Foreclosure

Yesterday I got a notice that the bank will be foreclosing on my house. Needless to say, I am a bit upset.

Yet, the real problem is that I know there well be people that will say that the problem is that I am lazy, or that I am greedy. Yet, I wonder. I started supporting myself when I was about fourteen years old. That is, my parents started a lawn mowing business when I was fourteen. I worked mowing the lawns, and the money was spent to buy food for the family.

The fact is that my father, despite the fact that he is very intelligent, and a hard worker, could not find work that would pay well enough to support his family in the small town we lived in. He was working two full time jobs himself in his attempts to support a family.

The reason he was willing to suffer this indignity is that this allowed me to go to college. In view of the sacrifice my parents made to allow me to get a college education, I can really appreciate my parents, even though I didn't have the advantages that many of my contemporaries did.

Yet, after I graduated from college, I was forced to bail my parents out because of government lies. That is, my father decided to build a new house - then only new house he ever lived in. He planned the house well, including the loan he would get, and how he would pay for it. Since he didn't have much income, or down payment, he was forced to get an FHA loan, which is a government sponsored loan. Before he got the loan, and all the while he was building his house (he literally built it - he hired a contractor, then got a job with the contractor to build his house) he was assured he could finish the basement with his own money, and rent the apartments out. After the house was built, and had spent the money, he was told he could not rent out the apartments because if he did, then it was a business, and therefore he would have to pay off the entire loan all at once.

I could help, however, by renting one of those apartments since I was living in the same town. The government can't complain if I decide to live in my parents.

Even so, my father ultimately lost what little money he had because of the lie.

I should point out that I lived in a college town. The housing shortage then was legendary. That is, the college had to rent a local motel, and hotel to house college students about two or three years latter.

That was years ago, long before I bought this house. People will say I shouldn't have gotten a sub-prime mortgage. I have to admit that I bought this house with a sub-prime mortgage. At the time I had to make child support payments. That is, I had been married. Since my wife did not know how to raise children, I had stayed home to raise the children while she worked. (I had also had several work-at-home type jobs.) She had actually abused the children. However, the State did not believe that women could be abusive, so she was given custody.

The police, however, had to intervene. Once they pointed out to her that she could go to jail for her actions toward her children, she decided the child support payments were not worth the risk, so I knew that once I got into my house I would not have to make child support payments, so I felt safe buying the house even those it was technically more than I could pay for.

Even so, I had to make child support payments for six months while my children were living with me.

As soon as the interest rate for my ARM was adjusted to a rate that was comparable with the currently offered fixed rates, I refinanced - easy now because my expenses were very much less. I refinanced twice after this - always insisting on a no-closing-cost loan so that I didn't loose money in the closing cost.

One definite impression I remember is that this sub-prime mortgage was going to be a problem. The reason being that, in defense of banks, banks generally are willing to loan money to people who can pay it back, that's their business. All the stupid rigmarole they send people through to get a loan is to determine if there is a reasonable chance the money will be paid back. Therefore, if a bank refuses someone a loan, it usually means they can't pay for it. What this lower rate loan did is it allowed people to borrow money when the usual safeguards were not there. For me, this was good because I know my child support payments would end, and that the loan would be refinanced. But the lenders were loaning this money to people who are not as cautious as me, and who don't think about the future that much. These are the people I thought would have trouble, and these are the people who have had trouble, sparking the current financial crisis. (I have to say, "sparking," not causing. The budget deficit, and the fact that the people and government of the United States insist on living beyond their means is the real cause of the crisis - any hiccup could have sparked it.)

Then I lost my job. In reality, the problem is that I have always been deaf in one ear. The company insisted on holding meetings in a large warehouse, with a lot of background noise. I complained on several occasions, but the company refused to allow us to use a meeting room. My boss and I had arrived at a sort of compromised. The group would have their meetings. I would pick up what little I could under those conditions. After the meeting, I would talk with my boss in his office, and he would fill me in on what I had missed.

The company decided to downsize, and, since I was the one person who did not look like they were paying attention in the meetings (rather than looking at the person talking, I would try to point my ear in that direction) I was the one they picked. Therefore, I lost my job.

This left me in the position where I didn't have any income, nor a spouse to depend on to help me out over the hump. My immediate response was to try to start a business. This was 2002, and Bush had not been in office long enough (I hoped) to totally destroy the economy. (One of Bush's campaign promises during his original campaign was that he would destroy the economy. Now a well publicized promise, however.) I was wrong.

That is, when Bush became president he decided to "stimulate the economy" by putting in all the Reagan tax cuts that Clinton and the elder Bush had repudiated. This ran up the Federal deficit to the point that the government was sopping up all the credit in the United States. There was literally no credit left to start a business.

Most the banks and lenders I talked to thought my business plan was good, and that it would work, but they had no money to lend.

(One of the differences between the horrible Clinton years, with its high taxes, and balanced budget, and the Bush years with the tax cuts to stimulate the economy, is that during the Clinton years there were many new startup businesses. While there may be one or two now, there are not many.)

End that possibility. Next, I decided to see if I could write to make some money, after all, I enjoy writing, so I wrote a novel. So far I have not been able to sell it, however. Therefore, that possibility was also at an end. I had maybe more than a year writing, or taking writing classes.

I had had a business name that I worked under before I got divorced, primarily as an umbrella for my work-at-home activities. I restarted this business, and got a good contract. I was promised $70,000 a year for an indefinite period, which looked good to me, so I accepted the position. I worked for about a year on this, then the contracting party decided not to continue the project, and, since they hadn't paid for the work done, they wouldn't pay for that either. So I ended up out about $70,000, and still with no job.

During all of this, I was submitting resumes to companies. I had a professional resume service rework my resume, but still didn't get a job. I have probably submitted the resume to thousands of companies, but so far only gotten maybe half a dozen interviews, and no jobs. I suppose I am too old to work, yet too young to retire.

So now I have to loose everything I own so that some rich guys can get more money.

I must admit, as a post script, that when it was announced that Gov. Palin's husband had been a member of the Alaska Independence Party(AIP), I listened. I found it an interesting sidelight to the current campaign. After all, with the way I have been treated through the years by the United States government, why would anyone suspect that I might be suspicious of anyone who wanted out? Personally, I will vote for Obama, but it will because I think there is the possibility (not the certainty) that he will handle the economy right, working toward a balanced budget. McCain's ideas are the same as the ideas that got us into this mess. He talks about balancing the budget - so did Bush - but he only offers tax cuts to do it. This, by itself will not balance the budget. But on top of this, he promises whatever new program he thinks will attract voters, and ignores questions like, "How will we pay for it?" Obama's plan is also somewhat questionable, but at least he acknowledges that taxes will go up. (They would go up under McCain as well - otherwise we could look forward to runaway inflation when China decides to quit financing the United States government. The United States takes foreign aid, too.)