The last few weeks have shaken the financial sector to it’s very underpinnings, and in the process have scared the general public witless.  Portraying himself as a knight in shining armor, John McCain grandstanded by shutting down his campaign until he was able to get the financial crisis in Washington resolved, adding yet more gas to the fire of uncertainty! I was appalled by this blatant gambit to keep people from focusing on his economic (or lack of) policies. President Bush looked like a moose caught in the headlights of a locomotive when he went on the tube to discuss the need for a bailout. Obama was being cautious as he could be, noting that Presidents should be able to multitask, referring to the upcoming debate slated for last Friday evening that Senator McCain seemed anxious to avoid.  Joe Biden kept tripping over his own tongue by saying things like Delano Roosevelt went on T.V. to calm people down … Uh Joe, when was T.V. invented?

I am upset with the whole enchilada…the creation of mortgage derivatives, the inability of regulators to do thier jobs, the defunding of regulators by Congress and the President and the effect it has had on the economy, and specifically one of it’s engines: Real Estate.

In light of our history of bailouts, they have focused on major players in the economy and in my lifetime, actually in the last 25 years this would be the second time we bailed out the banking financial sector.  I do have a somewhat focused interest in all this as it is stopping my qualified buyers from getting mortgages, and preventing any sense of security in the purchase of a home.  My lively hood is being affected and more importantly, the economy of our country is gumming up.

But I think we in the industry all have a hand in this mess…how many agents wondered how thier client could afford the house they were buying? Did many of us simply take the commission and run? How many lenders were wary of the lax underwriting when we were in the  midst of the ‘05-’06 market? Didn’t anyone think that what goes up MUST come down? It always does and now there is payback.

And there were all the come ons with equity lines! I have to agree with Brian Buffini when he said the equity lines are a bad idea, allowing people to put thier homes in hock so “they can buy things they don’t need, with money they don’t have to impress people they don’t know.” 

One thing that I do know is that we will come together, figure out a solution and we will come back even stronger economically. And, hopefully we will extricate ourselves from a 10 billion dollar monthly drain with our involvement in Iraq.

700 billion is a lot to endure, and I know we are all angry that it has come to this.  I encourage you to contact your representatives in the House and Senate and ask for them to proceed with restrictions and penalties for the companies that have been the worse offenders.  How about we send some CEO’s to account for thier actions instead of giving them millions in reward money? How about we all get shares of the institutions we are bailing out?

Someone said in an email, rather than paying the banks, divy up the 700 billion and give that to us…all 302 million adults in this country? It would end foreclosure immediatly and drive a boom in all areas of the economy.   Then again, we don’t have anyone as our lobbyists in DC…

That’s One Man’s Opinion