Here is my tale of how President Obama and Democrats in Congress have directly improved my life.
I am 35 years old and I am just now buying my first home. For the first time in my life, and in the middle of a historic economic recession - I finally feel like I am living the American dream. My wife and I had kicked around the idea for quite some time but I felt held back.
Prior to joining the US Army in 2003 I had worked in the semiconductor industry. It's an industry that is very sensitive to the economy [for better or worse] and my number finally came up to lose my job. A couple of years prior to that I had completed my service in the Marine Corps reserves and I had always wanted to experience active duty life, at least once.
So instead of updating my resume' I figured, what the hell. I'm not getting any younger now is as good of time as any. The Marine Corps wasn't accepting prior service enlistments at the time so I ended up joining the active duty US Army as an infantryman. But between the lengthy paperwork and waiting to ship a few months had passed and I fell behind on my bills. Sure, I did odd jobs here and there but I was used to making $60,000 per year and I still had the same, white-collar bills coming in.
Getting laid off and having my credit ruined has always been a source of embarrassment for me. Prior to being laid off I had nice cars (one at a time), nice belongings and flawless credit. But the thing was I was irresponsible with my money. I lived in Silicon Valley, CA so buying a home was out of the question even on my salary.
Bad credit is a funny thing. If you ignore it it's almost like it's not there. And don't get me started on bill collectors. They're as shadey as can be and the seem to think the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act is a mere suggestion.
So because of my embarrassment and lack of confidence that I would be approved to buy a home, I dragged my feet and didn't even try for the longest.
Then my wife told me about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which includes an $8000 First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit, and I finally kicked myself in the ass to act. It seemed like the planets had alligned. The market is down and I have confidence Obama and the Democratic congress will turn things around. FORSCOM is coming to Fort Bragg adding thousands of new Soldiers. And now I have a hefty refundable tax credit, so what was stopping me? So with my new found motivation and with the help of my VA loan I was not only approved - I was approved at a fixed rate of 4.875%
I'm currently deployed to Iraq and I come home sometime around November - December. I go home on R&R leave in August and I can't wait to go home to a brand new house :) Now my wife and I have new things to fight about. Like what type of dog we're going to get, and whether or not I'm going to pay for hard vinyl flooring in the living room. But we'll get through it.
So now I'm living the American dream.
If Mr. Colbert doesn't mind me stealing his line...
A tip of the hat to President Obama and the Democrats for voting for the Recovery Act, a wag of the finger to every single Republican - who voted against it.
A tip of the hat to Senator Webb and his co-sponsers, including President Obama for also making college a reality for me via the 21st Century GI Bill. If you click the link notice the letter next to all who voted no. Yes, you get the wag of the finger.
A tip of the hat to our Congressmen who voted for our 3.9% pay raise. A wag of the finger to those of you who tried to block it.