Michael, I listened to your show today; I am just becoming a regular so [I] don’t know your background with your obviously regular “conspiracy theory” caller who claimed that some number of foreclosures were of homes owned by illegals. Of course, the use of the term “conspiracy theorist” connotes the intended criticism that the person has beliefs which are not supported by facts or that the ideas expressed are irrational or have no logical basis. I am unaware of the ideas asserted by this person over time, so perhaps some of them are really wacko, but on this one, there is a reasonable basis for a closer look.
Since you had a question about the caller’s assertion that mortgages have been granted to illegal immigrants without social security numbers, I did a quick Google of the terms “illegal immigrant mortgage” and found mainstream media articles reporting this alleged phenomenon from as early as 2005. However, the most recent response from HUD denies the accuracy of the numbers that some are reporting of how many mortgages have been granted to those with only ITIN’s (Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers), which allow those without SS numbers to be in the system with this alternate ID. (http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/10/06/daily54.html)
But I note that HUD’s response simply focuses on the accuracy of the total reported number of such alleged mortgages, and is not a denial of the alleged existence of these mortgages. From the Phoenix Business Journal article: “A HUD spokesman said Thursday his agency has no data showing the number of illegal immigrants holding foreclosed or bad mortgages.” So, HUD has no data to prove such foreclosures exist, nor data to prove that none of the foreclosures were owned by illegals.
Actually my neighbor here in Aspen was recently deported as an illegal immigrant but owned his home in the affordable housing system. He was a hard worker and paid his bills, no foreclosure. I have always wondered how that could have been, perhaps these ITINs are the answer.
And why have mainstream media sources been reporting this for at least the past three years? I only added links to this post (below) which were from mainstream, presumably vetted sources. There are others, of course, which are more on the fringe but I avoid such sources. I don’t have any evidence to prove any immigrant of illegal status has gotten a mortgage personally. HUD only denies the accuracy of the number reported without denying they may exist.
So, are people getting loans without social security numbers, or with illegal status?
From the San Francisco Chronicle article:
“U.S. banks now routinely accept both taxpayer ID numbers and a Mexican ID called matricula consular to open new accounts. Many reach out to the Latino community with Spanish marketing materials and bilingual bank tellers.”
The latest twist is the taxpayer ID mortgage. Pioneered by small community banks, mainly in the Midwest, the loans slowly have begun to spread. As of September 2004, one credit union and 18 banks were offering such mortgages, according to a report by independent researcher Mari Gallagher. In California, Wells Fargo and Citibank both offer taxpayer ID mortgage loans, albeit in small programs.”
Do I think Jesus manifests himself in peanut butter? Nope. Do I believe the government is hiding UFOs from us? Nope. And I also believe we have landed on the moon. But I think at this point, to be intellectually honest, I also have to admit the assertion that illegals might have been allowed to take mortgages out with ITINs rather than social security numbers has enough merit to not dismiss out of hand, but to take time to research more thoroughly. I have been, and continue to be, impressed with your journalistic integrity.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17597739 (NPR, 2007:Morning Edition, December 25, 2007 · Some banks allow illegal immigrants to obtain a home mortgage even if they don’t have a Social Security number. While the borrower’s citizenship status may be undocumented, their ability to pay is thoroughly checked out. Surprisingly, illegal immigrants are often a good risk.)
http://originatortimes.com/content/templates/standard.aspx?articleid=2202&zoneid=5 (Dallas Morning News, 2006: “New rules and affordable home prices in Texas are leading to an increased number of illegal immigrants buying homes in North Texas,” said Marty Martinez, a North Texas real estate agent and board member of the Washington-based National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, or NAHREP. “Texas real estate prices provide a big incentive. First-time homebuyers can generally buy a home for under $100,000.”)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/06/15/MNGRMJEGM81.DTL (San Francisco Chronicle, 2006: Ramiro and Marisol, who asked that their last name not be used, are undocumented immigrants from Mexico. They’ve been in the country for four years. Marisol entered on a tourist visa. Ramiro hid in a car.
Their immigration status did not prevent them from buying a home. It is legal for undocumented people to purchase property in the United States.)
http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/08/news/economy/illegal_immigrants/ (CNNMoney.com, 2005:
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – The banking industry is opening its doors to a controversial new market: illegal immigrants.
Despite heated political debate in Washington over illegal immigration in the United States, an increasing number of banks are seeing an untapped resource for growing their own revenue stream and contend that providing undocumented residents with mortgages will help revitalize local communities.)
Dawn,
Great post. Very thoughtful, and thought provoking. I missed the Con Games call to which you refer. Great job of backing up that claim with media reports. I plan to follow your links this evening.
Cheers,
Mr. Conman errr. ConJob censors people, and we thought he was a man of the 1st Amendment….
the pen is mighter than the sword conman….better run
lol
Aaron from Eagle was right Mr. Conman,
google Wells Fargo gives home loans to Illegals.
And he was also right about the Federal Reserve.
see below;
The Federal Reserve is called that to fool you. It is actually a private corporation run by bankers dedicated to controlling the nation’s money supply for the benefit of themselves and other wealthy and powerful people. Its mandate is to control the rest of the people by controlling their access to money and credit.
Since the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913, the American middle and working classes have been victimized by boom and bust monetary policy. Most Americans have suffered steady erosion of purchasing power at the hands of the Fed’s inflationary policies. The result of these policies represents an insidious and onerous tax imposed on the people on top of their already burdensome overt taxation.
The heavy hand of the Fed can be seen by any student of the Great Depression, the torturous stagflation of the 1970′s, the dotcom bubble, the housing bubble, and today’s financial panic and collapse. Its hand print is on every economic downturn that has robbed American’s of their money for the past 80 years, as the Fed has followed a policy of flooding the economy with their easy money and credit. When everyone is in debt up to their eyeballs, the bubble bursts and is followed by a painful recession or depression. To save us from the total devastation they have created, the Fed then rides to our rescue with its printing press causing excessive inflation and the erosion of the purchasing power of the dollar. These policies have made slaves of us all with the exception of the power elite.
A dollar created during the birth of the Fed in 1913 is now worth about a penny thanks to the policies of the Fed. The repeal of its mandate would signal the return of a stable currency. It would provide Americans with incentive to save as they would no longer have to fear inflation eroding their savings. These saving could then be used to return America to the status of producer and exporter to the world.
What Ron Paul tried to explain in the presidential debates
Between interruption, ridicule and unscheduled station breaks, Ron Paul tried to tell us how the Fed policy benefits a few at the expense of many. The beneficiaries are those in position to take advantage of the cycles in monetary policy, with the main beneficiaries being those who receive access to artificially inflated money and/or credit before the inflationary effects of the policy impact the entire economy. They are the people who get to use the newly printed money first.
Think of it like this. Suppose you are the first person in your town to be allowed to print money in your basement. You print up a million or two and go out to spend it. You can buy almost anything you want, because now you are richer than almost everyone else. Then permission to print money is granted to 25% of all the people in your town. They all print up a bucket full of money and go out to spend it. Obviously, there are only so many palaces and luxury cars available, so with that many people wanting to buy them the prices move up swiftly. And finally everybody in your town is allowed to print money in their basements. At this point the money has become virtually worthless because it has lost all meaning. This is the point at which an economy collapses.
The people’s appetite for big government has tacitly condoned Fed policy. It has allowed the politicians from both parties to use inflation to cover up the true costs of their welfare-warfare spending of American’s future.
The Congress has no authority under the Constitution to delegate control of the nation’s monetary policy to the Federal Reserve. The Constitution does not empower the government to erode the American standard of living through inflationary monetary policy. Constitutional mandate regarding monetary policy whould permit only currency backed by stable commodities such as gold and silver to be used as legal tender. Abolishing the Federal Reserve and returning to a constitutional system would enable America to return to a monetary system where the value of money is consistent because it is tied to a real store of value. This is the type of monetary system that is the basis of a true free-market economy.
Your money and gold
The dollar is nothing more that what it looks like – a piece of paper with some fancy design and some numbers on it. It has no intrinsic worth like a loaf of bread, a tank or gas, a person to fix the plumbing, or a gold coin. The name for it is fiat currency, meaning it is a currency that is backed only by thin air.
Throughout most of history, gold has served as the basic money of all people wherever it has been available. It has been chosen by the markets of the world as the most valuable commodity on earth. Why is this no longer the case? Governments have destroyed the gold standard because they regarded it as too inflexible. This inflexibility is the friend of free markets, making governments keep their financial houses in order. Banks are more careful about lending when they can’t rely on a lender of last resort like the Fed, with access to a printing press. Inflexibility means prices are more stable. The problems of inflation and business cycles disappear completely. Gold and economic freedom are inseparable. Deficit spending is a scheme for the confiscation of wealth and the enslavement of the people.
When money is as good as gold, the government cannot manipulate the money supply for its own ends. The gold standard puts severe limits on the government’s ability to spend, borrow, and create hair-brained programs. The government is forced to raise revenue through taxation, rather than inflation, a task not so easily achieved. Without a gold standard, the government is free to conspire with the Fed to print money without limit. Under the gold standard, the supply of money regulates itself. What the government and the Fed are doing now is creating the spread of mass misery for most people in the U.S., people they were mandated to serve.
Can the gold standard be reinstituted? Certainly it can. The dollar can be redefined in terms of gold. Interest rates can reflect the real laws of supply and demand. The doors of the Fed can be permanently shuttered and no one would miss it except for the few who benefited from its policies. What would motivate us to do this? We would have to be willing to renounce our enslavement. We would have to fall in love with freedom again.
What we can do
The outcry for the abolition of the Federal Reserve is growing louder. Commodities investor par excellance Jim Rogers is calling for the Fed to be abolished to save the world from massive inflation. TV host Glenn Beck is criticizing the Fed for its role in the current financial debacle. According to Beck, “When everyone was meeting with our Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson, I thought to myself: ‘Who the hell is representing the American people?’”
Wall Street Journal financial editor Steven Moore is asking, “Who elected Ben Bernanke? Who Elected Alan Greenspan?”
The time is right. People have had enough. Now is the time for Americans to come out of their debt induced comas and start calling their congressmen and women, asking them to support Paul’s bill to abolish the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve is as deadly to the future of Americans as the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry. There can be no end to these manufactured financial crises until the Fed’s rule is replaced by an honest, debt-free money policy.
See Mike Adam’s wonderful article about the threat posed to you by the Federal Reserve. It contains a listing of the members of Congress if you need to find out who your representatives are. Call them, email them and write them that you are vehemently opposed to the continuation of the Federal Reserve. Tell them you support the passage of House Resolution 2755.
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Its to bad you demean him, call him names, and hang up on him, instead of doing your homework.
Also I dont like the fact that you erase my posts to your blog site, that is censorship, and I thought you were above that.
Infowars…
No one deletes your posts here. Shame on you for claiming otherwise.
Your weak contention notwithstanding, I followed you tonight.
‘Nuff said.
Cheers,
yes, Mr. Coniff did deleate my original post #2.
ask him, and this wasnt the first time he has erased my posts.
Last year he used the excuse that he had a substitute in for him that censored mine and others posts on the topic of 911 when he was on vacation.
Theres nothing worse than a book burning censor Nazi, esp. one that says he is a reporter.
nuff said…..
I don’t care what Mr. Conniff deleted, or how many posts he erased. You come near my house again, I strongly suggest you know how to pray.
Any questions?
Cheers,
WHAT???
Your paranoid, I dont even know you, let alone where your house is.
But, lets stick to the topic, ok.
Good Grief.