Rant of the Week

An American Story

 

When I read this story, I thought it was moving, sad, and emblematic of everything wrong with American attitudes towards government and business and society.

Christopher Hall, who is 42, grew up in his grandfather's house in Philadelphia.  When his grandfather died about 15 years ago, he took out a mortgage and bought the house for $44,000.  He worked hard for years and years and paid his bills and made renovations and enjoyed the fruits of his honest labours.  He got married and had three children, who all attended local schools.  It's the American dream.

I don't know Christopher Hall, but I'll bet he's patriotic, suspicious of big government, and not particularly well-informed about the rest of the world. 

Then a bank, Countrywide Financial, owned by Bank of America, talked him into taking out a new mortgage that would provide him with ready cash for more renovations.  He didn't understand that the mortgage rate would change, quickly, raising his monthly bills from $500 to $950.   Then he lost his job.   He failed to make mortgage payments for a year and the bank began to foreclose on him.  (He has been able to make an arrangement to stay in the house while he tries to recover). 

His wife left him. 

What did he do wrong?  Some would have you believe it was his own stupid fault, for agreeing to the new mortgage.   I believe that an average, hard-working guy like Mr. Hall deserves to be protected from the kind of predatory financial deals made by Countrywide Financial.  I'll bet that in the back of his mind he thought the government would never allow banks to conduct the kind of scam that was foisted upon him.

This a true American story.  It's the story of the past twenty years, of large corporations able to persuade the government to change or remove regulatory impediments to predatory behavior.  What the bank did to Hall was no different than what a robber does to a convenient store, except that the bank has better presentation. 

Maybe what bank robbers and burglars need to do is hire a pr firm to produce some ads:  "Mitch Bubloosky is there for you-- to help you manage excessive capital in an uncertain future of diminished potential.  Contact Mitch Bubloosky now for a free evaluation of your surplus collateralization."

And what they did to Hall, they did to the country as a whole, and the Christopher Halls who still have jobs will end up paying for that one too.  This is third world economics, back-alley ethics, and gutter politics.  All while Republicans like Sarah Palin screech about the government being too big and intrusive-- and get away with it.

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