MucheDumbre

2.6 million Jobs lost, almost a million homes foreclosed on, 2 financial icons disappear, the government buying up 9 of the nations top banks, $7 trillion lost by shareholders, one state preparing IOU’s for it’s inhabitants, and a $200 billion surplus to almost a trillion dollar deficit- but hey, we haven’t been attacked

on our soil since 9/11.

1434 lives lost in Katrina and 300,000 homes lost, largest Government expansion in 50 years and the largest civil rights shredding law ever seen in this country- but you know what? We’ve been safe since 9/11.

Confirmed torture by the US government, 30,000 held in secret by US Government, 2 wars, one member of the inner circle of the Oval Office convicted of lying about his involvement in outing an undercover CIA agent working on WMD’s and the systematic attempt at public humiliation for anyone who tried to tell the truth -but that 9/11 thing didn’t happen again on his watch.

Disappearing glaciers, dying species and dwindling funds for public schools -but we’ve thwarted the

terrorists.

One admitted mistake with a banner, one  WMD regret, one forged report, one ignored PDB and a lie in the State of the Union address-but the terrorists haven’t struck us at home since 9/11.

I’m not indifferent to what George Bush is trying to do here. I understand that all Presidents want a grand legacy and all of them will slant their time in office so as to make them seem better than they were. I get that and I’m even OK with it. What pisses me off, what just sticks in my craw is watching the conservative MSM coo and gush over  that spin like a 12 year old girl watching a Jonas Brothers video. This is the same media who 8 years ago defined the last President as the liar who lacked morals because he got a blow job and lied about it. Not a one of them stepped up to say anything about his accomplishment in welfare reform, how he’d kept American soil safe after the first WTC bombing or that from 1991 to 2000, the United States experienced 37 quarters of economic expansion, the longest period of expansion on record.. Oh, but they will sure swoon over George Bush like he was the 1st President to have ever kept this country from being attacked after he ignored the intelligence that allowed for us to be attacked in the first place.

President Bush said the other day that he had inherited a recession and he leaves under a recession. No, he’s leaving an economy that hasn’t been this bad since the Depression. An economy that  is getting worse and has everyone in the world putting all of their hopes in the newly elected hands of a man who has all of 2 years of political office under his belt. I’m not saying Barrack can’t do it, I’m saying that Barrack shouldn’t have to be the president that is leading the United States of America in it’s most pivotal moment ever, the moment when it will either climb above the failures and destruction caused by it’s previous administration or the moment where it will crumble and burn out of existence. He shouldn’t have to be the leader during this time because we should have never come to this fork in the road.

Although, there is something to be said for the symbolism of the United States rising out of the blood of her original inhabitants, being built off the backs of it’s imported minorities and the threat of it’s final shudder and swan song under her first minority leader.

If President Bush can step away from another one of his disastrous leadership roles and all that conservative MSM cares to drill into our heads is once again the fear mongering of 9/11,9/11,9/11 and the horrible state of affairs that he inherited from the last guy that he couldn’t do anything but worsen over the last 8 years, then I hope these same conservative media heads will give President Obama the same pass no matter the outcome of his tenure.

It amazes me that Bill Clinton gets the blame for 9/11 because it was his inaction that lead to President Bush having to deal with a massive crisis 9 months into his tenure. It does make me wonder if there is another attack, can we finally blame something on George Bush? But I’m sure the conservative MSM will rant and rave that it’s not his fault, it’s the Democrats fault.

My colleague at the muchedumbre news desk tells me I don’t understand the war on terror the way he does, I don’t understand why there is such an extreme need for the massive size and secrecy of our Government  and that I’m naive because I fear giving any government that much power over it’s citizens. I don’t understand that terrorists will do whatever it takes to kill us so we must

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meet them on an even playing field. What he has never understood is that there are worse things out there then another 9/11. There are other forces out there that can crumble a nation and while he and his conservative media friends were busy discrediting me and others like me, those other forces were allowed in. He never understood that another 9/11 wouldn’t destroy this country, it would hurt and it would piss us off, but we’d survive it like we did the after the other attacks on our soil. But another era like the 1930’s? Another Dust Bowl? Well I guess we’ll get to see if this country can survive another era of greed.

But hey, we’ve been safe since 9/11 so what am I worried about.

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I know they’re cold, but there’s nothing I can do, the power’s been off for 4 days now. Maybe another blanket on them and one on the windows will help. It’s still November, it doesn’t get cold enough to freeze to death this early.

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Oh, if only I could have made something other than cold potted meat sandwiches for dinner, maybe they could sleep easier. Atleast there were 2 cookies left, one for each of them. Milk would have made the cookies better, but that’s too much of a luxury to think about. Ha, even Spam is a luxury these days.

shhh…..shhh, I know baby, I know. Here, lay next to your sister, the two of you laying together will help keep you both warm. Yes, I’ll make something better than potted meat for breakfast. How does peanut butter and bananas on crackers sound? I know bread would be better but we ate the last piece at dinner… I know the store is open early, I’ll try and get some in the morning then. No, that’s your school lunch money, you keep it and eat a good hot lunch, really I don’t need it, I’ve got a couple dollars in change, I’ll get some bread. Don’t worry, just get some sleep.

I really don’t know what happened to us. We’ve never been rich or even well-off but we’ve always gotten by. What happened? Where did it go wrong. I try and think of a specific moment, a moment where I can say “AHA! Right There! Right There is where it went bad” But try as I might, I just can’t find that moment.

DAMN! The mortgage! It’s 3 months late today. 2 months is ok, but 3? What am I going to tell them this time? How many times can I beg for more time. Where will we go if they throw us out? The kids can probably stay with my in-laws. They can barely take care of themselves, but it’s better than the camp grounds, I don’t like it out there and there is no way I’m going to let my kids stay out there. I can live with whatever happens, but not them.

That woman today, why did she look at me like she was better than I was? I don’t understand that. I work! I work harder than she does. All she does is sit there and check off the names of who’s next. I went to college damnit, I work 5-6 days a week and another 3 nights a week. I am not asking for a free-handout! Does she think I enjoy coming into the office and asking for help? Does she think that this is somehow fun? That it’s not the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever done in my life? I am not a drag on society, I work! I pay my taxes, I save part of my check each week, I send my kids to school and make sure they keep their grades up! Yes, I am 3 months behind on my mortgage, my power is turned off and my other utilities are extended well beyond their grace periods, but I didn’t do anything on purpose! I couldn’t stop the price of gas from going up, the price of eggs from doubling, and the price of milk,bread,juice from tripling. Fresh fruits & vegetables? Those are exotic expenditures for us now. I didn’t do anything wrong! I worked harder than I ever had, I had to spend more money because everything cost more, I couldn’t help that the money I was making went down drastically. You can adjust when there’s a gradual incline but the prices tripled in a matter of weeks… my paydays didn’t.

At first it was just a trickle, nothing big. I managed the $20 loss here and the $15 loss there. That was ok because that was our weekly extra spending money and savings. A cheap dinner at Steak ‘n Shake and movie. Maybe a fancy dinner a Carrabba’s and a DVD rental. A little bit in the savings account. Sure, it was nice, but those things could wait. But then one week we lost another $50. That hurt, not much, really just a little but it wasn’t going to be a permanent thing it was going to come back and gas isn’t going to go much higher than $3.50.

Another 2 weeks, gas is up to almost $4 a gallon, total lost wages are now at $225 a week. I wish I could

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pick up more than 2 nights at Burger King, but I’m lucky to have gotten that as a second job,  since this is the 1st summer they haven’t hired high school kids. It’s going to get better soon I know it.

How did I go from being comfortable to paying one bill a month and hoping and praying that I can get enough money to pay the others before they shut them off? I didn’t loose my job, in fact I have 2? So where is all the money going?

$7 for a box of tampons. $3.50 for a box of maxipads, $4 a bottle for midol and 3 girls living in the home.

$7 for instant coffee. $3.75 for the generic coffee creamer, $2.07 for a loaf of bread…. all luxuries, but also necessities. Atleast the coffee can be my breakfast and lunch and the girls can have some kind of sandwichs. The Salvation Army always gives us something that can go on bread.

Atleast gas is down to $1.95. I just wish the prices of everything else were going down also, but they are still rising.

I guess that’s where all it went. I was too accustomed to the luxury if having things like tampons,soft toilet paper, fresh apples,fresh broccoli. It’s healthier to eat turkey sandwiches for after school snacks or weekend lunches, but Ramon noodles are 5 for a $1 and a hungry stomach doesn’t care if it’s filled with junk or healthy food, as long as it’s filled.

I know that I should have paid the cable bill when it was 1 month old, but they let me go to 2 months, now I have to pay both and that’s just a fantansy. Same with water and power. I was doing so good too. I had it down to a science, pay water short by $10. Use that $10 to pay for school lunches. Let cable get to 75 days and then pay one month and get a pay arrangement for the rest and then use what’s left to pay power. I can turn the meter back on if they come out, so that gives me an extra week or two to pay that bill, that way if I have to, I can pay only the unregulated charges on the phone to keep it on. Cable and the house phone are not luxuries. How do I work without a phone? How do the kids do their homework without the computer? How do any of us find some kind of stress relief without a break that only a phone call from a friend or a comedy show at night can give?

It was all going smooth. It was even kinda fun, it was all small victories in a losing battle. I knew I would be getting a check at the end of the month and that would pay 90% of the mortgage, so everything was fine.

Unfortunately when you bounce on air like that, eventually you crash. Only I kept expecting everything to even out before it crashed. It’s my fault, I know it is. But hasn’t everyone made a mistake in their lives? Am I the only one who has ever made a bad call?

I never expected the little one to get sick and need medication. I’m not worried about the ER bill, what are they going to do? Hurt my credit? HA!HA! But I didn’t expect her to get sick the same time the baby sitter did. I didn’t expect to have to take off 3 days from work. Once that domino started to fall…they all fell. Tomorrow is going to be even colder, there is no money and there is no food and soon there will be no house. I didn’t do anything wrong damnit! Why did I lose everything? Why do people look at me like I am a lazy-good-for-nothing? Like I am trash! 10 months ago I WAS THE SAME AS THEY ARE! Don’t they get that through no fault of their own or very little fault … 10 months from now THEY COULD BE ME!

Why do we need to help the people below us? Because we don’t leave people behind in this country. We don’t leave a man or a woman down. We run back through the bullets and we get them. If they are injured and can’t get up by themselves, we carry them. We don’t leave our people behind.

There are a 1001 reasons why someone is in need. Some are lazy, some are unlucky and some are just as innonecent in their poverty as the guy with the great job,stable job, great benefits is as lucky in his. The unlucky ones worked just as hard, went to school just as long… but shit happens.

We don’t leave people behind. We’ve forgotten this. Along the way “poor” became synonymous with ‘minority’ and ‘uneducated’ and ‘lazy’. It became easier to get angry over our Social Policies. It became easier to say, “This is my money, why am I forced to give it to those people who refuse to help themselves”

It’s your money, yes. You didn’t cause these people to fall, I know. Yes, you did everything right. You pulled yourself up and so can they. I know, I’ve heard them all. But what happens when everything out there is working against you and you just can’t pull yourself up? What happens when you are begging to work, begging to make enough money to pay just a couple bills and feed your kids, not one or the other, but there is nothing out there. This isn’t a problem for certain demographics anymore. This isn’t being seen only in poorest,laziest and least educated of our community. This is being seen in every section of our society. I don’t know the answer. I’m not smart enough to figure out a plan that helps everyone and makes everyone happy. I only know one thing….

We don’t leave our people behind.

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Ben Stein told Larry King the other night his version of a republican and that pretty much sums of my idea of them also…

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STEIN: I want to see a return to the republicans like Dwight Eisenhower, balance the budget,small government, civil rights, no foreign adventures, keep the corporate people under control, watch them like hawks and that’s the Dwight Eisenhower Republicans and we’ve drifted far away. If we lose this election, it’s a chance for the party to return to its basics.

If they would just add in some social programs, I think I could be this kind of republican. But it’s the yearning for social programs that kicks me out of that party and into the literal/Democratic party.

Stein’s idea of a republican is also not what the GOP is practicing these days. Today they are all about super-sized spending and super-sized intrusive government. But that is for another blog…I want to talk about a couple of comments I’ve received.

Obama’s plans don’t actually help you. They provide a short-term benefit, but in the long term, even from a welfare point of view, are detrimental, as those who create jobs and wealth will slowly withdraw from the system.

Reading your message, it seems that you are saying that you feel entitled to take the fruit of my labor and utilize it for your own needs. I had always thought that you were a liberal, not a communist. Punishing those of us who work hard, and pair that hard work with a great deal of risk, will destroy our desire to achieve. When that happens, there will be no one left to steal from, I mean over-tax.

Another thing that Obama will ruin is charity. I have given around $15k to the food pantry at my church this year. When I close the doors at my business, or even if I stay open, who is going to fullfill the void I leave? Are you going to give a portion of the money, stolen from me by Obama’s big government, to this food pantry? Doubtful. And because these folks won’t be serviced by the pantry, Obama gets his wish – greater dependance on government help. This will snowball out of control…

There is so much wrong with this and other comments I’ve seen, such as

There is nothing in the constitution that provides for social programs from the federal government. If you want food stamps or free health care, get if from your State. but I am clearly for a far less big and intrusive Federal government that you are. I’m not sure if you recognize limits on Federal power. Is there anything that you think the federal government should not provide? Food (stamps), Housing, job training, daycare, health care, dental care? subsidized mortgages, subsidized anything?

There seems to be this misconception that the only who people would benefit from Obama’s tax breaks are the poorest of poor, or when Obama comes into office it will be food stamps and free healthcare for everyone. There is also this misconception that Obama is talking about implementing this new idea of a progressive tax system and a rebate via a new concept called the earned income child tax credit. Since both of the these programs were not only invented by High-adored Conservative Republicans, but were also strengthen by what I have been told is the “Obama version of the Republican party”, Ronald Regan, I am completely baffled by the outrage.

What both persons commenting don’t understand is that there will always be the poorest of the poor who get food stamps and free-healthcare. It doesn’t matter what president in office so that argument should be out to rest.

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Just because a Democrat is in the oval doesn’t mean the poor will get more free-stuff, just look at the biggest welfare reformer of all times, Bill Clinton, if you doubt that. Even that is not the issue though, the issue is … so what? So what if more people get more in food stamps and some kind of healthcare? Is it a drain on our economy? Yes, but so was that bridge to nowhere that Palin said no thanks to, when she really didn’t and even after she said she did, she kept the damn money. So is the billions that have been mismanaged in the Iraq war. But those are Republican-made spending so they are not evil and despotic, it’s only evil and despotic when the money will go to help a newborn get their polio vaccination or an 4.0 A student pay for their college.

Do I want my friends money taken from him and given to me so I can go out and party like it’s 1999? No. Do I want the same kind of tax-break that Donald Trump has been given over the last 8 years? Yes! Why does he deserve it more than me? Because he is wealthy and he employs thousands of people? Because if he doesn’t get it, then he will pack up and leave the country?

Bullshit on both accounts. First and foremost, under Obama he’ll have to fire his employees,close his doors and move to Ireland. Ya know what? Good, get the fuck out, we don’t want your unpatriotic, extorting ass here anyway and I don’t care how many people you employ! Because guess what? This is America and we still have the best of the best of anything, health professionals,retail stores,entertainment and while you may

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decide to move out, you’ll damn sure be back every chance you get to patronize us in some way.

I want to see all walks of life in this country get some kind of fair taxation, I want to see everyone in this country come together and help one another and I am the unpatriotic one? But when a business owner threatens to send his employees into the financial ruin, leave the country and give another country his buisness and employ their citizens, he’s the patriot? Bullshit!

“I’ll give less to charity” is another reason why we shouldn’t vote for Obama. Again, Bullshit! You cannot hold a gun to a poor person head and threaten them with death if a certain president is elected and call that patriotism. I know Tony Soprano would, but come on! You are extorting churches and charities now to prove your point?

NO, what you are doing is taking your ball and going home because you are pissed that you didn’t win the game. It’s a temper tantrum plain and simple.

This is a great analogy for those against the current progressive tax system

If you went to dinner with 10 people from your company, and you made more than everyone else, and everyone ordered the same exact meal, how do you divide the check?

The bill comes to 100 dollars. (I like round numbers.)

Because you make more than everyone else… you are now required to pay $50 for the meal.

Three of the people make middle income, so they have to pay $15 each.

Three more people make a modicum of income. They pay $5 dollars a piece.

The other three get their meal and the receive $3.33 to go home with.

Is that fair?

To some, it is. To others, it is not.

Is that fair? Of course in a perfect world it is not. Just because some people are more wealthy than others they shouldn’t be forced to pay more. But this is not a perfect or even fair world. For the last 8 years, using the ‘dinner tab’ analogy, the middle income guy has shouldered not only his share, but the share of the bottom guy and the top guy because the poor guy will never have the money no matter who is president and under the current administration and the McCain administration, the top guy isn’t paying his share either. Obama wants to change this, he wants to make the top guy pays his full share so it gives the middle guy a little bit of a break.

This is not socialism. This is not me taking money from my rich friends. This is me telling my rich friends that I can no longer pay my share and their share of the costs to live in the country.

Even Warren Buffet’s blasted the current tax system

Buffett cited himself, the third-richest person in the world, as an example. Last year, Buffett said, he was taxed at 17.7 percent on his taxable income of more than $46 million. His receptionist was taxed at about 30 percent.

No, the richest 1% shouldn’t have to have their money taken from them to pay for the people who will always look for the handout, but neither should I.

No, the richest 1% shouldn’t be the only ones to pay for our schools,roads, military and law enforcement, but I shouldn’t be the one to shoulder my burden of the cost and their burden of the cost.

Will Warren Buffet benefit less than his secretary will benefit more is the question. As long as he is paying his share and not making her pay hers and his portion, both will benefit. More money in her pocket gives her more money to spend on his products.

I understand why someone would take their business and their money to another country if their taxes were outrageously high. Rolling back George Bush’s tax credit does not constitute ‘outrageously high’ though.

I understand that noone wants to pay more taxes but don’t ever tell me that you should not have carry your burden of the cost to live in this country because you make more money than me. We all pay to live in this society and if we want to be safe and have a strong military we will have to pay for them, so stop demanding that you should get to pay less because you make so much more.

I love my wealthy friend to death and will miss him when he moves. And while he won’t be able to count on the same things in his new country that I can count on here, what he can count on is that under John McCain, I will still here paying my share and his share ensuring that this country will be here for him when decides to come home and shop. I only hope I will be able to bear this burden and not give up on my country and become one of the poor who is forced to live off the system or else he won’t have a motherland to come back to.

The wealthy can give up and move to another country if they are taxed, but the middle class, when they finally give up or just break will have nowhere to go except to the food stamp office.

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Do you ever wonder if they understand what it is exactly that this guy is doing?

Wouldn’t you think that somewhere along the way, someone would have taken them aside and said “Hey, you see that guy with the funny looking doo-hickey on his shoulder? Yeah, him. Well, he’s not playing a mutated trombone, he’s actually recording you..you know, on tape.” Someone along the way should have clued these guys in.

In 2000, John McCain was running for president. He lost the nomination but while he was running he made some great comments, such as this one.

Girl asking question…”Isn’t it like socialism and stuff….that’s their money not the governments, How is that fair?”

John McCain’s answer…”When you reach a certain level of comfort, there is nothing wrong with paying somewhat more”

huh…

Well, I guess he can just claim ‘mad cow’ and keep calling Barack a socialist for following his general tax plan from 2000,2003,2004. The plan that called for getting rid of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and letting the people who are a little more comfortable, pay a little more.

Or, someone could explain to him how a video camera works.

I would think it would be embarrassing to have your running mate promise to support and if elected, enact these polar opposite policies. But then again….She told congress “Thanks, but no thanks for that bridge to nowhere” when she really didn’t tell them that.

Of course neither McCain nor Palin want to spend excessive amounts of money for fruu-fruu things, stuff they like to call ‘pork’. They don’t want to waste tax-payers money. But she isn’t above wasting tax-payers donations.

It’s funny, because when John Edwards billed his campaign for 2 $400 haircuts, the entire atmosphere went insane. When Palin does it..ehh not so much. Maybe it’s because she really needed the swag she bought, being a hockey mom from a small town ain’t cheap ya know.

• $75,000 at Neiman Marcus
• $50,000 at Saks Fifth Avenue.
• $789.72 at Barneys New York

It’s takes alot of money to dress,shoe, and coif a family of 7 plus one boyfriend.

It’s really telling of a persons

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character and judgment, that while Joe the plummer was watching his retirement shrink every day during the economic meltdown, the Governor was out shopping in the Big city. Those small towns might be where the “real” America lives, but New York City is where the “real” Governor of Alaska shops. It’s a shame she couldn’t find a “mom and pop” store, or a start-up clothes bouitque in some of those small towns she’s been visiting lately. Because I’m sure that with the way this ecomony has been lately, they could have used the $150,000 more than Neiman Marcus. Not saying that Neiman didn’t need the money, I’m sure they are suffering also. It’s just that I find it a bit hypocritical to run a campaign on the backs of small towns,small businesses,UN-elitistism, and Anti-excessiveness and then go on a shopping spree with donation from tax-payers in the biggest city on earth.

Speaking of wasteful pork, and extreme excess.

In separate filings, the state was billed about $25,000 for Palin’s daughters’ expenses and $19,000 for her husband’s.

Flights topped the list for the most expensive items, and the daughter whose bill was the highest was Piper, 7, whose flights cost nearly $11,000, while Willow, 14, claimed about $6,000 and Bristol, 17, accounted for about $3,400.

One event was in New York City in October 2007, when Bristol accompanied the governor to Newsweek’s third annual Women and Leadership Conference, toured the New York Stock Exchange and met local officials and business executives. The state paid for three nights in a $707-a-day hotel room. Garnero said the governor’s office has the authority to approve hotel stays above $300.

Asked Monday about the official policy on charging for children’s travel expenses, Garnero said: “We cover the expenses of anyone who’s conducting state business. I can’t imagine kids could be doing that.”

I guess $11,000 for airplane tickets for a 7 year old is fiscally responsible and I also guess that when Joe the plumber visits the Big Apple he stays in a $700 a day hotel. … I really guess I should have been a plumber.

OH and if you think people are only talking about this because the MSM is so slanted and so biased against Sarah Palin? I have a haircut for you.

so please, spare me the ‘woe is me’.

Let’s break this $150,000 down and see if maybe it’s explainable. The average American spent about $1800 on clothes in 2006, that means it would take Joe the plumbers 83 years to spend what Palin did in a matter of hours. It’s not just the amount that was spent, but the timing of it also. The down-to-earth, mother of 5, small-town Governor was out having her day of shopping and coiffing in the early weeks of September. Also going on in early September, John McCain was saying that “The economy is fundamentally sound”, and I guess if I was watching my running mate spend that kind of dough, I would think everything was rainbows and unicorns also. But those of us in ‘real’ America, the America that doesn’t have $5,000 for make-up, we were watching the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, the bankrupty of Lehman Brothers and JP Morgan and the sale of Merrill Lynch. The 1st weeks of September, while Governor Palin was out shopping for extreme high end clothes, our financial world was collapsing.

But Joe, is “scared for America” if Barack gets elected?

No, it’s not explainable. Not even the explanation from the McCain camp of “They’ll be donated to charity,” is good enough. I can understand her need for clothes, I cannot understand her need of $150,000 worth of clothes for her, her husband,her daughters, her daughters boy friend, and her baby. I cannot understand that at all. I further cannot comprehend how this is proof of ‘fiscal responsibility’ or how anyone can keep campaigning that they will change Washington, they will make famous anyone who tries to spend too much,and they are the conservative party that doesn’t want to spread your wealth around. My only thought is that maybe this is what the members of the Republican party meant for their donation to go to. Maybe while they were sitting the kitchen of their home that was about to be foreclosed on, hoping they could get a few more miles on the balding tires, hoping that gas would go down just a few more cents so that they could start buying just a little more food for their children,believing that John McCain and Sarah Palin were the mavericks who were going to shake up the Government and stop all the wasteful spending,maybe while they were shorting their power bill by $25 so they could send in any kind of donation to help McCain and Palin get into the White House, maybe they knew that their money would go to her shoe fund. I’m sure they are proud that their children didn’t have new shoes to start school with this September, because they understand that Sarah Palin, her family, and her daughters boy friend needed new clothes from Sak’s Fifth Ave instead of, Target,Ross, or even the substandard white trashy stores like Belks or Dillards. Little Joe can be proud of his faded out tee-shirts and last year’s school back-pack he had to re-use, because really, they do look like a million dollars in front of the cameras…

and that is what’s important and what matters today. Because in today’s world, Michelle Obama’s off-the-rack $148 dress is the ‘real’ definition of elitism.

Wake up people! Wake up and look at your fiscally irresponsible ticket! They aren’t taking your money and giving to seniors who have lost everything in the meltdown, they aren’t taking your money to give healthcare to all the children in the United States. They aren’t spreading the wealth to the other 95% of the population,they are taking your money while your retirement portfolio is losing 50% of it’s value and they are shopping with it.

Let them eat cake?…you betcha!

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Taxes.

John McCain keeps saying that Barack Obama is going to raise everyone’s taxes, redistribute the wealth and most of all that he is socialist…. Yes, McCain said the “S” word today. I think I finally see the problem. Somewhere along the way the Republicans have turned the word “socialism” into meaning Communism with despotic rule. This is bullshit scare-tactics at it’s finest. Democratic socialism is as much communism as Sarah Palin is a Rhodes Scholar.

Socialism is liberal. More people (preferably everyone) have some say in how the economy works. Democracy is liberal. More people (preferably everyone) have some say in how the government works.

Communism is conservative. Fewer and fewer people (preferably just the Party Secretary) have any say in how the economy works. Republicans are conservative. Fewer and fewer people (preferably just people controlling the Party figurehead) have any say in how the government works.

A common mistake is to confuse Socialism, the economic system, with Communism, the political system. Communists are “socialist” in the same way that Republicans are “compassionate conservatives”. That is, they give lip service to ideals they have no intention of practicing.

Or

Socialism is the grey area where some things are planned (Say Healthcare or Coal mining) but Communism is where all major facets are planned and controlled (Say Bread prices, Jobs, Land ownership), etc.

Our problem here is that we want better education, we want a space program that rivals china, we want our fire and police departments to respond quicker and get paid more, we want our soldiers to fight wars on all fronts and protect us from evil. We want roads without potholes and bridges that don’t actually crumble. But we don’t want to pay for any of it.

Somewhere along the way, Republicans have convinced their base and some of the independents that a magical fairy gives us all of these things..

and if Democrats ever get elected, that charming little creature will die.

In Florida we have a horrible school system. Why? Because we also have a retirement community that votes against raising taxes by a a penny to help our schools. Why should these retired transplants pay an extra cent for schools when their kids are either grown or living in another state. Our schools are on a bare-bones budget already this year, with having to cut $150 Million from their budget, only to look forward to another 10% cut next year. But hey, not my kid, not my school, not my problem. It’s the same thing with our roads or transportation. I want better roads and I want high-speed rail, but I damn sure don’t want to pay an extra penny for it.

What’s wrong with all of us paying a little bit to enhance our world for everyone, instead of letting the guy on wall street, who takes a helicopter to work everyday, keep his tax break.

I am so tired of reading the scare tactics from the right….. Obama wants to take your money and give checks to poor people. No, what he wants to do is to get the ones who can afford to, pay a little more. How much more? 39% instead of 36%. OH my God! The nerve of that uppity man asking Donald Trump and Warren Buffet to pay $39 dollars on every $100, instead of paying $36 dollars like I would.

Ask yourself, is that $3 difference going to hurt me or Bill Gates?

What McCain wants to do is let me and The Don keep our $3… That sounds great. But so does having an education system where the teachers don’t have to supply their own classes with outrageous things like paper and pencils. It sounds pretty damn good to have our kids taught with books from this century or SWAT teams across the country to have the same kind of firepower the criminals have so that they aren’t outgunned. It’s also a great idea if the fire department could have a portable communication device that actually works and lets them communicate dangers and evacuation orders to each other.

But really, to make the Don pay $3 more than me to get these things is Red Communism at it’s finest. It’s ok that our soldiers have to buy their ammo and body/truck armor. There soldiers, they’ve learned to overcome and adapt. Richard Fuld on the other hands needs his $30 million dollar Park Ave. penthouse and his $14 million beach house.

The problem isn’t wealth. The problem is greed. No, it’s not going to hurt Donald Trump to pay an extra $3 compared to me. It’s just going to piss him off because he doesn’t think he should have to pay more than me. I get that, those are his profits and he wants to keep them, but when they are his losses, well those he’ll gladly share with everyone.

The Washington Nationals.

Damn the republicans are good. There are really really good. We don’t torture anymore, now it harsh interrogations. When we unlawfully and secretly detain someone, it called rendition instead of kidnapping. We call it climate change instead of global warming because no one can agree whether global warming is happening, but they can agree that climate change is…Taking old definitions and making new one. It’s delicate and artful.. hell, it’s as masterful as anything Da Vinci did and the Republicans are good at this.

Obama want to nationalize healthcare which will be to the detriment of our medical community and our country. See how brilliant that is?

Here is what Obama has said, see if you can spot the differences.

He wants to let people join a national plan to help make healthcare affordable. If you have insurance now and you like it, you keep it. If you don’t have health care, he wants to open the congressional plan to everyone to buy into.

Do you see it?

He wants to Nationalize healthcare and give it to everyone.

He wants open a National plan, and make it affordable to everyone.

They’ve taken the word “National” and changed the meaning to “Nationalize”. Military life is ‘nationalized” you go where they tell you, you eat when they tell you, you dress and look the way they tell you, you wake up and go to sleep when they tell you. What we did for Wall Street and the banks to help them out is Nationalization. Making a healthcare plan ‘nationwide’ and ‘affordable’ for people to ‘buy into’ is not nationalization.

Consider, If all the Disney Worlds Parks across the world went to Blue Cross/Blue Shield(BCBS) and said “We want a healthcare package for all of our employees to buy into”… The plan would be huge, how could it not be when Disney employees hundreds of thousands of people. But the cost of that plan per person is almost nil. Why? Because the more people in the plan the more ‘affordable’ it is.

Ya see that? ‘affordable’. It’s as plain as day. Obama want affordable health care. Meaning people will have to buy it, meaning he’s not giving it to everyone, meaning he’s opening the pool to more people so it’s more affordable for everyone.

This whole time I, and others, have been letting the Republicans get away with this play on words. We need to stop!

“He wants to nationalize it and all you have to do is look at how Medicare is run to know the Government would fuck it up.” Only a Republican can get away with condemning their government’s ability while saying how proud they are of it and noone says “what?”. We have allowed the word play between “National” and “Nationalize” to go on. We need to stop.

John McCain wants to give your insurance company a check for $5000. He’s made you believe that he wants to give this to You…. But he doesn’t. You won’t get a check every year for $5000, your insurance company will. Remember, McCain doesn’t like cutting checks to people, but he’s happy to cut them to BCBS. I guess this sounds good to some people, the people who like to change definitions, but lets apply Mickey’s Buoyancy theory here.

The buoyancy theory is that if everyone started off with a $1milliion dollars, then the cost of everything else would rise. Joe the plumber will charge you $80,000 to snake your toilet because money is no longer a ‘rare’ product.

So what happens when all across the country insurance companies start getting a $5000 check? Buoyancy happens. They raise their plans up by $5000. So not only are you not getting the money, McCain is giving money to insurance companies.. He’s against redistributing wealth, but not when that wealth is going to Big Business, only when Joe the plumber might get a rescue. McCain’s plan doesn’t lower healthcare costs, it actually raises them. His plan isn’t to help you, it’s to give more money to another wall street company! But maybe they need it more than we do.

Would you like to Biggie size that…

For so long we have heard the cries of “we don’t want more government in our lives” This is a joke! An absolute joke and we Dems have been too stupid to be in on it. No, they don’t want more government. Not when it’s to benefit every class. But for despotic rule? Sure. The Republicans/conservatives are more than happy to have government protect us with surveillance and wiretapping, torture and the Pat act. They want the government to tell us in writing that gays cannot marry, they want the government to tell us that we can’t burn an American flag and they want government to tell us what we can or can’t do with our bodies. No, they don’t mind having a huge government in every aspect of our lives and we need to stop letting them get away with saying the opposite. If we are going to allow the government the right to suspend habeas corpus and then torture us, then we should also allow the government to open a nation-wide healthcare plan for everyone.

Stop letting them lie. Start calling them on it when they say they don’t want bigger government in their lives, change the argument and tell them that asking for an amendment to make it illegal for 2 men to marry is letting a bigger government in their lives. When they said Barack would nationalize the medical community give them a dictionary and help them understand the difference between nationalization and a Nationwide plan. And finally when they scream “No new Taxes” tell them that you are OK with paying $3 dollars more to help employ more teachers, police, firefighters, and ambulance divers and you are OK with not only giving them the proper equipment, but also giving our soldiers who are fighting for us, the proper gear that they need.

There’s no need to get angry and hostile. No need for attack ads. We just need to learn to stay on topic and not let them change the argument into one we can’t argue, like we all, including me, have done for too long. The Republicans aren’t opposed to Socialism or Nationalization. They are only opposed to you and me having them. We’re, you, me and Joe-taxpayer, are paying off the debts of the huge corporations, while allowing them to privatized their profits. We pay off their bad loans and they keep the money they make off them. .

Like the skewering of words in Baracks plan, it’s time stop letting them get away with changing the words around to make it sound better or worse to enhance their arguments. Damnit, . It’s not a ’rescue’ It’s Socialism for cooperate America and free-market capitalism for everyone else, and it’s time we call them on it.

I keep hearing about the sub primers and what low lifers they are. How they should have never been trusted with a mortgage in the 1st place. How they deserve what they get for trying to buy something they couldn’t afford and frankly, it’s starting to piss me off.

Owning your own home is something everybody in the country wants to do. Some people wait until the time is just right, they have the perfect job, the perfect car, the perfect ‘other’ and they go out and look for the perfect home. I say Good for them! Good for them for waiting and doing it the better way. These are the upstanding people who are meant to own a home. Because we know from history that these type of people never fail right? It’s only the lower echelon who fail and drain the economy. The low income, low credit score, eternal ‘renters’ are the ones who get foreclosed on.

[/sarcasm]

What is it about a sub primer that they just can’t keep up with their payments? Some of them did bite off more than they could chew. But isn’t that part of the American way? We see something we want and we go after it until we get it, whether we can afford it (or even need it) or not. Sure there were those kind in this whole mess, but that’s not the case for all of them. Some of them were suckered into an initial low payment that ballooned to double that amount in 24-48 months.

The ‘perfect’ person sits there and asks “well didn’t they know they wouldn’t be able to afford that balloon payment?” The answer is yes of course they knew, but guess what. One of the real culprits here, the shady mortgage broker (who works in conjunction with the crooked sub-prime lender, who works with the dishonest appraisers and the title companies) told these people it would be ok. See they told them that in 12 months they could re-finance out of the sub-prime rate and into a conventional mortgage with a lower APR and a lower monthly payment. The best part, that house prices were on the move upward so when they refinanced their home they could get an additional $10K-$15K to do what they wanted with.

Who wouldn’t sign those papers?

Some were undoubtedly able to do this. Even though they were from the lower income and status levels, they were able to refinanced to a better loan. But sadly, others got caught in a system that was designed to fail them.

Here is how mine worked.

Yes, I am a sub primer. Not because I am poor or destitute but because I have a credit rating of about -20. With no medical insurance and two kids, medical bills pile up fast. Plus try getting things off your credit report that didn’t come from you but from some kind of ‘mistake‘. Or try getting things that you did in 1991 off your report. Yes I know, after 7 years they are supposed to be removed….. HA! Right. Tell that to Equifax.

I had lived in my house for years, paying the mortgage on it for the man who owned it for years. I paid the taxes, insurance, mortgage.. He had signed everything over to me giving me total and free reign of the place when I moved in. It was a pretty good contract, I was covered legally and financially and since I couldn’t buy the house because hubby was still on work-comp (and that was a complete cluster-fuck in it’s own right) it was a good deal. Fast forward many years and we decided it was time to just buy the damn house. Our credit sucked but I figured…. What the hell, it doesn’t hurt to call a mortgage broker does it?

Well, no it didn’t and yes it did.

After two “no’s” from conventional mortgage companies, our broker finally said that were could try to go with a ‘hard money loan’, the easiest way to explain this is… we borrowed money from Tony Soprano. Neither of us were worried though because the payments weren’t that bad, the interest not all that terrible, we weren’t doing the balloon payment and like the broker assured us, in a year we could refinance into a conventional loan.

Here’s why that didn’t happen. When you sign these hard-money loans they don’t tell you about the pre-payment penalties and fees that can go up to $30,000. Ok, they do tell you there will be fees, but the assure you they are nominal. $20,000-$30,000 in fees though would eat away at any equity we’d put into in 12-24 months. So for that reason alone, refinancing in the first 12-48 months out of the question.

But that’s just the beginning.

See when you don’t make your payment on time your interest goes up to 18-20%. Some would say, well get your payment in on time. Right, jeez why didn’t I think of that. Hard money lenders sell your ‘note’ to each other, it’s not unheard of for your ‘note’ to be sold every month to someone else. What is the problem with that you ask? Well just this… who do you pay?

When you send your payment into the guy who has your ‘note’ this month 15 days later you get a letter or a call from the new guy asking for his money. Now you have to go to the old guy and get your money from him so you can send it to the new guy, but the old guy doesn’t have your account anymore so he can’t find your payment and it will take a couple days to check. In the mean time your interest is bouncing upwards and the new guy is screaming for his money. What happens if he can’t find it in time? Now you have to come up with another payment or go behind in your payments. That mean late fees and if you’re late enough, lawyer fees until ultimately…foreclosure. You did nothing wrong, you made your payment, but since you are a lowly subprimer….you are screwed.

Luckily I never had that problem. I couldn’t imagine the hell that would be. I live in my own hell, but it’s not as bad as not knowing who to pay every month.

Here is how mine works. I pay my mortgage on or about the 1st of the month. I send it via USPS with a tracking number (the best advice the title company gave me, yes it cost more than direct deposit or a stamp, but you’ll see why that extra cost is worth it). I write my account number on the check and staple it to my payment coupon. Then I send it off. Around the 10th or 12th I’ll start getting calls and letters in the mail asking for payment. Around the 15th I’ll start getting foreclosure threats by phone, email and snail. During this, I’ve checked, not only did they get and sign for the payment, they’ve taken it from my account. So I call the president of the company (yes, I am on speaking terms with the president of my mortgage company. ) anyway, I call him or email him and say “Hey, I paid you here’s the proof” He emails or calls back and says “we’ll check”. Now for the next 7 days or so, while they are ‘checking’ I am getting 4-5 threatening letters/emails and calls a day saying they are hiring attorney’s, that I’m going to lose the house … blah blah blah. (These all make for a great home life by the way, I recommend everyone who has bad mouthed a subprimer, deal with this for just one month.)

So, after not hearing anything for another day or so, I start making my own numerous calls and emails asking what the hell is going on. Finally by about the 24th day or so , just in time for the next payment, I’ll get an email saying “oops”.

Blink

Blink

Oops?

This has gone on every month for almost 2 years now. Why haven’t I refinanced? Well here’s the best part. I’ve racked up thousands in late fees because they can’t seem to credit my account the day I make my payment. The entire time they are telling me I didn’t pay and they are looking for it, I am racking up daily late fees at 18%. Add to that the $20,000 pre-pay penalty and the shitty housing market and maybe you can see why.

June was a doozy. I made my payments. In July I was told that I still owed June. I said “Um, no I don’t. Here is the payment, the date you took it and the person who signed for it” The answer, Oh well some of that was applied to your late fee so you have a balance left over. I called the president again, “I don’t have any late fees because I’ve paid on time” … He looks and tells me that yes, I have late fees because my accounts were not credited on time.

Blink

blink

“Ok, so how much do I owe for June.” His answer,“I don’t know, I’ll get back to you.” I have since paid an additional $300 for June and have been told that is not enough, I need to pay $291.00 more. No reason, no substantiating this debt even after 3 certified letters asking for a breakdown, nothing. In the mean time, I get emails,phone calls and letters daily threatening foreclosure and legal action. I have no idea what I am supposed to pay or what that payment is really for, they are in essences engaging in extortion at this point.

I have an attorney and we are looking into lender liability and fraud. With the receipts, records, calls, emails, not to mention the ulcer and emotional distress I probably have a pretty good case.

I am not a stupid person. I don’t do things half assed and without question. I read what is sent to me, I call and ask ‘what the hell’ when I don’t understand. I stay in contact with my mortgage company. But there are people out there who don’t. They are afraid for one reason or the other. It can be intimidating talking to people like that. At one time I refused to make another payment until they figured out a better way for me to do it. I was sent a stipulation telling me to sign this deed in lieu of foreclosure and then agree to pay off my back late fees at $300 a month + my mortgage over 12 months.

The best part was if I didn’t pay the fees off in that 12 month period they would sign the deed and take the house.

The best best part, you do the math. $300 a month for 12 months doesn’t eqaul $35,000 does it. See if I didn’t read and question everything I would have signed and agreed to something that is mathematically impossible.

How many people are to scared to argue? How many people aren’t educated enough to read what was sent to them? How many people have access to free legal and can ask “hey, is this right?” ? Judging by the subprime meltdown, I’m going to say not too many.

So the next time you want to call a sub-primer a subhuman think about my story. We are a two-parent working family. We make decent money and have decent things. Sure we have shitty credit but we didn’t deserve the butt-fuck we got and continue to get because we wanted to finally own the house we’d been living in and turn it into our home.