THREE IDEAS FOR JOHN EDWARDS IF HE REALLY WANTS TO BE A POPULIST

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Here are three campaign issues a populist presidential candidate could
easily promote and win a lot of votes in the process:

1. END CREDIT CARD USURY: Beginning in the 1980s - as part of the Reagan
counter-revolution - interest rate controls began disappearing in this
country. Rates that generally were below ten percent would rise as much
as three times.
The media did not report this story, the politicians did not deal with
it, and the banks got away with murder. This is not your average
political or economic change; it altered views of fair interest rates
going back to the earliest times. Essentially usury became legal.

2. SHARED EQUITY HOME PURCHASES: A program for new and less wealthy
would-be homebuyers in which the federal government became an equity
partner with the purchaser. At the time of sale, the federal government
would get its share back including its portion of the increase in value.
This program would be immensely popular not only with would-be home
buyers but with the real estate industry. And the beauty is that it
could easily become a money maker.

3. ENDING FORECLOSURES  -  This is Dean Baker's idea: "There is a simple
and direct way in which the federal government can help out millions of
moderate-income families struggling to keep their homes: They can simply
change the rules on foreclosure to allow moderate-income homeowners the
option to remain in their homes indefinitely as renters, paying the fair
market rent. . . If a homeowner chose to go this route, the judge in the
foreclosure proceeding would appoint an independent appraiser to
determine the fair market rent for the house, in the same way a bank
hires an appraiser to determine the value of the house before issuing a
mortgage."

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