I am so sick of hearing on the news that what is wrong with the economy is a matter of consumer confidence. So I am going to put out my personal information (mostly) here in DKos, Hoping and PRAYING that SOMEONE, who has the ear of anyone in the new administration HEARS (READS) what is really going on.
this diary will not be full of links and references, it is personal to me, this economic downturn, as I am poised to lose everything.
I will keep this as 7th grade'ish as I can.
IT IS OUR BILLS, NOT SIMPLY A MATTER OF CONFIDENCE.
Just to add injury to insult, it is MLK Day, there is no money in the bank, and I sent my husband to work, without enough gas to get home. I have no car....
more......
I would spend money, I believe in America, I am NOT saving money, that is bad information from the very people who are doing the most harm. High paid advisers.
First:
STOP listening to the very people who put this country here as your advisers.
Second:
ASK US where our money is going, NOT just the top 15% of the country.
To help you understand where my money goes, here is my budgetary quandary:
Three years ago my mortgage was 2351.00 a month. My Electric bill was about 350 a month, my car 435, my Taxes 565, a year. My credit cards, around 35 - 50 a month each for 4 cards. My monthly gas bill was about 600.00 a month, for both of us. My cable was 58.00 a month, never exceeding 100. My cell phone was around 250, for four phones. Water/ Sewer, around 200 a year. Car insurance 98 a month. I could afford that payment, even if one of us lost our jobs.
Then they changed the credit scoring called the FICO scores. And all hell broke lose. I could maintain for a while, I had a savings, but that is gone, and now I and my family, and many many like me, are screwed.
My first red flag came from the credit card companies, the deregulate, credit card companies. (Who when they were NOT for Profit, gave benefits and toasters to their customers, NOW needed new and interesting ways to please Wall Street with constant unsustainable profits. So we, the consumers get new and interesting Fees. And sudden changes in our monthly payments.) So the red flag was new interest rates and new monthly payments. Each Credit card that was 50 each, now was 70+.
OK so that is not that much money, 80 a month. Then came the electric bill change, BGE, raised rates dramatically, and Bob Ehrlich, then Governor, could not stop it. My electric bill went from 350 a month to 1200 a month, I am not kidding or exaggerating at all. So 80 more for the cards, and 850 more to the electric company. Now I begin to spend less, I HAVE less. Part of the money I Used to spend shopping now goes to BGE.
Next came the Insurance rates increase, why? my FICO Score was lower, I am a higher risk. Then the little raises, Cable, Phone, etc, smaller less noticeable, but still money I can not spend shopping because I am paying bills instead.
Do I need to detail what happened to gas? NO my monthly gasoline bill that was 600.00 a month, was suddenly almost 400.00 a WEEK. Hmm confidence is why I am not spending? THE Oil Company Has it.
Now it is 2008, I am running out of savings, and I have lost my job. NOW we are in trouble, because of the new higher bills. So we buy a investment house, fix it up and sell it, trying to make extra money. Bad timing huh, the housing market fell apart right as we were selling the house. We barely break even. A Business is presented to us that I can run and make a little income on the way. So we take the money from the house and we buy the little business. AGAIN bad timing huh.
Then comes the final blow, my house. My adjustable rate loan comes due. My FICO score is no longer 787, it is now around 650, why? I lost my job remember, and all those bills that went up. So NOT all of my payments have been on time. I am no longer eligible for the lowest of the adjustable rates, I am now HIGH RISK, so I get the Highest possible rate, and my mortgage goes from 2300 a month to 4700 a month. Now I know I am dead. But I can't sell the house, the market is gone for that.
My tax bill (for the house) comes in, I have been reassessed because the county and state need more money. it almost triples, they assessed the house for MORE than what I can sell it for! I can not pay it. my FICO score dips lower, and now I have to make decisions, pay the light bill or the car. I lose the car, my FICO goes lower again. Every dip in FICO causes a new volley of rate increases on the cards, but now if I pay my taxes, I can not may the cards. My FICO is at 450. All the while, I have a chronic illness, so my Medical Bills are increasing, but the insurance company is paying them less often, and for less money. I am sent big medical bills, that I can not pay, I lose.
It is not a matter of confidence, I am sending my money to the companies YOU deregulated. I am spending it at the Super Market, where a Gallon of MIlk that used to be 1,89 is now 4,59.
Consumer confidence? But I think it is our BILLS
YOU CHANGED THE FICO SCORES THAT STARTED THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL!
YOU DEREGULATE EVERYTHING, RAISING ALL OF OUR BILLS
UNLESS and UNTIL YOU MY ELECTED OFFICIALS, RE REGULATE:
THE UTILITIES
THE OIL COMPANIES
THE BANKS
THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY
WALL STREET
THE PHONE COMPANY
THE CABLE COMPANY
THE FINANCE INDUSTRY
LOWER MY TAXES
AND HELP ME REGAIN THE ABILITY TO PAY MY MORTGAGE, EITHER FROM LOWERING THE PAYMENT, OR REEVALUATING THE HOUSE TO THE LOWER VALUE, FORGIVING THE DIFFERENCE.
this will not end,
WE CAN NOT AFFORD YOU GRANTING WEALTH TO YOUR ADVISERS AND THEIR INDUSTRIES BY DEREGULATING THEM.
I am sure there are more eloquent writes here in Kos who have said this a million ways, but Damn, it is not my confidence that is down, it is my purse.
sending a copy email to Joe, maybe he can read it