Families political party and sat on the party’s board with Ms. Lewis.”

I wonder how of an impact this type of Chavez-like tactic will have in the NY-23 election which is coming up shortly.

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Hate to say I told ya so…but…

In the most predictable act that this pus-filled boil of a Congress has yet pulled off since The Missing Kenyan was sworn into office, comes news that America’s second-largest criminal enterprise, (behind only the Democratic National Committee itself) will be again be sucking like Halloween vampires hopped up on speed on the taxpayer’s wallet come November.

Speaking on radio station KTKL today, Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) revealed that ACORN’s “defunding” was to only last one month and once October is up, they will be partying like it is January 2009.

Short, but sweet.

As discussed in the interview and elsewhere, is it not so coincidental that during the one month that Congress pretended to “defund” ACORN, they receive an $900,000 “grant” for firefighting and fire prevention. A grant that was originally earmarked for the state of Louisiana and their firefighting programs and stations.

From Sweetness & Light:

September 22, 2009

(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Sen. David Vitter today sent a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano urging that she rescind an Assistance to Firefighters Grant awarded to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

“With fire departments all over Louisiana – and the rest of the country – struggling to make ends meet and get the equipment and training they need to protect their local communities, the idea of a million dollar grant going to ACORN is unsettling, to say the least,” said Vitter. “ACORN’s continued contempt for state and federal laws has placed their entire organization under a cloud of serious scrutiny, and this grant should be rescinded and awarded to a more deserving group of first responders.”

A grant in the amount of $997,402 was awarded to ACORN under the FY 2008 Fire Prevention and Safety Program. In his letter, Vitter questions the logic behind awarding such a large sum to an organization with no clear expertise in fire safety and prevention.

“I’ve had grave reservations about ACORN for some time, and over the past year, we’ve seen numerous examples of serious allegations of wrongdoing on the part of this organization and its employees across the country,” Vitter said. “I simply can’t see the logic behind diverting much needed funding from worthy fire departments to this organization.”

The only thing that this POS criminal organization knows about fires is starting them.

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