WHITEWATER GRIFTING

Remember Whitewater? I’m not talking about National Geographic’s piece on the Colorado River. I’m talking about the Bill and Hillary Whitewater. Yeah, that one. The one that was investigated ad nauseam during the Clinton Presidency.

Well, I’m tired of people telling me that it was nothing. So I’m thinking as long as Hillary Clinton is running for the presidency, in the interest of folks understanding what kind of person she is, this might be a good time for a little review.

Once upon a time there was this big, dopey, hillbilly crook named Jim McDougal. Jim had a great investment idea and presented Bill and Hillary with an opportunity to earn huge returns on the order of 20 percent a year.

Jim wanted to purchase 230 acres of land on the White River in the Ozark Mountains and subdivide it to sell lots as vacation sites. The Clintons thought it was a great idea. So, although they never put any money into it, Hillary, as an attorney, played an important role in it.

This was no regular real estate plan. The plan was to sell lots to elderly and middle-class families. When these people bought a lot, they received no deed, just a simple purchase agreement. The small print at the bottom said “In the event the default continues for 30 days…payments made by the purchaser ‘shall be considered as rent’ for the use of the premises.” So no one who was purchasing the property actually took ownership until the last payment was made.

If a buyer missed just one month – happens to the best of us over a several year period – all the money paid into the property to that point became rent and they would have no equity at all.

Here are a couple of examples as cited by Peter Schweizer in “Do as I say…:”

Grain elevator operator, Clyde Soapes invested a $3,000 down payment and made payments of $244.69 per month, making thirty-five payments. He suddenly fell ill with diabetes and missed a couple of payments. The Clintons took possession of the land and resold it to another investor for $16,500. After the new investor missed a payment, the Clintons resold it again.

More than half of the people who bought lots in Whitewater, according to Schweizer, missed a payment or two and then lost their land without getting a dime of their equity back. These people were teachers, farmers, laborers and retirees.

Monthly payment checks were sent to Whitewater Development Corporation in care of Hillary Rodham Clinton. In 1982, Hillary herself sold a home to a man who went bankrupt and then died. She took possession of the home and resold it for $20,000.

Punch line? In an “amazing feat of moral dexterity,” as Schweizer puts it, she cosponsored the Predatory Consumer Lending Act, claiming that mortgage fees are too high. (By the way, the law does not outlaw the type of scheme she was involved in.)

Now, you wouldn’t want your used car salesman to have that kind of a background. Yet, some of you want to elect her President of the United States?

I guess next year we’ll see if being ruthless and mean can get you the presidency in this day and age.

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Congress has voted to reenact automatic pay raises. Their pay will be increased every year to adjust for the cost of living unless they vote to block it. Like that’s going to happen!

This Congress, with a 14 percent approval rating, lowest in history, rewarded itself with a $4,460 raise bringing members to $170,000 per year. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is paid $212,100. And what a fine job she does.

JD.

Postscript to yesterday’s blog: Turns out the call made by Mrs. Edwards to the show “Hardball” to berate Ann Coulter, was a set-up…staged by MSNBC. I’m shocked!