And the winner is? Expect little change from Wall Street bankers if 'Double Down' Donnie and ‘Hottie Tottie' Hilary make it to the White House
By D. Sidney Potter
web posted September 26, 2016
It looks like ‘Double Down' Donald and ‘Hottie Tottie' Hilary are in a race to the bottom, which is exactly the opposite inspirational direction US Presidential Elections are meant to go in.
Much has been bandied about if the US Presidential results will have any positive discernible affect on the ‘poorest of the poor' when it comes to employment prospects and housing – and the general consensus (even amongst Optimists), is that irrespective of who occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, it likely won't get any better if Mrs. Clinton occupies the turf – since she is the status quo candidate – but is sure as heck will not get any better if Mr. Trump signs a rent free lease at the same locale.
And given the reality that Mr. Bernie Sanders has essentially capitulated in mounting a third party threat – even if only in ‘mind and soul', one cannot expect his phantom wish list to creep into the legislative agenda for the next US President, either it be Trump or Clinton.
The choices are pretty thin to none for the ‘poorest of the poor' in having any hope at all in a future that has the equivalency of a ‘New Deal Society' – even though that was never on the table in the first place. So what's left in terms of political representation for the economic betterment for the underclass? Nothing really.
Clinton's Plan
The online magazine HousingWire reported earlier this year that the former Secretary of State announced a sweeping economic agenda that included some major housing reforms. Clinton's plan, which her campaign billed as the "$125 billion Economic Revitalization Initiative", promised the following:
"…(within the) $125 billion program is a $25 billion housing investment program that aims to lift more families into sustainable homeownership, by offering down payment assistance, increasing housing counseling programs, expanding beyond traditional credit scores, building more affordable rental housing, clarifying lending rules and other changes. Clinton's campaign states that the $25 billion housing investment program targets the blight that is still dragging down many communities, addresses "skyrocketing" rents that are impacting the country's working families, and the "barriers" that prevent many families from becoming homeowners. "Homeownership is about more than just owning a home. It is about putting roots down in a community with better schools, safer streets and good jobs," Clinton's campaign states."
HousingWire, February 16, 2016
Trump's Plan
The contradiction within the Trump manifesto on housing is that he desperately wants the ‘black and brown' of America to support his version of a Make America Great Again campaign, which is code for ‘Make America White Again' – and back to the good old days when ‘white was right' and when America was more of a Norman Rockwell world vs. a melting pot of sorts that Trump seems to be implicitly repulsed by.
Although the Trump organization has not presented a revitalization plan to the scale of Clinton's, he has come out forcibly against – and would rescind, HUD's Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule. This is a rule that believes and claims that the rule tramples on local decision-making in community planning.
What the rule does in fact is exactly the opposite of what Trump proclaims. According to the National Low Income Housing Authority, a non-partisan think tank:
"Contrary to such claims, the AFFH rule affirms that states and localities control the development and implementation of solutions for removing barriers to housing opportunity. The rule is designed to provide state and local governments with the guidance and tools they need to better address such barriers and to help ensure federal funds are more fairly and effectively invested in communities across America."
National Low Income Housing Authority, June 13, 2016
The Third Party Alternative Plan
The black and brown of this country might find refuge in the Green Party with the almost ascendancy of Jill Stein. She does have a black running mate by the way whose last name is Baraka. (Believe me, you can't make this stuff up. Not in this election year). But before you laugh, remember it was the Green Party that pulled a presidential upset in the 2000 election by effectively siphoning off votes from Albert Gore, Jr., which resulted in George Bush, Jr. getting the electoral votes to call the presidency, even though Gore won the popular vote.
However, for some voters of the two party elk, the Green Party got hijacked last year when they became the party of maladjusted miscreants, given their advertised support of treasonous misfits – at the locale and international level, with the vocal support of Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden, etc.
Even for those that may not take politics seriously – and especially for those at the base of the economic totem pole, throwing your vote behind those that wish to economically assist you becomes a trying matter for the conscious if for no other reason that nobody really wants to waste their vote for a party that explicitly supports treasonous oddballs – just to waste their vote. Bottomline, black and Catholic brown folks (aka Latin's), are more socially conservative then the Democratic political elite (aka DNC) bosses are aware of, and/or fail to recognize through their own collective arrogance.
In terms of a housing platform, it's not known if Ms. Stein has a plan – although to guess, it would likely at least be close to what an Elizabeth Warren would espouse, the much respected Senator from Massachusetts who cut her teeth with endless rounds of senate committee hearings from men who sought her expulsion from politics.
So Now What?
Despite the national emergence of Bernie Sanders, his run at least motivated others to change the system (.....whatever that means?), so much so that the Democratic Party may still find themselves in the same screwed position they have occupied since a Southerner named Billy Clinton sold them out in the mid-nineties.
The good news is that the minimum wage might get some legislation this year (which increases the likelihood of buying a home), since some conservative Demos and liberal Reprobates (aka Republicans) have learned that the math adds up when you pay workers more money per hour – and that they actually spend the money which actually translates into a higher national GDP, which actually offsets the trade imbalance. But don't hold your breath.
Remember, it was Mr. Obama who promised in the eve of the government shutdown in December 2014 that he would raise the Federal minimum wage by Executive Order. Ultimately, he didn't follow through. And any notion that $15 an hour was right around the corner was pure poppy cock, since the only raise likely was the raise in the hopes of the poorest of the poor. Which is ironic, when you think that the word ‘hope' was the political campaign slogan for Mr. Obama in 2008. And even more unsettling that while Mr. Obama failed to have the courage to help the poor on a massive scale with the simple swipe of a pen, he did have the time to decorate the White House with rainbow spot lights and sign into law the right for high school teenage boys to use female restrooms.
A Defacto Stimulus Package for the Poor
Although this author believes $12 an hour is a little more reasonable instead of $15 an hour wage, which the liberal laissez-faire pseudo elite would led you to believe to think is faire – the effect of that type of wage boost is not worth repeating in this article. The misnomer is the overstated number of businesses that will fail as a result of the wage hike. Be it as it may, that Darwinian truism suddenly sucks to the conservative political right, who often boost that the market forces will work out wage inequality.
However, they should be reminded that the grand daddy of them all, WalMart, took the initiative two years ago and raised approximately two thirds of its American workforce from the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour to $10.00. Despite this "til hell freezes over" event, miracles do happen, even if it's in Bentonville, Arkansas, the headquarters for WalMart – instead of Hope, Arkansas, where the poorest of the poor put their money on Billy Clinton some twenty five years ago.
That bet never paid off, even though the heir apparent to Mr. Clinton, a fellow by the name of Barack persuaded the masses to double down on his promises, which was a difficult wager not to accept, given his charming and elegant demeanor that was apparently well intentioned, but ultimately Machiavellian in nature. It was a sucker's bet.
Minimum Wage and Home Sales (Who'da Thunk!)
Eventually, and this is the mindset that white America has to come to terms with and by fiat – the legislators that represent them, is that an increase in the minimum wage will increase home sales tenfold, which includes mobile homes and manufactured homes. Case and point: FHA, USDA and VA loan programs only require a 0% to 3.5% down payment on a home. And with the average home priced at $80,000 to $120,000 (for most of middle America), that's a mortgage payment of about $400 to $700 a month. This compares well and/or is substantially lower than most apartment units. Think of apartment renting as the housing version of payday loans. The people that own those businesses have the same rip-off mentality. (Screwing people is their daily business).
Most black, brown and lower class white folk don't buy a home because they're intimidated – it's because they aren't aware that they can afford it. In part, Black America is still trying to cash the check white America wrote them – out of guilt. But it keeps on bouncing. And not enough ‘white guilt' on the world can prevent another NSF charge (non sufficient funds).
Even white Millennials with a college degree in all their glorious false confidence – would blink for a moment when they think of buying a house. And do not expect the parents or grandparents of those Millennials to step-up and provide enough voting force to be a game changer, politically. Case in Point: Trumps' presence brought out the worst in America in terms of latent heterosexual political haterage of the black and brown.
If you're looking for change, expect it to happen within the next 50 to 60 years when the NASCAR Dads of the world are reduced to a political minority (how ironic), and the rise of the American political working class elite finally doesn't see color (per se), but sees the Golden Rule as the prevailing political dogma that judges all men not by the color of their skin, but by the character of their soul. 
D. Sidney Potter has worked in the real estate and mortgage industry since 1992 and is also a contributing writer to iReport (CNN), DigitalJournal and Newsvine.com (apart of MSNBC).