People that fall through society's cracks

I am hearing in news that a portion of President Obama's stimulus package will be used to lowering mortgage rates for buyers, or home owners, with good credit. Additionally, there will be an incentive in the form of a tax credit for new home buyers, provided that they are buying property as their own residence.

I am not opposed to this part part of the package and I support it whole heartedly. However, for those people, such as myself, who have lost their homes due to job loss, or situations beyond their control, for example; I see nothing in the package that will benefit the people in my predicament. I am sure I am not the only one!

The circumstances that led up to a short sale of my home, were unusual I must say, but in the two years of trying to keep my home afloat as it were, I burned up all my credit. Not only that, I cashed out my life insurance policy, retirement fund, sold everything that I had and borrowed from friends, in the hope that things would get better. They did not!

My point is; now that my credit is completely ruined and my home has gone and my debtors are chasing me relentlessly, not to mention that I cannot afford the Bankruptcy Filing Fee; what hope is there for someone in my position in this present economy?

Furthermore, I do feel that somewhere in this great society, considering that the present Government seems to be lending it's ears to it's people, shouldn't some kind of amnesty package be built into it's system, so that those who have suffered losses through no fault of their own, be able to pick up their pieces and take advantage of the new stimuluses that are on the horizon?

The Capitalist system was designed to prevent hard working people from falling through the cracks, i.e. with it's many different structures and incentives. However, within the past year or so, all of those structures and incentives were cut from under me as there was nothing in place to protect me. I merely watched any hope of a fanancial future that I had, run down the drain.

My situation is slightly different now, but, everything in tha past year or so still looms on my horizon, like a gathering army waiting for the first shot to be fired.

So, where are the incentives for people in my situation?

Sincerely,

Jon

Tags: package, stimulus

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by John Antonelli on February 5, 2009 at 2:00pm: The whole package benefits you, that is what all that construction stimulus stuff is about. how about something for the middle class who work every day and pay their mortgage on time and do what needs to be done.

Permalink Reply by Jon Coe on February 5, 2009 at 4:22pm: I believe the revolution has begun, but it is a subtle one and it will take time. The fact that President Obama is now at the White House, is proof for me that this country will change. Things take time and to take matters in to our hands will not make a lot of difference at the moment, but if we let our voices be heard, I feel the current administration will listen.

I want to live to see the day where all Americans and it's Legal American Immigrants, will have the protection they deserve. I feel it is the Country's responsibility to provide adequate health care in the interest of it's resident's well being.

Once we can take care of our needy, then homelessness and crime, etc . will be a thing of the past and we will all be able to look ahead and watch other countries admire America, as an example to the world. As they always say, "If you want to change the world? Start changing yourself!" America badly needs to do this. And we can do this together!!

Permalink Reply by Jon Coe on February 5, 2009 at 4:47pm: By the way.....I was one of those people that worked every day and paid their mortgage on time. I worked sometimes four jobs to make ends meet. However, the stystem caught up to me and everything I had was chewed up and taken from me.

If there is a spiritual answer to this situation, and I think it is all I have?....Being down here in the trenches, enables me to see all the things that have always concerned me; A lot, lot clearer!! Now that I have a voice and can write stuff, I think it is my time to speak. Especially as everbody is concerned for their own well beings and will lean their ears a lot closer down.

Permalink Reply by Jon Coe on February 5, 2009 at 4:49pm: ....And thank you Mr. Devine.

Permalink Reply by Karl on February 6, 2009 at 11:48am: Ok, not to be obtuse but what does 'V/R simply' mean?

Permalink Reply by Kay (WAMU 88.5) on February 6, 2009 at 11:55am: "Very respectfully." It's a standard signature in the military.

Karl said:
Ok, not to be obtuse but what does 'V/R simply' mean?

Permalink Reply by SlumburbiaResident on February 6, 2009 at 12:47pm: Jon, I feel for your situation.

Just curious. Don't feel pressured to disclose details if you feel that this is impertinent:
(1) Did you pay too much for your house?
(2) If so, by how much (percentage and/or real dollar amount)?
(3) What cultural generation / cohort do you identify with, if any? Boomers, Gen Jones, Gen X, or Gen Y?

I'm Gen X (b. 1970s) and I saw many people my age get suckered into homeownership based on seductive marketing, economic lies (e.g. the denial that property values ever go down), and miscellaneous unkept promises.

I also saw many people who I never thought could/would be able to afford/sustain homeownership take the plunge and buy properties. Many of them were blissfully unaware of the financial terms they signed onto. A surprising number of them still hold on to their houses because of recent refi’s as well as engaging in practices such as cramming as many low-rent tenants as possible into their properties.

When it comes to much of the rising middle class, the deck is truly stacked here, at least in Montg. Co., Maryland.

I truly wish you well.

Permalink Reply by Jon Coe on February 6, 2009 at 1:52pm: Thank you for your understanding here. I do not feel pressured to explain, however, my situation is a complicated one that requires explanations at great lenght. Let's just say that due to the stipulations of a Divorce Decree from Hell, dreamed up by Satan and his Cohorts, coupled with sudden job loss resulting in overwhelming depression, I just simple paid everything until there was nothing left to give

My present wife however, acquired a mortage loan based on absolutely nothing, about a year and a half ago, and this is where we reside, still struggling with my debts and her debts. We appealed to the mortgage company in question, as we felt that certain information given by my present wife, had not been noted in the financial disclosure papers. This made this loan feel somewhat preditorial. The mortgage company is Wells Fargo. they said that they did nothing wrong.

I would say that my present wife's propert is a little upside down right now.

As for my generation? I was born in the late fifties, emigrated to the US in 1986 and bought the property that I lost last year, in the early ninties. I guess I am a boomer?

Permalink Reply by SlumburbiaResident on February 6, 2009 at 3:31pm: Hi again.

J.C. said:
“Let's just say that due to the stipulations of a Divorce Decree from Hell, dreamed up by Satan and his Cohorts, coupled with sudden job loss resulting in overwhelming depression, I just simply paid everything until there was nothing left to give”

“Satan and his Cohorts”: Yes, that description suits many a circle of Maryland pre-pre-law prepsters that I grew up with, that is if you were dealing with Maryland divorce lawyers here. Of course there are notable exceptions to every profession. Mordant humor is a good way to keep things at a distance when the walls are caving in like that, take it from me.

As you may know, they say that many, many foreclosures were/are concurrent with divorce and/or job loss.

I know somebody who lost his job, his marriage, and his closest parent in relatively quick succession. Sobriety was soon to follow.
The only reasons he didn't lose his house and partial custody of his kids were: (1) he came into a sudden inheritance (from his deceased parent) which he almost depleted anyways in a downward spiral of recklessness, and (2) his family didn't write him off entirely like they kept promising they would.

Did I mention that this guy lived in Detroit, one of the bellwethers of the U.S. economy as far as the national tidal wave of unemployment / home loss goes? (Another area like that is southern California, in my opinion.)

J.C. said:
“My present wife however, acquired a mortage loan based on absolutely nothing, about a year and a half ago, and this is where we reside, still struggling with my debts and her debts. We appealed to the mortgage company in question, as we felt that certain information given by my present wife, had not been noted in the financial disclosure papers. This made this loan feel somewhat predatorial. The mortgage company is Wells Fargo. they said that they did nothing wrong.”

As you probably know, Wells Fargo has been implicated as one of the worst culprits as far as extending credit promiscuously and unscrupulously nationwide. I would like to see those S.O.B.s pay settlement money for their trickery.

But somehow I think that there are just too many companies and empty suits that would be toppled in this mess if sunlight were shed in dark corners. Nobody wants to stick around to ask who dropped the match when the entire building is on fire, so to speak.

J.C. said:
“I would say that my present wife's property is a little upside down right now.”

This is all too common these days.

J.C. said:
“As for my generation? I was born in the late fifties, emigrated to the US in 1986 and bought the property that I lost last year, in the early nineties. I guess I am a boomer?”

In American / Western European cultural terms at least, you are a tail-end baby-boomer, which means that you are part of the “Gen Jones” demographic. Tail-end boomers born in the late fifties and such got a bit of a raw deal compared to their older siblings and cousins in the baby boom. That's why they have a distinct cultural demographic category all to themselves. They came of age in the mid-to-late 1970s (when a not insignificant chunk of my cohort was born, the “baby busters”). There are a lot of parallels between our two cultural demographics (those born in the mid-to-late fifties and seventies).

Put another way, the Gen Jonesers were the original punks and their cultural heirs were the post-(post-)punks / punk revivalists. Each generation/step-generation is either a kid brother or a bastard of the previous one, it seems to me. Of course, I’ve always looked backwards more than many my age because I always wanted an older sibling to sort things out with.

And of course every generation has its exiles, emigres, and drifters (which gets back to the “falling through the cracks” theme).

Permalink Reply by Jon Coe on February 6, 2009 at 3:52pm: I was too old to be a punk and too young to be a hippy, so I sort of made my way through life as my own person. I had no siblings to outline what I should shade inside of, so I just let myself run free. My mother was extremely liberal and I started my travels in life at the age of fifteen. Of course, hitch-hiking back in the mid-seventies was pretty safe as lad to be scouring the motorways of Great Britain. I met a lot of weird and wonderful people on the road that fitted into all kinds of categories.

I sort of miss those days now. Try hitch-hiking the Capital Beltway?

Permalink Reply by Jon Coe on February 6, 2009 at 4:00pm: ......anyway SlumburbiaResident...I relate to what you are saying very well. You write most fluently and I look forward to speaking to you again.

Returning to my questions and comments; So what's next? Am I supposed to drop from the face of the earth altogether once the IRS get a hold of my short-sale disclosure from the mortgage company that I had already paid thousands to anyway? I am to petition my case to the philanthropist residents of, the hang-out-in-coffee-shop club? Otherwise, there is nothing in this system that will help someone like myself in my present situation.

Permalink Reply by SlumburbiaResident on February 6, 2009 at 4:02pm: Let me try to jump-start this thread again as I have taken it off the beaten path with my reverie on Western / American generations.

Who falls through the cracks in our economy?:

The weak, the mentally ill, the isolated, the ornery and independent-minded, the proud and stubbornly self-reliant, the old people nobody listens to anymore....

And: The people who believed all along that wealth and value should be closely aligned with one another.

Who gets bailed out?:

The shrewd, the self-righteous, the mighty, the well-connected, the self-serving, the dependent/co-dependent, those with loud voices and an outsized sense of entitlement.

The adept politicians, the powerful groups they court, the technocrats, the know-it-alls.

I could provide myriad links to news stories from the recent past that illustrate these truths but then I know that you all have felt many of these things as well.

What say all of you?