Greensboro Financial Advisor

Now, I mentioned in the previous hour a piece that I saw yesterday by Orson Scott Card. Now, this was originally published in the Rhinoceros Times of Greensboro, North Carolina, but now it has spread throughout the Internet. I looked him up on the Internet. He is a Democrat. The editor's note here says, "Orson Scott Card is a Democrat and newspaper columnist." He is a full-fledged Democrat. He is pro-gun control. He thinks that the Republican Party in the South is still very racist. But this piece... It's nothing you haven't heard before on this program. It's about the mortgage crisis, but Mr. Card here takes a shot at the media.


"Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights? -- An open letter to the local daily paper -- almost every local daily paper in America: I remember reading All the President's Men and thinking: That's journalism. You do what it takes to get the truth and you lay it before the public, because the public has a right to know. This housing crisis didn't come out of nowhere. It was not a vague emanation of the evil Bush administration. It was a direct result of the political decision, back in the late 1990s, to loosen the rules of lending so that home loans would be more accessible to poor people. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were authorized to approve risky loans. What is a risky loan? It's a loan that the recipient is likely not to be able to repay.



"The goal of this rule change was to help the poor -- which especially would help members of minority groups. But how does it help these people to give them a loan that they can't repay? They get into a house, yes, but when they can't make the payments, they lose the house -- along with their credit rating. They end up worse off than before. This was completely foreseeable and in fact many people did foresee it. One political party, in Congress and in the executive branch, tried repeatedly to tighten up the rules. The other party blocked every such attempt and tried to loosen them. Furthermore, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were making political contributions to the very members of Congress who were allowing them to make irresponsible loans.



"(Though why quasi-federal agencies were allowed to do so baffles me. It's as if the Pentagon were allowed to contribute to the political campaigns of Congressmen who support increasing their budget.) Isn't there a story here? Doesn't journalism require that you who produce our daily paper tell the truth about who brought us to a position where the only way to keep confidence in our economy was a $700 billion bailout? Aren't you supposed to follow the money and see which politicians were benefiting personally from the deregulation of mortgage lending? I have no doubt that if these facts had pointed to the Republican Party or to John McCain as the guilty parties, you would be treating it as a vast scandal. 'Housing-gate,' no doubt. Or 'Fannie-gate.'



"Instead, it was Senator Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, both Democrats, who denied that there were any problems, who refused Bush administration requests to set up a regulatory agency to watch over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and who were still pushing for these agencies to go even further in promoting sub-prime mortgage loans almost up to the minute they failed. As Thomas Sowell points out in a TownHall.com essay ... 'Alan Greenspan warned them four years ago. So did the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers to the President. So did Bush's Secretary of the Treasury.' These are facts. This financial crisis was completely preventable. The party that blocked any attempt to prevent it was the Democratic Party.



"The party that tried to prevent it was the Republican Party. Yet when Nancy Pelosi accused the Bush administration and Republican deregulation of causing the crisis, you in the press did not hold her to account for her lie. Instead, you criticized Republicans who took offense at this lie and refused to vote for the bailout! What? It's not the liar, but the victims of the lie who are to blame? Now let's follow the money right to the presidential candidate who is the number-two recipient of campaign contributions from Fannie Mae. And after Freddie Raines, the CEO of Fannie Mae who made $90 million while running it into the ground, was fired for his incompetence, one presidential candidate's campaign actually consulted him for advice on housing.



"If that presidential candidate had been John McCain, you would have called it a major scandal and we would be getting stories in your paper every day about how incompetent and corrupt he was. But instead, that candidate was Barack Obama, and so you have buried this story, and when the McCain campaign dared to call Raines an 'adviser' to the Obama campaign -- because that campaign had sought his advice -- you actually let Obama's people get away with accusing McCain of lyin

I'm somewhat familiar with the track record of the Democrats as I'm a Member of the Democratic party have been for over 30 years.

I agree with the article and your question totally.

The blame resides totally on the Democratic party, Greenspan, Dodd and Frank and those who supported deregulation of the Financial Industry.

However, the issue of sub-prime loans was tied to an economy that was not suppose to have any declines and that wages would keep up with the rise in Mortgage costs.

This was a complete fallacy. Wages never keep up with the cost of living let alone the cost of mortgages that skyrocketed with fluctuating interested rates.

I honestly believe Frank, Dodd, Bill Clinton and every elected official that held office, holds current office and the executives of every lending institution should be investigated, charged with fraud and declared a threat to our national security for thier gross behavior in fueling this crisis from it's very beginning.

At no time in American History have a group of elected officials caused such crisis to raise its uglly head than in present day.

The fed claims it could cost 65 Trillion to bailout everyone that needs help.

We can't afford this now, or in longterm future debt.

I fear this country may be saddled with a depression that could last 20 to 30 years before we fully recover from this nightmarish crisis.

Good Job for bringing all this to our attention.

2008-11-17 11:30:47 by Warren T

www.financial-advisor-greensbo ro-nc.com Prepare your financial future with our highly ranked financial advisors in Greensboro, North Carolina ...

First, I would like to thank you for reading my letter today. I am writing to submit an appeal for the decision to suspend financial aid towards my education. I understand why my financial aid has been put under probation, and I cannot denounce any information that was submitted to the financial aid department regarding my class withdrawal during the Spring semester of 2008.
The pre-calculus class I signed up for upon starting my first year at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro turned out to be more than I could handle, despite my great ambitions to succeed academically. I was on the verge of turning twenty six years old, anxious to fast forward my college career, and determined to take on mentally challenging courses to prove myself an academic competitor.
The beginning of the course was a breeze, and I absorbed all of the first few weeks of lessons with great ease. As the semester progressed, the course quickly became more challenging, and among my job’s workload and another class I was also taking- as well as personal stresses with my then fiancé- I started to feel the pressure to not only keep up with class but to actually retain what I was learning. I soon realized I was in over my head, as I had never taken such a high level class, as well as being an online class. It was not a good feeling.
Still, I was determined to finish what I started. I only had two classes this semester and I knew I “should not” go below the 50% mark. So I had to choose: dilute a perfect 4.0 GPA I was unsure I would receive from my English class (the other class I was taking, which I did actually get an A in), or run the chance of losing my financial aid. I was unaware at the time that, as a freshman, I could have withstood a 1.75 GPA until the next semester, when I could have chosen more suitable classes for myself to excel in.
I had never been on probation before for financial aid and I figured the assumed 4.0 in English would suffice. I was under-informed and it was my own ignorance with not asking more financial aid questions, or the right questions, that caused this entire mess. I assumed too many facts, and was truly in the dark. Most importantly, I was completely in over my head with the class I foolishly chose. I don’t ever want to be in the situation where I cannot under any circumstance catch up in a reasonable manner again.
I cannot point any fingers at the advisors who gave me other options, and I was unsure about the major I would choose during class registration. I cannot go back to the day I chose the class in the first place, however I can make a proactive decision to choose more wisely in the future and research the courses I will take. I do not believe I should- or will- take the pre-calculus class again. Not only is this because I have chosen an arts and sciences major that would not need the class, but also because I have learned that I have academic limitations. In the future, I realize now that I will need to take greater strides to understand the material I will be learning even before I choose certain courses and majors. The UNCG motto is “Know Thyself”, and I learned how true this instruction can apply to real life this past year. I know myself much better since I have made this mistake. I’ve learned that I need to think before I bite off more than I can chew.
I would like to continue studying at your school in order to accomplish these goals, and with a second chance for permission for financial aid, I know I can and will. Thank you very much for your time and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

I don't think you should mention the part about your fiance, they may not care about personal troubles. They probably just want to know what will be different now and why you deserve to get it back.

2009-04-05 19:02:34 by wierdo