July 25th, 2009
In this morning’s paper was a letter to the editor railing against the proposed health care reforms because “when the state pays for health care, the state gets to make decisions about who gets health care, and how much.” The author compared the current proposals to those of the Nazis and the Communists. Do I detect a trend here? Is this a Republican, Conservative, right-wing talking point?
First, I would like to call attention to the fact that the above mentioned health programs were run by RIGHT-WING nut jobs, dictators and despots. These are the same type of people who think it’s perfectly okay to wiretap their citizens and imprison them indefinitely without charges.
This is what drives me crazy about the Republican party and the conservative movement. Given my druthers I would love to run scans on many of their brains to try to gain an understanding of how their twisted thinking originates. But of course, that is something the Right would command, and the Left would never seriously consider.
The same people who urged government involvement in the very private matter of the Terry Schiavo case are the same ones who mischaracterize the current plan as a government plot to intrude in our health care decisions. Seriously, what cluster of brain cells is firing?
My insurance company has the absolute right to determine what care I get and how much of it I am entitled to. They also determine what medicines I can be prescribed and what tests I get. You may have heard stories of women giving birth and being forced to leave the hospital in a matter of hours. And how about the women forced to leave the hospital after a mastectomy and dragging their drainage tubes behind them? Kicking people out of hospitals early is not the decision of the hospital or the physician. It’s purely at the behest of insurance companies.
My daughter was delivered via caesarian section. I moved and changed insurance companies a few years later and guess what was specifically excluded from that new policy for several years? Anything that might have resulted from or could possibly be blamed on that c-section.
My mother is on Medicare. Her government run health care program is exquisite. No one tells her what doctors to see or what level of care is permitted. Those decisions are made purely by my mother and her providers.
My husband served in the military many years ago and has VA. His government run health care is terrific. His doctors spend considerable time with him, and with their sophisticated record-keeping nothing is missed.
The utter failure in our current health care system is the insurance-based part of it. It doesn’t work. It’s overpriced. It’s inefficient. It’s corrupt. It’s flat out cruel.
What the hell are these Conservative and Republican idiots talking about? Their arguments are pure “1984.” The rabbit hole. Lunacy.
If for no other reason than to actually force the insurance companies to compete, we need the public option.
Therefore, in the interest of what the editorial page letter writer referred to as the “collective,” I demand CT scans for all of those on the right who are making these specious arguments against government involvement. (And I also want to see their emails, bank records, telephone bills, employment histories, etc.)
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P.S. I talk to many people burdened with debt caused by this health care mess. They are being hammered twice — by their health insurance (or lack of it) and the financial crisis. If this describes you, I might be able to help. Please visit http://www.debt2zip.com
Categories: Commentary, Government, Personal Finance, Politics, Taxes, Uncategorized |
Tags: conservative, debt2zip, health, health care reform, insurance, Republican, Republicans, right wing | 4 Comments
January 11th, 2009
Some things just seem to require a little common sense, and fixing the mortgage crisis is one of them. I heard a story on National Public Radio a couple of weeks ago. I haven’t heard anything about the concept since, and it really requires more discussion.
According to an article in Wikipedia on the subprime mortgage crisis, “As of August 2008, 9.2% of all mortgages outstanding were either delinquent or in foreclosure.” (The source is the Mortgage Bankers Association website, http://www.mbaa.org/NewsandMedia/PressCenter/64769.htm.) Think about this for a second. Almost 10% of all mortgages are in trouble.
- Would you buy a toy for your child if there was a 10% chance the toy contains lead?
- Would you buy an electrical appliance if there was a 10% chance that faulty wiring will cause a fire?
- Would you buy a car from a manufacturer whose air bags fail 10% of the time?
Yet this is precisely what we’re being asked to do when we buy today’s mortgage “products.” (And that is the term lenders use.)
Current mortgage regulations date from the days when borrowers and lenders negotiated loan terms face to face. Those days are long gone, and yet the laws assume borrowers and lenders are on an equal footing. Not long ago I sat next to clients who were purchasing a home. We were at the closing, and they were seeing their loan documents for the first time. (Lenders now fax the documents to the closing attorney or escrow at the last possible moment.) They had gotten their loan through one of those Internet companies that promise cheap rates, and the terms of the loan were not what they had been told. Not even close. They called the 800 number and argued with the clerk at the other end. In the end they were told that if they didn’t like the loan they could refinance at a future date or they could go somewhere else.
Here’s the problem –
- You can’t get a new loan at the drop of a hat. It would probably take a minimum of 3-5 days under the best of circumstances. The property will need to be re-appraised, and the buyer would have to pay out more money.
- The seller may not be willing or able to extend the contract, and there’s no provision in a typical real estate contract for this type of circumstance.
- The buyer has made commitments. In this case, the buyers’ moving van was parked in the driveway of the new house. The buyer would have to pay storage for their household goods and incur the expense of staying somewhere else temporarily. Depending on how prudently they packed, they might have things they badly need for personal or business reasons buried in a box at the back of the truck.
Negotiating a mortgage loan is a far cry from negotiating face to face, and it can be a far cry from fair and ethical behavior from entities that hold all the power. If we’ve learned nothing from all the various corporate scandals that have come our way lately, it’s that we can’t count on large corporations to be fair and ethical with their customers.
The speaker on NPR had a brilliant solution, and I sure wish I’d gotten her name. Here’s how to fix the mortgage crisis once and for all: Mortgage lenders refer to the loans they make as “products,” and it’s true. They are. As such they should be overseen by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Forget the Treasury Department and the SEC and all those agencies who haven’t lifted a finger to protect consumers from these mortgage products. Let’s put oversight where it belongs — the Consumer Product Safety Commission. And let’s give them the budget and the inspectors they need to get the job done.
Lastly, here’s my little self-promotion — if you want to take power back from lenders who clearly don’t care about you or your interests, please visit my website: United First Financial. I can help you get out from under. Instead of contributing to what is probably the largest building in your town, I can help you keep your hard-earned money for yourself and your family. Basically, you can stick it to them by cutting down on their income. Perfect.
Categories: Commentary, Economy, Government, Personal Finance, Taxes, Uncategorized |
Tags: commission, consumer product, crisis, financial, first, fix, Mortgage, safety, united | 2 Comments
January 4th, 2009
Competence. Is it so much to ask? And how about a little honesty and ethics. Along with millions of others, I am counting down the days to Mr. Obama’s inauguration. It can’t come soon enough.
I have sat across the breakfast table and talked to people who are about to lose their homes. It’s heartbreaking. The people I spoke with had done nothing wrong. Some were in trouble because of medical bills; others had been undone by mortgage brokers who sold them a bill of goods.
It makes me angry when people talk about how citizens got greedy and somehow expected something for nothing. That’s not what happened at all. Many low-income people do not have the understanding of personal finances that those who make a more comfortable living do. They have aspirations to be more than they are, but many don’t have the first clue about money management. Shoot. My husband and I have had to teach young adults how to use a checkbook, for God’s sake. They sure don’t know enough to second guess that suit-wearing church member who promises to look after them when he puts them into a sub-prime loan. And they certainly don’t grasp the finer points of bundling loans and selling them to overseas investors.
These people, our friends and neighbors and fellow taxpayers just like us, are now not only losing their homes but also their jobs. Their futures are pretty bleak indeed. And where is the Bush administration in its waning days? Certainly not looking out for anyone who makes less than $1 million per year.
Here’s where competence comes in. Henry Paulson I’m sure took more than a few economics courses when he was in school. These courses teach basic things like the fact that when people spend money in their neighborhood grocery store, that money goes to pay the workers in that store, who then go on to pay taxes and spend their money in other stores, and on and on. At each step of the way, a little money goes to the owners of those stores who then use the money to hire more people and invest to make their stores bigger, better and more efficient. The money touches many hands and multiplies all the way up. This is Econ 101, and it’s basic. Money moves up the chain, and a little sticks to everyone’s paws on the way up.
Now we’ve come to pay the price for this idiotic ideology of “trickle down” economics. If money starts at the top, it’s going to stay at the top. Always has; always will. Ask any medieval lord who benefited greatly from his serfs. Those lords had a great deal of wealth to spend of private armies and great estates; the serfs didn’t do so well. The people who strive to become lords aren’t planning to look out for the interests of those they wish to make their serfs.
If ever there was a fraud perpetrated on the American public, “trickle down economics” was it. Where were the people who were supposed to make us aware of this flimflam? Where was Sixty Minutes and the investigative journalism that should have brought this to light? And if this was such a big part of the Republican agenda, why weren’t Democrats speaking loudly in opposition?
Of course, maybe I missed it. I was busy in the eighties when the whole thing began under the Reagan administration. Things felt relatively okay under the Clinton administration. I didn’t really start paying attention until this administration. I’ve been keeping a pretty close eye on things for the past eight years, though, and I don’t remember anyone criticizing Bush’s economic policies until it all started to fall apart a few months ago.
My husband and I have had stocks, and we’ve had investment property. We’ve managed to lose a ton of money on both over the years. It’s enough to make one just a tad cynical. What I have learned is what the fat cats aren’t telling us. Yes, it would be nice for their bonuses and stock options if we all go out and spend money we don’t have, provided we can borrow it. But no, that’s not the wisest thing to do. What I have learned the hard way is that the only security in this world is having a home that’s paid for and being debt free. Then your capital is locked in, and the whims of the markets and the idiocies of the powers that be can’t touch you.
I know of an honest-to-God program that will do this. It’s proven. It’s tested. It’s recommended by experts. Click here to see what it’s about — United First Financial. We can’t always protect ourselves when the idiots who have power over us have little competence, honesty or ethics, but we sure can help ourselves by erecting a cash wall around us. And then, we should complain loudly and often to our elected officials that protections need to be put in place for us.
Categories: Uncategorized |
Tags: competence, economics, ethics, financial, first, honest, trickle down, united | 1 Comment
