Me, Too! Me, Too!!

Well, it looks like Chicken Little won; the sky is truly falling and our elected legislators are the first ones running for cover. I don't know about you, but I'm not a happy camper today. I know that the financial markets are in trouble, I get it; but, it seems to me that they are certainly capable of working out their difficulties without governmental involvement; i.e., the Bank of America/Merrill deal.

That, though, is not what is under my skin today. I am blown away by the fact that the we, the citizens of this country, will soon own about 5 million properties with defaulted mortgages. Can you imagine what this means? You and I are now in the real estate business whether we wanted to be, or not. And, to make it worse, these properties are not worth the cost of the paper on which they are titled. But the worst issue is this - those property owners who are in default on their mortgages, for whatever reason, will now be able to renegotiate the terms of their loans with the government, and with the intention of allowing them to remain in their homes.

The question is this - why can't I renegotiate my mortgage? I have been paying my debt to my lender faithfully, despite the financial difficulties that this soft economy has presented to our family. Am I being punished because I've been a good risk? Should I have defaulted on my loan so that now I'd be in a position to lower my payments? I don't really know, but I'll tell you what I am going to do today. I am writing to my mortgage lender, putting them on notice that I would very much like to renegotiate the terms of my loan or I, too, might have to default. I suggest that we all do the same. Or at the very least, send an email to your Congressional delegation letting them know that you're not pleased and your displeasure might very well be reflected in the voting booth in November.

It is clear to everyone, except the members of Congress, that the American public is overwhelmingly opposed to this deal. Why is no one listening?

Peace Out!!

PS - Here's a funny story for you. This weekend my sister, Lee Ann, joined a group of her fellow Marylanders who traveled to the Susquehanna Valley for a heavy door-to-door push on behalf of Barack. The weather, if you'll remember, was horrendous and the rain poured like an Asian monsoon. Before Lee Ann left home, she donned some serious bad weather gear - her middle son's high school ice hockey jacket and her Blue Star Mother baseball cap (her oldest son is in the Army). As she was preparing to leave, she commented to her 18 year old daughter, Brigit, that she had just about all bases covered - she was a hockey mom with a son in the Army. Jokingly she told Brigit that she supposed that meant that she was developmentally disabled. My beautifully witty niece responded, "I'd rather be developmentally disabled than pregnant"!