- Tommy Acosta, Sedona Times Publishing guest writer
Sedona AZ (July 22, 2010) – Now that recent polls show 6 in 10 Americans have expressed doubt President Barack Obama can be depended upon to make the right decision, perhaps it is time for him to make a decision that would put America back on track and give hope to a nation floundering in fear and apprehension for the future. The one, single solitary act he can initiate would be to put a 90-day moratorium on home foreclosures across the country.
According to Neighbor Works America, one out of every 200 homes are now in foreclosure or will be soon. More than 250,000 new families a month are being foreclosed. This is terrible not just for the families being uprooted but for America as a whole.
The banks are collecting homes like squirrels do nuts. They have the bailout money. They have the insurance money they make on the homes they foreclose. And they get the homes back which they sell at a bargain but make the difference up from money provided by the Feds. So it makes no difference to them if they foreclose half the homes in America.
The sadness, the depression, the fear and the anxiety of these families in foreclosure cannot be measured. It’s a dark cloud coming over our country as the last vestige of dignity for those unemployed, upside down on credit cards, is taken from them.
This then becomes the one ray of hope for America and for the President.
Stop the foreclosures now. Hold the banks at bay long enough for people to find a way out.
The Loan Re-modification Program has proven to be a bust because banks make a lot more money through short sales or foreclosure and they prefer not to re-modify. According to CNNMoney.com, 30 to 40 percent of home modifications default within 6 months.
When elected, President Obama was a shining hope for our country. Now we are still mired in an endless war on terror and the country is imploding on itself as more and more people lose their jobs and homes.
Here is an opportunity for Obama to redeem himself, show true leadership and compassion for the people of America and save the homes of countless of thousands of citizens facing foreclosure. Such an act will give hope to the nation, renew our spirit and hope for the future.
America needs a boost right now, more than ever. A Presidential moratorium on foreclosures would put Obama right up there with the greatest presidents our country ever had.
Come to the rescue of the American people, Mr. President. Save America, while there is still time. Stop the foreclosures.
New Sedona Times Publishing Balanced News and Views for Sedona Verde Valley and beyond
Dear Tommy, please show me where in the constitution that the president has any authority to put a moratorium on the foreclosure of homes. It is bad enough that this person is taking over car companies, shoring up Fannie and Freddie, and doing a myriad of other things that are not reflected in the constitution of this country. I personally am sorry that someone is losing their home. There are more that are losing their jobs because if these nutty policies. Real unemployment is not 9.5%, but more like 15 to 21% (area specific) if the people are counted who have just stopped looking. Unless you work for the government then there is FULL EMPLOYMENT, but government does not create anything, and they only can spend what they take from free people. Want to keep people in their homes, stop the job killing nonsense, stimulus that does not stimulate, TARP that does not, more spending our kids and grandkids into a debt they will never be able to pay. And now let’s help people who cannot pay their mortgage payment? Stop foreclosures so they will just not pay the payment in the future, and therefore create a false housing market and keep the glut? Free market works, government interference does not, never has, never will. Losing a house? You RENT. I did, many others did but now people walk around for their hand out. It happens. Many are over their heads. Many paid nothing down with the screwy no money, no job, no equity requirement that coerced 5% of the people to buy a home in this country that had no fiscal capability to pay back a loan. Blame the CRA act, the congress, and the people who structured “free money” for houses instead of government housing. Oh wait, it is government housing.
The MAJORITY of the people who got extensions (Loan modification program) and re financing on homes in the past 18 months thanks to more government intervention are…still “not paying” the NEW LOWAER rates! Why? – because they could not afford them at any RATE in the past let alone now restructured at a lower rate.
When Obama was elected he represented himself as a moderate change leader, and instead has become a radical in the worst sense. 2000+ page “health” really “insurance bill” that no one understands, especially congress, and now a 2300 page wall street banking bill that will start to control parts of our lives that we do not even know yet, (and neither do the people who wrote it), special interests, not politicians. No control over Fannie and Freddie – not even mentioned in the 2300 pages? The two groups responsible for the financial meltdown in the first place? And this guy actually had a big signing pat on the back ceremony? You have to be kidding! Maybe that’s why congress’s approval rating just entered the single digit era.
I am not sure what change voters were looking for unless we as a country voted for a young teleprompter orator instead of a leader with ANY experience. Let’s see, employment was 4.3%, and Bush raised more hard dollars into the federal treasury than any other administration in the history of the nation (source – IRS). 5% of the population earning 23% OF THE INCOME AND PAYING 45% OF ALL INCOME TAXES. Not good enough, we want MORE! Inherited deficit? 2007 and 2008 were Democratic controlled budgets, deficits, WHICH by the way Obama voted for. Remember the HOUSE approves the budgets and only the HOUSE can authorize spending, and the liberals controlled the HOUSE in 07 and 08. Bush vetoed quite a bit those two years, too bad he did not start that process with the Republican spending in the 6 previous years. Hope and Change? Yep – if you are a union member. If you own a small business, which by the way employ MOST of the people in the US, forget it. You are screwed. I know, off subject, this is about housing, or should we say government “subsidized housing”. Oh wait, tried that, didn’t work.
If you want to help your neighbor out, do it with YOUR MONEY, not mine. I am a little tired of people voting for politicians whose principal purpose in life is to steal from those who have worked hard and have something to show for it and give it to someone that has tried to scam or IS scamming the system. Want to learn about the mortgage business in laymen terms, http://merage.uci.edu/ResearchAndCenters/CRE/Resources/Documents/Gabriel.pdf
There are legitimate people who have hardships in home ownership, there always have been and there always will be. It is called life and PERSONAL RESPONSIBLTY. It is not my job to support these “unfortunate” people, unless I chose to do so. The government has no right under the constitution to redistribute my wealth. Pretty soon you run out of other people’s money to keep you elected. We are getting real close to that now. The housing market needs to adjust, which means that inventory needs to go on the market at market value and be purchased by those who can afford to at market prices. Only then will we be able to return the housing market to what it should be, at least until the next lunatic politician or political party starts to monkey with the free market as they did in the past which brought us to the financial meltdown we have now. Some people and corporations need to fail. There is NOTHING that is too big to fail, not in a free market economy. That’s part of success.
Time for America to get serious and return to the values we used to have. People and companies make mistakes, and to make our country and citizens stronger, sometimes failure happens. That’s life. This is NOT a nanny state; our founding fathers knew the structure that would make this country great. They left oppression and control. We need not return to those oppressive days. Been there, done that.
In response to Mike Schroeder: “Amen and Hallelujah!”
You wrote–It’s a dark cloud coming over our country as the last vestige of dignity for those unemployed, upside down on credit cards, is taken from them.
Reply:
Doesn’t compute. Simple rules to keep your dignity–If you don’t have it, you don’t spend it. Neither borrower nor lender be. Plastic pollutes.