March 8th, 2009 Dear Tim Keithner and to all 435 Congress Members and 100 Senators My name is Carlos R. Arvizu, I am a real estate broker with Prudential California Realty. My purpose in writing you today is to share my thoughts with you in the hopes you can share with your readers about the current state of the economy and what I call a "Common Sense Cures for the Economy" with respect to the housing market.

I am sorry, some of these folks in Congress mean well, but frankly some of them don't have a clue of how to solve a problem. I am in the lending/real estate field and have lived life, and studied real life economics. If you have a problem, get at the root of the problem and solve it. Granted we have lots of problems with foreclosures, lending issues, jobs loses and health care to name a few, however, with property values down, interest rates at an all time low, that's a perfect time to create synergy in the any market. It's my opinion that there are things that we can do to move the economy upward by creating an incentive to stimulate the embroiled American public whose confidence has shaken by a malignant media need for news, along with financial vampires.

Our banking problems stems from a lack of cash flow and confidence of the banking community in making loans to consumers and to the banks themselves. The American people are tired of hype and a constant barrage of financial woes. Let's start solving these problems and regain the confidence of our nation. Since we have a confidence problem with the banking community, as well as consumers, we can fix that with the cooperation of the banking industry as well as, our Congressional representatives. This is what I would recommend; We need to recognize we have a cash flow problem, so let's start with the Banks themselves and the House of Representatives.

1. Eliminate the personal taxes from passbook savings accounts up to $150,000 per year and regulate the interest paid to depositors to 1% less than the 10 year weekly Treasury bond rate average. That's an incentive to save. Cash Flow! The American public would start loading up on savings..

2. Reduce the Capital Gains tax to 5%. Many people are unaware or confused that capital gains relief is meant for the wealthy, that's far from the truth! Wealthy investors tend to keep on investing in larger and more prosperous investments for greater returns. This is really a tax break for anyone who owns a home or has invested in a 401k retirement plan, or owns a small rental property to retire. A capital gain is considered a long term investment which can include your 401k tied to mutual funds, bonds or stocks. By reducing the capital gains tax to 5%, many Americans in a 401K retirement program can opt out without drastically paying 30% to the Federal and State (Calif.) by the time you take in consideration the capital gains tax along with inflation, most of your investment has eroded significantly.

Reducing the Capital Gains tax to 5% also increases the coffers of the treasury department. Recently, many of us have seen the stock market drastically reduce 40% to 60% of its' value, if you had time to hold on to regroup, that might be ok for some, however, if you're in your late 40's, 50's or older, that could be devastating. Older folks don't have the job opportunities that younger people have, even though it's against the law to discriminate against age, it does exist. The benefit to the government is by reducing the capital gains tax, actually creates a windfall of cash flow to the government by way of volumes of small investors who have long term capital gains having the opportunity to sell and cash out to spend on retirement or use as they see fit. (Remember this," More is Less, and Less is More")

3. With regards to the current toxic loan problem that banks have on their books, pool those loans to a National Clearing House, and Lease those homes out with an option to buy to renters who want to own a home. Giving tenants a three year window to exercise the option to buy one of these distressed homes.

Some tenants want to be homeowners, they just haven't the cash down payment, or lack credit sufficient to qualify to buy right now, but give time, an incentive to buy with a plan of action, along with the opportunity to own, they will be a great productive part of society, of course there would be conditions that they have to earn in order to have the opportunity to own, such as pay above market rents in order to qualify for an FHA loan, to use toward their down payment and closing cost. They have to have sufficient income to qualify. As far as credit is concern, it can be marginal now, but they have 3 years to work on it, they will need to meet with a credit counselor, devise a plan of action during this 3 year window.

Yes, they will pay above market rents, approx 20%, but they can use this as a credit toward their down payment and closing costs (forced savings), provided they meet all the terms and conditions, otherwise they lose the credit that is non refundable. That's earning the opportunity. They win, by having the opportunity to buy at today's price, they get time to reorganize their life. The banks win, eliminating their toxic loans by capitalize on turning a non productive, non performing asset into a performing asset. The taxpayers win, because they are not flipping the bill. The entire country wins, as the economy starts flushing out these toxic loans from our vocabulary, and the American Financial System can get back on track..

Carlos R. Arvizu Sr. 562-755-3856 Downey, CA 90241 TheDon1950@aol.com