WeAreThem

Here you can read their (mostly) pathetic excuses for a reply. For those of you who live in Washington state, hopefully this will give you an idea what kind of people you have representing you in D.C.

I patently refuse to accept the excuse that my letter was answered by an intern or whomever and that there are too many letters for the congressperson to reply to. I would be fine with an intern answering my email if they sent a marginally meaningful reply and I had some sense that the congressperson had some understanding of what it means to represent my viewpoint and that of the multitudes of people who share the same viewpoint.

Rest assured, there are many of us.

 

So few people take the time to write to their representatives that when we do, we deserve better.

I encourage ALL of you to write to your congresspeople as well. I give permission to re-use any of my writings in this post if you like for that purpose.

Remember, YOU pay their salary with YOUR money. Make them work for it.

 

I used congress.org so I could email all of them in one shot. Still haven’t heard back from George Bush…

Here’s what I originally wrote:

 

Dear {congresscritter},

 

In all the hype about our current economic woes, is there anyone willing to stand up for those who were kept from buying a home in the first place by all the irresponsible borrowers who took out loans they couldn’t/wouldn’t be able to repay and used them to drive real estate prices ridiculously high?

 

Those of us who tried to save up for a down payment and buy a home responsibly, for example with a 30 year fixed mortgage, only to find that prices had inflated to absurd levels, would really like an answer.

 

And please direct the fed to protect the value of the dollars we have
worked very hard to earn instead of constantly devaluing them in a futile attempt to stave off the coming(and badly needed) economic correction.

Please let the chips fall where they may and stop taxing us via inflation.

Sincerely,

{Markus’s Real Name}

 

Ok, here’s what I got back from Senator Patty Murray:

Dear {Markus’ real name}:

Thank you for contacting me regarding mortgage reform. It is good to hear from you on this important issue.

As you know, the United States has been hit by a wave of home foreclosures and defaults on home mortgage loans. Although numerous factors are contributing to this situation, a central issue is the current state of lending practices. Many people entered into loan agreements which proved to be beyond their financial means, and as a result the number of defaults on mortgage loans has skyrocketed. This issue affects not only those families who are now facing foreclosure, but also all American homeowners and the economy as a whole.

I have long been concerned about this situation. Last spring, as Chairman
of the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee, I held a hearing to analyze proposals to reform and modernize the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and other potential remedies to help stem the tide of projected home foreclosures. I also secured $180 million in funding to support counseling assistance programs that will provide troubled borrowers with housing counseling and foreclosure prevention assistance so they more fully understand the home-financing options that are available to them and have the tools they need to prevent foreclosure. As we move forward, I believe the federal government has a role to play in stemming future foreclosures, but this role must be carefully balanced with adjustments in the private sector in order to achieve a sustainable solution.

There are numerous proposals currently being considered in Congress
designed to strengthen lending practices so borrowers are better informed and less likely to enter into mortgages they cannot afford. In December 2007, Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) introduced S. 2452, the Home Ownership Preservation and Protection Act, which would tighten restrictions on mortgage originators and brokers, and increase the amount of documentation required to determine a person’s ability to repay a loan. As the 110th Congress progresses, I will carefully consider this and all proposals regarding mortgage reform, and will certainly keep your thoughts in mind.

I understand the vital importance of safe and affordable housing for all
Americans, and I will continue fighting for accessible mortgage and
renting options that keep people in their homes. Thank you for contacting me, and please feel free to share your comments again in the future.

I hope all is well in Mountlake Terrace.

—-

 

As you might imagine, I was a bit miffed that she completely ignored my point. The Letter I got from Maria Cantrell was equally inane. How the hell do these people get elected anyway?

 

So here’s what I wrote back to both of them. Keep in mind this was back around Jan31, so I have given them PLENTY of time to reply:

 

Dear Senator Murray,

 

With all due respect, I believe you missed the entire point of my letter.
As I am a fair and decent person I will give you an opportunity to revise or update your response before I publish it on both
Thehousingbubbleblog.com and WeAreThem.com(
http://thehousingbubbleblog.com and http://WeAreThem.com respectively).

 

The crux of my question is what do you plan to do about high housing
prices? Clearly they only reached the heights they are currently at
because so much easy credit was given to the uncreditworthy, who then used it to skew market prices higher and higher.

 

Those of us who responsible saved for a down payment had to sit and watch as this drove the price of owning our own home beyond our reach.

 

And now you want to reward this irresponsible behavior by using my tax dollars to help them keep these houses that they should never have gotten in the first place? Did it ever occur to you that perhaps real estate prices are simply too high for responsible borrowers to afford?

 

Please explain how you can possibly justify this course of action.

 

Please help me explain to my 5 year old little girl why she doesn’t have
a backyard to play in, but her friends whose parents are in credit card
debt up to their eyeballs, do.

 

Respectfully,

{Markus’ real name}

 

I do need to add that Rep. Jay Inslee actually did come back with a
halfway decent reply. Or at least he acknowledged the ACTUAL issue I was writing about:

 

Dear Mr. {Markus’ real name}:

Thank you for contacting me and expressing your concerns about the sub prime mortgage industry and federal bailouts of lending institutions. I appreciate hearing from you.

I understand why you are concerned with idea of the federal government bailing out mortgage companies and lenders. Like you, I am worried that it is not appropriate for the federal government to subsidize either bad business practices or poor borrowing choices. I will be on the lookout for ways to appropriately address the situation, and rest assured that I will keep your concerns in mind throughout. I am wary of government actions that reward bad behavior, but I believe that it is my responsibility to consider appropriate legislation that may help to avoid any impending economic downturns which would affect millions of hard working American families. I am watching the current situation closely.

You may be happy to hear that the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act recently passed the House by a vote of 291 - 127, with my support. This bill will create a licensing system for residential mortgage loan originators, establish a minimum standard….

blah blah blah. I would be happy to post the whole thing if anyone’s interested. At least he had the decency to pay lip service to the actual point I raised.

 

I’ve met the guy a couple times, and he seems like a decent guy. I agree with him on most issues, but I voted against him in the last election because I didn’t like his stance on the reform of Marijuana laws.

That’s a subject for another post, but considering that we have a record number of our citizens in prison, I thinks it’s WAY past time that the Cannabis laws were updated such that we treat its possession and sale more like alcohol(which is more harmful and dangerous than cannabis!) than the way we do now which is to essentially lump it in with cocaine, heroine, and meth - as if it were even a fraction as harmful and dangerous as any of those. But I digress…

 

As for my two senators, I will do anything I can to see to it that they lose their jobs next election. I reccomend any WATers in WA do the same.

 

Markus