Again, Mr President?

I just received another request for a contribution to help the president push through his health care reforms. Please don't get me wrong - I like the guy. I'm delighted that he's president. I do not believe he's doing anything worse than any other presidential hopeful would have done in the face of this recession - and I think he's better. At least he seems like he's making a sincere effort and means well. That's better than I can say for the past eight years, when it was all about power grabbing more power. (Don't even bother, Republican apologists. Your sudden concern for Democracy is too little too late and the GOP track record has more holes in it than my mom's old noodle drainer.)

But why do I have to pay to get legislators to listen to my president? Why do I have to become part of the lobbying machinery? This isn't the way it's supposed to work. We elect our representatives, they ask our opinion and they vote. That's what we're told. But the lobbyists are louder. They offer much bigger incentives to their buddies. And it works. Look how badly the attempt to cap the credit card interest rates got clobbered. Do you really think anyone thought that interest rates should go above 15%? But you can't afford to tick off really powerful friends.

So instead of asking for my money, Mr. Obama, why don't you fix the system? You're president now and you've still got the wind beneath you. Squash the lobbying industry and then see how your efforts at reform go.

I'd like to help you, but I'm strapped. I didn't get the bailout that the banks got.

Things Are Better - So It's Getting Tougher To Get Help

This is anecdotal evidence, but I have no reason to doubt it as I heard it from two independent sources.

The economy, in the opinion of the banking industry, is starting to improve. And that means the big lenders are resisting cutting any deals in an effort to head off foreclosures.

Here's what I heard:

An attorney who has dealt with several of the large lenders, including the former IndyMac, says he's not taking on any more loan modification or refinancing cases. He has two reasons. First, it was a nightmare. He spent hours on the phone with little result. Second, lenders aren't working with the borrowers anymore.

"They're seeing things improve, and they're not willing to make any deals now. They're not even agreeing to short sales. If a customer manages to sell his house but it's worth less than the mortgage, they're letting the sale go through but demanding the customer make up the difference. Loan modifications? They won't even talk about it.

Wasn't that mandated for banks that took federal bailout money? Aren't the rest of them being strongly encouraged to do it?

Another person I spoke with used to be a mortgage broker. She knows the housing mess first hand - her own house was on the market for more than two years and she nearly filed for bankruptcy. She's finally managed to sell for less than she paid for it. In her opinion, the biggest mistake she made was trying for so long to keep up with her payments. Now that she's at the end of the process, she says she could have saved herself a lot of worry and saved a lot of money if she'd just defaulted. The end result would have been the same. She saved her credit, but she's not sure it was worth it.

So this is how the big banks are going to play it? Cry for help, beg for money, agree to do whatever they can to help their customers, then play hardball the second they see an inkling of an economic upturn?

They should all be shut down. There's no sense of fairness, no acknowledgement that they were stupider on a much larger scale than any of their customers were, and no acceptance of the responsibility they agreed to when they took taxpayer money to stay afloat.

It's time for the peasants to fight back.

Now That's a Good Story!

Did you hear about the foiled bank robbery near DC yesterday?

According to the Washington Post, it started as your ordinary bank robbery. A 43 year old man walked into the Bank of America branch near the Bethesda Metro stop shortly before closing, demanded money from a teller and left. But then it got interesting.

Two tellers and a customer chased the guy down. He blasted them with pepper spray and they kept coming. Two blocks away, they tackled him and pinned him to the ground until the police showed up.

Lawrence Gilmartin was charged with that robbery, as well as another last month.

Police called the incident "very unusual." They cautioned citizens not to put themselves in danger in an effort to stop crime.

I think it's great. I especially like to visualize these people, just so damned angry that somebody's stealing money while they're probably struggling, that they don't even care about pepper spray. I wonder if they even knew their eyes were streaming and they were in pain until they caught the guy.

Power to the people. Who says we're helpless?