Mayor Jerry Abramson Johnny-On-The-Spot: NOT

I was looking over the Louisville Communist-Journal today when I saw this article about Big Jer (above, in all his sartorial splendor) making a big speech while on Planet Washingtron to a national mayor's meeting. I found it really interesting that he said

"Here's an idea: There is a local mortgage crisis, so lets have a festival and build us some more museums! That always helps!"

OK, he didn't really say that. But he did say this:

"Poor residents have been victimized by predatory lending practices for many years..."

The article went on to say "In a few weeks Louisville will unveil a campaign to assist people facing foreclosures -- the result of a summit city officials had last fall with local lenders and counseling agencies." And went on to inform us "The city also is planning to set aside $350,000 to help residents facing default on their loans. The city will make available emergency loans of up to $5,000 per qualified homeowner. City leaders across America, Abramson said, 'need to create confidence among your constituents that you are there and are engaged.'"

Ok, here's the bug up my tailpipe, summarizing the article:

a) Preditory lending has occured here for years

b) He's the self-proclaimed "Mayor for Life", so he shoulda known about the above

c) He/Metro apparently didn't do much until they had a meeting a few months ago

d) The math works out to helping about 70 homeowners with that $350K. Not alot, considering there thousands of people defaulting on loans here.

e) Finally, a confession of sorts: the goal is to get your voters to feel like you (mayors) are "engaged". The unspoken part is that the goal doesn't have to be to really fix a whole lot. At this point, there isn't really a whole lot the local government can do, anyway. What we are going for is the good old "perception is reality" concept.

This leads us to the final analysis: fixing this whole thing is now a political issue. We are in the middle of a big presidential primary and the federal government will pass short-term feel-good legislation to delay the pain until after the election. Local government can only stand by and try to look like they are at least trying to do something. Again, it's about looking good for the next election, even if what you do doesn't actually fix anything, even if it's just a local election.

I still think the market will correct itself faster and better if we just let it take its natural course and keep government out of it. In fairness to Jer, there's not much he can do about all of this except try to look good through it and just don't let it get any stink on him before the next election. Looks like he's already got a grip on this concept.