Univision: on Welfare & Poverty

Barack Obama: Stop Fraud Act: full disclosure in subprime lending

A: I think it is absolutely critical that we step in and work with financial institutions that gave these loans, oftentimes under false pretenses. And part of the problem of the whole subprime lending market is that we did not have enough regulation of this market, we didn’t have adequate disclosure. I meet families that thought they were getting a low interest mortgage and did not realize that unless their home prices kept on going up they could end up losing their home, and that’s a failure of regulation. And that’s something that we have to work on prospectively. I’ve got legislation called the STOP FRAUD Act that basically requires the kinds of disclosure that should have been in there in the first place. But in the meantime, we’ve got to take a portion of the profits and make certain that people have a chance to refinance their home or least get bridge loans.

Barack Obama: People want a hand up, not a handout

A: The day I was elected, I said 47% of the people didn't vote for me, but I've heard your voices and I'm going to work just as hard for you as I did for those who did vote for me. That's how you have to operate as a President. But I will say this. When you express an attitude that half the country considers itself victims, that somehow they want to be dependent on government, my thinking is maybe you haven't gotten around a lot. Their problem is not that they're not working hard enough, or they don't want to work, or they're being taxed too little, or they just want to loaf around and gather government checks. We've gone through a challenging time. People want a hand up, not a handout. Are there people who abuse the system? Yes, both at the bottom and at the top.

Hillary Clinton: Time-out for mortgage companies on march toward foreclosure

A: Well, this is a serious problem for all Americans, but it's particularly serious for Hispanics, because unfortunately about 40% of Hispanic homeowners have subprime mortgages. And given what's happening in the market, if the federal government does not step in and take steps to prevent foreclosure, millions of Americans will lose their homes. So I think we have to do several things. We've got to have some intervention by the federal government. But [in the meantime] we've got to get a time-out, we've got to try to persuade the mortgage companies and the banks to slow down their march toward foreclosure, give people a chance to renegotiate their loans. Maybe they can rent instead of own. But we must move, because otherwise, we'll see millions of people out on the street, and we've got to stop that.