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NEWS > BUSINESS > PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS BEING BLAMED FOR MORTGAGE CRISIS

PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS BEING BLAMED FOR MORTGAGE CRISIS

September 16 2008

New York, NY – With the collapse of Lehman Brothers and takeover of Merrill Lynch, the crisis affecting the economy has hit Wall Street with a billion dollar sledgehammer. While many have pointed to the current administration or the surge in subprime lending as the main culprit in allowing the downslide, for many attention has turned to the record setting dollars being generated by the two contenders in the upcoming election.

The two campaigns are expected to raise at least a billion dollars between them, a 33 per cent increase from the last Presidential contest in 2004, almost all of which is coming from private donors.

“It was actually John McCain himself who led the push for campaign finance reform, helping to draft and drive through a bill that restricted corporations and special interest groups from contributing to campaigns,” said Scrape TV political analyst Gabriel Kinsey. “So now the campaigns have to rely solely on private individuals. They of course need to outdo each other and drive the fear of the opponent into the people. Individuals are compelled to donate money to one campaign or the other, money that might otherwise have been spent on things like mortgage payments, out of fear of the irrational other. These numbers of course doesn’t take failed campaigns such as those of Hillary Clinton or Mitt Romney into account, money that is essentially wasted.”

While contributions from individuals are limited by the legislation, politicians have long learned that exploiting the underprivileged is the best avenue to success, which forces the very individuals most at risk for mortgage default to be the ones most likely to donate.

“The problem with the legislation is that it doesn’t allow rich people to donate anymore than poor people. From the record amounts that both sides are drawing, it’s pretty clear that we are taking money from the middle class and poor as much as from the people who can afford it,” said an Obama campaign insider who preferred to remain anonymous. “I’ve worked on a lot of campaigns and never seen money like this. I firmly believe that if rich individuals, corporations, and special interest groups were allowed to donate freely people wouldn’t be losing their houses. Sure there would be issues like favouritism and greased palms but people would still have roofs over their heads.”

With the Iraq war, oil speculation, and natural disasters all having at one point or another been the focus of the issues, many are now focusing on this new arena of blame.

“We told them this kind of thing would happen,” said Special Interest Group spokesperson Andy Defoe. “I mean they seriously thought that doing this would decrease our influence, but all its done is made more people desperate and now we have more power than ever. They really did a good job selling reform to the American people, but I can tell you right now that nothing has changed. Remember, these guys are still politicians.”

William Ashford, Business Correspondent

NEWS > BUSINESS > PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS BEING BLAMED FOR MORTGAGE CRISIS