Obama Administration on the Verge of Giant Sell-Out to Conservatives -- How to Stop Them

By George Lakoff, AlterNet
Posted on May 21, 2010, Printed on May 24, 2010
http://www.alternet.org/story/146961/

The Obama Administration’s move to the right is about to give conservatives a victory they could not have anticipated, even under Bush. HUD, under Obama, submitted legislation called PETRA to Congress that would result in the privatization of all public housing in America.

The new owners would charge ten percent above market rates to impoverished tenants, money that would be mostly paid by the US government (you and me, the taxpayers). To maintain the property, the new owners would take out a mortgage for building repair and maintenance (like a home equity loan), with no cap on interest rates.

With rents set above market rates, the mortgage risk would be attractive to banks. Either they make a huge profit on the mortgages paid for by the government. Or if the government lowers what it will pay for rents, the property goes into foreclosure. The banks get it and can sell it off to developers.

Sooner or later, the housing budget will be cut back and such foreclosures will happen. The structure of the proposal and the realities of Washington make it a virtual certainty.

The banks and developers make a fortune, with the taxpayers paying for it. The public loses its public housing property. The impoverished tenants lose their apartments, or have their rents go way up if they are forced into the private market. Homelessness increases. Government gets smaller. The banks and developers win. It is a Bank Bonanza! The poor and the public lose.

And a precedent is set. The government can privatize any public property: Schools, libraries, national parks, federal buildings — just as has begun to happen in California, where the right-wing governor has started to auction off state property and has even suggested selling off the Supreme Court building.

The rich will get richer, the poor and public get poorer. And the very idea of the public good withers.

This is central to the conservative dream, in which there is no public good — only private goods. And it is a nightmare for democracy.

The irony is that it is happening under the Obama administration. Barack Obama, running for office, gave perhaps the best and clearest characterization of what democracy is about. Democracy, he has said, is based on empathy — on citizens caring about and for each other. That is why we have principles like freedom and fairness for everyone. It is why social responsibility is necessary. The monstrous alternative is having a society where no one cares about or for anyone else.

HUD, under the Obama administration, is about to take a giant step toward that monstrous society.

Here is a quote from the PETRA bill. It’s intent is to:

provide the opportunity for public housing agencies and private owners to convert from current forms of rental assistance under a variety of programs to long-term, property-based contracts that will enhance market-based discipline and enable owners to sustain operations and leverage private financing to address immediate and long-term capital needs and implement energy-efficiency improvements.

Along the way, tenants’ rights will be trampled, since tenants could not longer seek redress from the government through their public officials — because the government would no longer own the buildings.

Stop PETRA. This is urgent. There is a hearing next Tuesday, May 25, before the House Financial Services Committee and the Subcommittee on Housing, organized by Rep. Maxine Waters. Phone: 202-225-2201 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              202-225-2201      end_of_the_skype_highlighting. Fax: 202-225-7854.

To write to the committee:

http://financialservices.house.gov/contact.html

Write to your Congressperson now.

If you want to sign a petition, go to:

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-public-housing.html

Here is a letter from the National Association of HUD Tenants:

http://www.saveourhomes.org/kaymathew/trapositionpaper.pdf

Here is an informational website, with letters, background information, and alternative proposals:

http://lacehh.wordpress.com/

And do what you can to get the word out. This requires a national discussion.



Comments

[Jonathon]

George,

you're a mor-on. Take your 'public good' and shove it. Giving the government more power is only going to cause more corruption.
You take more from the 'rich' and guess what? The rich have less to 'give' to those that need it. Don't think the rich give now? Well, then you're a complete idiot. Let's compare results from a private, Christian foundation that receives NO money from the government against any of your typical government entitlement programs.

So what will happen when the 'rich' people's money isn't there to help out? People's rights will be trampled by the government, who will then OWN them.

Just look at how far the progressive entitlement philosophy got Greece. You progressives disgust me.