WaPo, HT HotAir, ACORN reverse Robin Hood:
Documents released by a Senate Republican on Thursday show that leaders of the ACORN community organizing network transferred several million dollars in charitable and government money meant for the poor to arms of the group that have political and sometimes profit-making missions.
ACORN's tax-exempt groups and allied organizations, long a target of conservative ire, used more than half their charitable and public money in 2006 to pay other ACORN affiliates, according to an analysis by the tax staff of Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa).
On Thursday, Grassley called the transactions a "big shell game" and said ACORN donors may be surprised by how the liberal group known for helping the poor obtain housing and health care was spending their money. He urged the Internal Revenue Service to take a closer look.
Gee, do we have confidence in their ability to do that? Only recently they were partnered with ACORN--in spite of its nonpayment of taxes for years.
More. ACORN's corporate donors back off. DC Examiner. Look, the banks were coerced into loans and donations by Uncle Barney's and ACORN's Community Reinvestment Act.
But while Washington is creating financial regulations and regulators, going after banker pay and questioning the role of the ratings firms, it seems intent on leaving its pro-housing policy bias intact.
That may be necessary for a while, until the housing market finds it legs. But then it’s time for Uncle Sam to gradually get out of the housing business. Breaking up and privatizing Fannie and Freddie would be a good start to an exit strategy, as would phasing out the mortgage interest deduction.
The risk of maintaining the status quo isn’t so much that we’ll have another housing bubble. Rather, it is the continuing opportunity cost of devoting so much precious capital toward housing.
Finding a better use for $200 billion a year in a country with a crumbling infrastructure, a yawning budget deficit and an uncompetitive tax system shouldn’t be hard.
And then there's the cost of corruption which always accompanies these programs.
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