Thursday, September 11, 2008

Foreclosures Hit Home

By Jesse Bueno

About 5 years ago, I helped a friend move his family into their first house out in Long Island. Over the years we had outdoor parties, barbecues, beerfests and domino games into the night. This weekend, I helped him move out. He had to sell in order to avoid foreclosure. A few thousand bucks could have saved the house, but it wasn't to be. At the same time this was happening, our government bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and no, these are not white rappers getting out of a suburban jail, these are federally subsidized mortgage companies who were so grossly mismanaged they need an act of Congress to save them; a move which will ultimately place the liability of 5 trillion dollars in default mortgages on the backs of US taxpayers.

Now this wouldn't bother me so much if 70% of all new mortgages in recent months hadn't been approved by these companies. If they knew they were in trouble, why continue to operate without at least warning people? This would send any CEO of a non-government subsidized company directly to jail. Instead, those same assholes are getting severance packages in the millions, all while the deficit rises at $750,000 a minute. All my friend needed was a window of a few thousand dollars and he could have kept his home. The interest rate on our deficit alone could build a new home for every registered voter in the United States. When we go to the polls this November, we will all have political reasons for our choices…I think I just found a personal one.


[An artist, athlete, attorney, Army veteran and all-around pain in the ass, Jesse Bueno speaks his mind and takes no prisoners. He is also a dear friend - KJ]

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