 By Randy Williams October 01, 2008
Now the current crisis, the greed of Wall Street and the banking industry, have put the American public at risk, simply put, so the rich can get richer. If we have a bailout and we will because our system is collapsing around the greed of those with the power and authority to manipulate our economic system. Should we start the bail out at the top or at the level of the people who will finance this bailout? Congress is running around saying, I m going to look after the American public, again, fine rhetoric but where were those same congress people when the banks were giving an unsuspecting public a loan with NO money down and a low interest rate for the first two to three years. Of course these loans allowed the marginal wage owner to own his/her own house, so it was a good thing but the loan institutions in my opinion preyed on an unsuspecting new/first time buyer by not fully developing or explaining the second and third ARM of the interest they were purchasing with the home. However, here is where the government missed a step and turned a blind eye so the rich could get richer. So I own a home with practically no investment and my payments aren t t any more or much higher than the rent I m paying now. Except now the greed steps in, the loan you received that wasn t t much higher than your current rent payment just went up 50%-60% because the interest rate jumped from 4.5% to 7%. Now, I have to struggle to make my payments for another 2-3 years and than the hammer falls because after 5-7 years it jumps to 8-9%. Now, I can t make my payments and because I had a zero or 3% down payment, I can walk away and not really lose much more than my credit rating. In a simplified nut shell that is exactly what happened, the consumer, the American public and probably a first time buyer who may not have realized the affect of an inflated interest rate, was sold a loan that they could not afford by a banking industry that just didn t t care because they were going to get theirs. What the banking industry and Wall Street which bought many of these loans didn t anticipate, was the complete meltdown of their own greed by having all these interest rates mature and people just sacrificing their personal credits and walking away, (I believe part of this bank philosophy was a result of the recent bankruptcy law, which made it harder for the average person to claim bankruptcy. Banks felt this was a safety net for them because people couldn t easily claim bankruptcy, again they didn t anticipate the walk away clause the American home buyer is being forced to invoke). O.K. that is a brief overview of the problem now let me address the bailout. YES, we will need to do something to correct and fix the greediness of the rich at the expense of the average American consumer (don t we see this same greed at the gas pumps, but that is another issue). I would propose that congress bailout the American public first. I suggest they freeze all foreclosures for a period of six months and force the banking industry to help the American public keep their homes instead of taking them in foreclosure. I suggest that congress first before even attempting to give the banking industry our hard earned tax dollars, force the industry to roll back and refinance all homeowner percentage rates to 5% without the usual fees and allow those individuals who have 7-10% interest rates the opportunity to recover and make their mortgage payments which many will. I also recommend the baking industry treat the arrears to date as a term loan and develop a no interest payback plan that is incorporated over the life of the home mortgage loan. This will in itself begin to slow the economic upheaval that has occurred because of the administrations total disregard for the American public so we can continue to win a war (sorry, I just had to throw that comment in). Let s not give a blank check of $700b to allow the banking industry to recover without first making sure the people are allowed to first recover, which will create a trickle up theory, instead of the Trickle down theory that never gets to us. In case we haven't noticed, the trickle down theory seems to stop at the, I'm crazy rich already and am just getting richer level. Second, where are those same rich people now, it is time for them to pony up and save these institutions. Where is Exxon, let them Bail out the auto industry, they helped to create the mess with their greed, where is others like Warren Buffett that should be stepping up and bailing out wall street where they have made millions, while the average investors is just gambling their money in the stock market. Finally, where is the American government who should have regulated these institutions like they do us by taking our civil liberties. I guess tapping our phones or throwing people in jail without probable cause is so much easier than controlling the greed of the rich as they get richer on the bodies of the American consumer. Bush and his failed Republican
agenda has put the American public in this situation and the
democratic leadership has spent so much time wondering how to
take advantage of all of Bush s failed policies that they themselves
are just as responsible for allowing this to happen. While they
were playing the political game, they forgot to watch out for
the American consumer, the Democrats profess to being so concerned
about. We will still be losing our houses, while the banks become solvent and can give loans again, but everyone s credit will be ruined and they will not be able to obtain loans. Except of course, those people who already have money and can weather these hard times, so we will create another class: poor, almost poor (with no credit) almost rich (with credit) and of course the rich who will become richer. We will in essence lose and/or significantly diminish the so called middle class the backbone of the American economy. To summarize, I say start with the American public and bail us out, end the occupation of two countries and bring those tax dollars back to develop our country and start to regulate the oil, banking and lets not forget the medical industries so we the American public can get back on our feet and lets stop thinking we have to be the worlds police and let s worry more about what is happening in our country and the need for solutions for the many issues we are facing. If we expect to remain a world leader, it won t happen unless we have a fundamentally strong and stable American economy. If you agree with some of my issue points notify your congress person to help the American public first and create a true trickle up theory. If we don t, I will probably write another letter in a few years discussing how the greedy got their hands on $700b of our hard earned money and became the super rich, while we are all renting (if we can even afford that), Randy Williams About: " Business owner,Alaska Native" Received September 30, 2008 - Published October 01, 2008 Viewpoints - Opinion Letters:
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