FROM THE DESK OF THE CZAR OF COMMON SENSE IN GOVERNMENT.
WHAT IS TARP? The title Troubled Asset Relief Program is an oxymoron.
WHAT IS A CORPORATE ASSET? That was a question asked of Secretary Paulson back in September. Seems to me that, if an investment bank or commercial bank needs relief from their assets, that asset has the characteristic of a liability.
WHAT IS THE MEANING OF "TROUBLED"? Troubled - in an unfortunate or distressed position, Dictionary.com.
If the corporate "assets" are "troubled", as in TARP, are they not now a liability? If these mortgage backed assets "MBS"s are still considered an "asset", why do the banks and Wall Street folks need "relief"??
I've asked the question of Mr. Paulson, "What is an Asset". While I haven't received an answer, I believe that the question needs to be asked again, only a bit differently.
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Dear Secretary Paulson.
RE: Question: What is TARP?
I'm sure that your able assistants at Treasury haven't advised you of a serious matter affecting about 25,000,000 home owners. THEY ARE HOLDING TROUBLE ASSETS. These "troubled assets" are not Mortgage Backed Securities, These troubled assets are real estate holdings, lots, with improvements thereon known as HOMES.
Since it doesn't appear that the Department of Treasury or the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, the Congress or the President of the United States are interested in providing any relief to home owners unless the home owners have ruined their credit with mortgage arrears, we have another idea.
SENSIBLE USE OF TARP. We believe that the scope of TARP should be widened to include citizens who own a troubled asset known as a HOME. The relief provided to home owners would be the same as that provided to the Wall Street and Main Street banks who held the troubled assets known as bad mortgage loans (paper) or the MBSs (paper). Such relieve was, we understand, provided without any strings or requirement that the money be used for the purpose under which it was given, meaning making loans to home buyers and small businesses,
PROPOSAL: That any home owner who owes more than the appraised value or assessed value of their home be granted relief equal to the difference between the assessed or appraised value and the balance owed on their mortgage loan(s). Unlike the Wall Street and Main Street banks who have used the TARP money for purposes not intended and who refuse to account for the expenditures, the owners of the real estate troubled assets will agree to use the TARP money to buy down their mortgage loans to the assessed or appraised value with documentation.
The home owners will further agree that they will not use any of the TARP money for junkets, allowances for the children in their families, make payments to their 401(k) accounts, other retirements, buy any stocks, pay any unsecured debt such as credit cards. Further, the recipients of this TARP money agree that the money will not be used to buy any other homes, unlike many of the Wall Street and Main Street who used TARP money to buy other banks.
I'm sure that one of your assistants at the Treasury Department can draw up a one page application form for home owners to make the application for TARP money for relief from their troubled asset. I seem to recall that the TARPprogram was a 3 page agreement presented to Congress that generated the authorization of $700,000,000,000. We do like nice short government program descriptions. Since the average home owner is only going to be requesting $100,000 to perhaps $400,000, a paltry sum compared to the $25,000,000,000 received by the Bank of America or the $150,000,000,000 received by AIG. A one page application should work just fine.
Many of us home owners across America are trapped in their homes and unable to sell or refinance our loans because our homes will not appraise for what we owe on the mortgage. We promise to use the TARP money for the purpose for which it would be intended.
WE ARE TRAPPED IN OUR HOME. We had no children when we purchased our home in 2003. Now we have 2 children. We cannot sell and buy a larger home because the market value of our home today is less than we owe. There have been several foreclosures in our neighborhood and they have sold for about $300,000. We paid $500,000 for our home in 2003 and today it's worth about $300,000. Even though we made a 20% down payment, selling is not possible without TARP money to buy down our mortgage. If we can buy our mortgage down and sell, we would immediately move up to a larger home. We have saved enough for a 10% down payment and have excellent credit. We believe that the two real estate transaction that would result from the receipt of $200,000 of TARP money would benefit the economy as much as the $Billions given to Chase Mortgage or PNC Bank. We, an American family are not responsible for the mortgage mess. However, we are the victims of the mortgage mess and providing relief to the American family could help the economy buy stimulating real estate transaction across the nation.
We look forward to a response and, with the success of the program for relief of the troubled asset of home owners, TAHO, you will go down in history as a wise and compassionate government servant of the people.
Sincerely,
An American Family
P.S. Enclosed is a photo of our family.
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