NEWS FLASH… An American Dream Travesty… 8,400 American Families Losing Their Homes Each And Every Weekday And Congress Goes On Recess?
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008An “American Dream Travesty” is happening and Congress is allowing 8 THOUSAND 4 HUNDRED American Families to lose their homes each and every weekday? One might think, as a Human with ANY kind of principles, morals, ethics, conscious and common decency not to mention elected to office and having sworn an oath to “Represent The People” Congress would not voluntarily go on RECESS? Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr. spoke on the floor of the Senate June 19th, “Over 8,400 homes are entering foreclosure every day and unless we act, an estimated 3 million homes will enter foreclosure this year and next, and 2 million homes will be foreclosed upon in that time.”
Surely Congress must realize that this American Dream Travesty has affected every American whether or not they own the American Dream… their own home. Even a dumb disabled Vietnam Veteran with just ONE eye can see that.
Wasn’t it this time last year that the Federal Reserve Chairman and The Secretary of the Treasury made comments that this was a contained and temporary MINOR Sub-prime problem? View Secretary Paulson’s statement March 13, 2007, reported by Wall Street Week, Proof Of Containment Congress must know by NOW that this problem is definitely not… MINOR, contained and temporary, so why is Congress on RECESS? Doesn’t Congress know by NOW that this MINOR problem is deeply affecting every American and American Family?
As one very intelligent Congressional Representative (yes, there are a few) and previous Presidential Candidate put it, “You can’t lower interest rates to fix all the problems”. Dr. Ron Paul’s Statement The lowering of interest rates did work back in the dot bomb and 9/11 days because banks and lending institutions had money plus they were more than willing to lend which did spur the economy. Today, banks do not have money and are not very willing to lend. A few have closed their doors and have been taken over by the Federal Reserve.
Ask any soccer Mom and they will tell Congress that the American Dream Travesty along with lowering of interest rates has created total chaos in buying soccer shoes, soccer balls, gasoline for the soccer van and you might as well forget about mentioning pizza for the soccer team… sorry forgot milk and bread. Even a dumb disabled Vietnam Veteran with just ONE eye can see that. Gee, why is Congress on RECESS and not trying real hard to help soccer Moms, especially the soccer Moms displaced, having to move somewhere unknown and join a new soccer team? Case in point as reported in USA Today - Jennifer Paschal, 36, of Woodstock, GA, has tried to ease the effect of the foreclosure of her home on her children, Bailey, 12 and Trent, 9. But she says they’ve been deeply pained. After 13 years of marriage, Paschal is going through a divorce. The divorce and medical bills led the family to lose its home to foreclosure in April. Paschal could not afford the $1,300 monthly mortgage payment on her $45,000 annual salary as a day care center director. View her story and others.
Does Congress still think, after 18 months or so, that this American Dream Travesty is MINOR, contained and temporary? There must be another motive for Congress to just get up, turn off the lights and go on RECESS. As reported by Politico - House Dems turn out the lights but GOP keeps talking. At one point the lights went off in the house and the microphones were turned off in the Chamber, meaning Republicans were talking in the dark. But as Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) was speaking, the microphones were turned on shortly afterward. Lights out Surely Congress didn’t think that one $600 stimulus check would fix the American Dream Travesty with mortgage payments going up that amount for each and every month. Congress knows the American Dream Travesty has cost ALL Americans, property owners or not, more than $600 over the past 18 months or so. The greater question is - What is the American Dream Travesty going to cost ALL Americans over the next 18 months? One might begin to think that Power, Profit and Greed were somehow in the picture.
Americans do understand that Congress receives excellent health care, only affordable to the Rich and Famous, a very reasonable salary along with a pension unavailable to any other American. Americans don’t understand the complex nature of PAC and Special Interest Money on top of all the Perks that no one really sees. Americans don’t understand why some ‘Convicted Congressional People’ receive up to $120,000 per year pension from the American Taxpayer as reported by CNN recently. Read the article from CNN here or view the video.
Holy Cow, if Congress has all of that given to them on a Silver Platter by the American Taxpayer, why is Congress allowing 8 THOUSAND 4 HUNDRED American Families each and every weekday lose their homes, affecting ALL Americans and American Taxpayers? Think about it - that is approximately 26 Thousand men, women and CHILDREN each and every weekday, not counting their relatives, friends, neighbors, co-workers and classmates… every American. With the exceptional benefits unavailable to average Americans, and the basic elementary knowledge of the American Dream Travesty why is Congress on RECESS? “Suicides are very much tied to the economy,” says Kathleen Hall, founder and CEO of the Stress Institute in Atlanta. “It’s a public health issue.” Mental Health Issue
Power, Profit and Greed must somehow be in the picture or Congress would not be on RECESS. Makes one think that their main interest is in Wall Street and Big Business and NOT the people they represent or elected them to office. Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr., June 19, 2008, on the Senate Floor said, “Mr. President, I rise today to talk about the state of the American economy in the midst of our current housing crisis, and the need for action here in Congress, not just for Wall Street firms, but for Main Street families and small businesses.” Congress must think they can fool most of the people most of the time but they must also know you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. Even a dumb disabled Vietnam Veteran knows that. This was evident, this time last year, when Congress and the sophisticated financial/business media blamed the minor sub-prime problems on undeserving home owners and unethical mortgage people. They conveniently forgot to mention that historically there have always been unethical individuals resulting in most states having banking commissions to regulate discrimination, fraud and scams.
One must really wonder why Congress and the sophisticated financial/business media conveniently forgot to mention, maybe because of Big Business, that most home buyers have 3, not 1, but 3 Professional Groups looking out for the home buyers best interests according to Federal, State and Local (if any) lending practices and guidelines, so that home buyers are not taken advantage of and guided in the wrong direction:
1. The Real Estate Company who researches the best property in the buyers interest based on an in-depth interview of information and documents plus loan programs available.
2. The Lending Institution who continues the Real Estate Company’s research and information gathering including a credit analysis plus income to debt ratios to properly place the borrower in the correct loan program.
3. The Real Estate Settlement Firm which is by and large the most important of the groups representing the buyers interests and insuring the buyers rights have been protected. In addition they make sure the Federal and State laws protecting the buyers have been satisfied. This would include RESPA and TILA which are both Federal Laws. RESPA or Real Estate Settlement Procedure Act protects the buyer from discrimination and being taken advantage of. TILA or Truth In Lending Act clearly identifies whether or not the loan program is right or not for the borrower.
One can “imagine” the possibility of all 3 Professional Groups working together in a verbal partnership for their own interest (Greed) and not the buyers. The Real Estate Company might recommend the Lending Institution and Settlement Firm. A National Builder may even mandate that the buyer use their In-House Lender and Settlement Firm stating that the buyer will qualify for $0 closing costs or a ‘FREE’ Florida room. There really isn’t anything free, besides air, is there? WOW! If a dumb disabled Vietnam Veteran knew these unethical practices existed, wouldn’t one think the more intelligent and well informed Congress would know also? Why is Congress on RECESS knowing this? Congress must think this will all vanish and disappear.
Recent reports have stated that several members of Congress plus a couple of Presidential Candidates have received “special home mortgage programs with special terms and special rates”. VIP Mortgages Of course these Congressional people stated that they didn’t have any idea or realize what was happening or that they were given special anything.
Exactly… right to the point… if a well informed intelligent elected official, not to mention a ranking member of say the finance or banking committee did not know or realize what mortgage program was given to them, how would the average American Home Buyer know if they were being “sold” an exceptionally good mortgage program or an exceptionally bad mortgage program? Just how can Congress go on RECESS after making statements like that knowing that 8 THOUSAND 4 HUNDRED American Families are being thrown out of their homes needlessly… amazing?
These very same intelligent and well informed Congressional people along with highly educated and sophisticated finance/business media might even TRY to tell you that there is no simple solution or fix to this problem. This is exactly the same as the Congressional people saying, “I had no idea that I was receiving special treatment for special mortgage programs with special terms and special interest rates.”
There is one very simple solution that could (and still can help) have prevented all these families from losing their homes, the losses in foreign investment, the losses in investment banks, the losses in conventional banks, the losses in jobs, the losses in car companies, the losses in programs and services of many major states all the way to the loss in value to the American Dollar. The biggest losses today are to the Baby Boomers who have worked hard for the past 20, 30 or 40 years building their savings accounts, retirement accounts, Wall Street investments and most important their home or real estate investments. The devalued American Dollar, because of lowered interest rates, created the $4-$5 per gallon gasoline cost along with other commodities and imports which is creating this unbearable inflation (higher costs for everything) resulting in our recession and depending on your industry… depression. Dr. Ron Paul
The major problem with a simple solution is that no one gains in the areas of Power, Profit and Greed which is a big NO NO for Wall Street and Congress. It’s just Americans helping Americans for a better America. There will always be those that will continually say that there is no simple solution. In America, there are farmers who can tell you how many gallons of milk each cow will yield per day and how many bushels of corn each acre of ground will yield. In America, there are cell phones that can tell you exactly where you are, what direction you are traveling and how fast you are going. In America, we have astronauts that can land on the moon, orbit the earth and even launch a space shuttle and precisely dock it to the International Space Station. Ask any of the above and they all will tell you the same thing… the simpler the better. Yep, even a dumb disabled Vietnam Veteran agrees with that… simpler the better. Can you believe Congress went on RECESS?
The very beginning of the avalanche that started the American Dream Travesty got its momentum from Wall Street and the “Group of 5″ representing 5 very large Wall Street Firms, one of which our Secretary of the Treasury was one of the Big Dogs before coming to Washington to straighten things out. An excellent Bloomberg reporter, Mark Pittman, did an outstanding report way back on December 17, 2007, explaining how these 5 were able to attract a huge global interest in their ability to grow extremely high yielding investment “paper” out of thin air using the sub-prime mortgage market. To read this article go to this link - Bloomberg Report by Mark Pittman - it is titled “Sub-prime Securities Market Began as `Group of 5′ Over Chinese”. This article will give a complete and very interesting details of what happened. Heck, Wall Street invented so many different types of investment grade “paper” out of thin air, they wore out the alphabet using 3 letters at a time. Of course, its always the “paper’s” fault, never Wall Street’s fault, never the Firms fault and never the Creators of the papers fault…right? Besides if you listen to the sophisticated finance/business media and some members of Congress it is really the American Families fault for buying one of these sub-prime programs created out of thin air on Wall Street, supported and recommended by the 3 Professional Groups representing the American Family…Right? Should Congress really be on RECESS?
8 THOUSAND 4 HUNDRED American Families each and every week day are losing their homes and we complain about Communist China’s Human Rights Violations… what nerve.
The solution is too simple and too easy and almost too embarrassing to mention since its right under the noses of Congress and has been there for years and years. It has worked extremely well helping millions of people. One has to remember, Congress would have to put Power, Profit and Greed aside, Think-Outside-The-Bun and put the people that elected them to office in 1st position, not Wall Street and Big Business as stated by Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr. on June 19th on the floor of the Senate, “Mr. President, I rise today to talk about the state of the American economy in the midst of our current housing crisis, and the need for action here in Congress, not just for Wall Street firms, but for Main Street families and small businesses.” After all didn’t the Federal Reserve Chairman recently state the American Dream Travesty was the number “1″ issue for Congress to resolve before our economy will correct. The Federal Reserve Chairman was not telling a story, he was telling the truth. Why is Congress on RECESS having heard the testimony of the Federal Reserve Chairman? Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke
Another passionate American trying his very best to help is T. Boone Pickens who also stated, he’s talked to Congress multiple times till blue in the face… and the time is now… more than ever before… for the good of America… to stop talkin’ and start doin’. To see more on Mr. Pickens go here - T. Boone Pickens - Pickens Plan
The too simple solution would be for Congress to implement the Student Loan Program Policies and Procedures into the Mortgage Loan Program System… the sooner the better. Sallie Mae Options for students Yes, one would have to be creative using T-Bills for Foreign Investors and Tax Credits with American Investors. Doggone, with the help of Sallie Mae, T. Boone Pickens, a couple of farmers, a couple of cell phone owners, a couple of astronauts and possibly a dumb disabled Vietnam Veteran or two an awful lot of pain, suffering, agony and sacrifice could have been saved… and possibly still can be saved.
Americans know that when you help educate American College Students, give an American College Student an opportunity for success using the Student Loan Program Forbearance Provision you create a Strong Foundation for that American College Student, Society and the American Economy. The Student Loan Program has helped millions of American College Students and it can help millions of American Dream Homeowners. The system and methodology is already there.
Simply substitute the American Dream Homeowner in place of the American College Student and work it exactly the same way: Helping, Assisting, Educating, Consolidating, Restructuring and providing Forbearance, thereby creating a much Stronger Foundation for the American Dream Homeowner, Society and the American Economy.
America, the Great Country that it is, already has all the facilities needed in place that can be used for counseling, restructuring, educating, etc. in our schools, churches, fire departments and military bases. Simply put, why hasn’t Congress fixed the economy as the Federal Reserve Chairman requested and more importantly why hasn’t Congress helped the American Families they represent? All Americans and American Families will then see that a simple solution is in place to fix and repair the American Economy through an existing system, methodology and facilities. All Congress needs to do now is… Stop Talkin’ and Start Doin’… The Simpler… The Better!
An American Dream Travesty has been created because of Power, Profit and Greed which did not originate from the American Family or American Homeowner but has affected each and every American. Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke
Please, please do not allow 2,500,000 American Families or approximately 8,000,000 men, women and CHILDREN needlessly lose their homes. American ingenuity will prevail if given a chance, we have the world’s smartest minds.
Please won’t you tell a friend or two how simple this could be and for the good of All Americans. Call your Congressional Representatives both in the House of Representatives and the Senate and tell them its time… to stop talkin’ and start doin’… right now… today… and put an end to this “American Dream Travesty”.
Why is Congress on RECESS?