Meanwhile, Real People Are Being Foreclosed

Yesterday was spent with friends who have purchased their dream lot.  Right on Puget Sound.  The view is breathtakingly spectacular.  In a year, maybe two, there will be their house.  Rock fireplace, nice wood beams, wood garage doors.   It was quite wonderful, almost like spending a few minutes in a bubble, to talk with them about their plans.

But the reality for many Americans is still stomach churning.  Layoffs beget delays in paying bills, a monthly juggling act that keeps anyone awake at night.  Frequently, the bill that does not get paid is the largest, the mortgage.  And so, while my friends enjoy their dream, many people's homes have become their nightmare.

And, so far, nothing effective is being done to stop foreclosures.  The fear is that with these recent and soon to be more layoffs, people who lose their homes will also not have sufficient money to rent or find other housing.  And thus, this country begins to spiral into a greater disparity of homelessness, the haves and the have nots, the wealthy and poor.  We may worry over Mexico becoming a failed state, but from where I sit, we may become Mexico in the gap between rich and poor.

While our policy makers jet about, dealing with auto manufacturers, trying to patch up failed financial institutions, and engaging in the elegance of international dialogue, real people, your neighbors, your cousin, a family friend, is staring at a Notice of Foreclosure.  His or her stomach is in knots.  Many tears have been shed.  Fear gnaws at them.  Every day they receive letters from predators telling them they can help them out of their problems when really, letting them in the door will only make matters worse.  Greed and corruption know no bounds and no one is doing much to stop this nightmare.  

It's time for a moratorium.  If the White House can ask Rick Wagoner of General Motors to quit, they can tell the financial institutions to stop foreclosures all together.  Just stop.  Let's gather our wits, not trying to apply band-aids, but rather find solutions for every single one of these foreclosures.  We can do it.  Yes we can.