Wall Street is Not Main Street: Congress Rescues Bear Stearns, but not Housing and Residential Mortgage Markets

Wall Street is Not Main Street: Congress Rescues Bear Stearns, but not Housing and Residential Mortgage Markets

What will it take for individual homeowners and residential Mortgage investors to get some help from somebody? Thus, millions of Americans are suffering in silence. Some of them had a chance to unleash and/or unload some of their tormenting emotions on their senators, home for the Spring Break. They gave them an earful. They told them about the decreasing value of their home and land. Gas prices were also discussed. With their incomes staying the same, parents still have to feed and clothe their families. High prices and foreclosures are oppressing us, the people. We do not know where to turn and to whom to turn. Before and while we are losing our homes, we would like congress to take some broad action to keep us from being eliminated and drowned in debt.

If major New York investment bank, Bear Stearns, could be rescued by a sale to JPMorgan Chase, why can't we, the people, get something, just a little something that will keep us from becoming homeless or keep food on the table for our kids? While things are looking up for some Wall Street companies, investment firms and others, they stay the same or even are getting worse for the rest of us on Main Street USA. We are seeing our homes being bought by foreigners whose currency is stronger than the once mighty dollar. Airplane loads of Euro-rich Europeans are flocking to our shores to find bargain while we can no longer afford some of the goods. We can no longer participate in our favorite pastime, shopping. It is true that we will never be like the Cubans whose government has just allowed them to shop, but lack of discretionary income or cash to buy stuff makes us feel poor now. This recession may last a short time, but we are feeling the pressure it puts us under. We are seeing its grip on the people wherever we turn.

The questions that many people are asking are whether the new collaborative plans announced by the Republican administration and coalition of senators will allow struggling homeowners to refinance their stiffling ARM into traditional 30-year loans.