Last night, I attended a Foreclosure Committee meeting that lasted until after 10 PM. For those of you who don't know, I am part of a 7-member committee, reporting to the Surprise City Council, chartered to develop suggestions and solutions to be presented to the City for dealing with problems related to the recent foreclosure problem. It is a big problem in Surprise because we had rapid growth in the past few years and lots of speculation and investors. The City so far has experienced about 10% of the homes going into foreclosure and up to 30% depression of property values!
The press is full of coverage on this foreclosure crisis - Fannie Mae, bank failures, foreclosures, inflation, lost jobs, etc. One of our committee members just returned from D.C. as he works with legislators both locally and nationally. Shockingly, he said that the banking and foreclosure situation is not even on our Representatives' radar! He said they are more focused on Beltway issues and are not even aware that many individuals and communities are being decimated by this problem.
My son, David, was also telling me about an acquaintance of his, who is a senior in SRP, that just left D.C. He said he found that his work there on gas wound up being in the "bubble" and when he went on vacation and started to see what was happening in local news he realized that the people he was working with were totally out of touch with the reality that the rest of us live in.
Just as we get caught up in our own lives and stop paying attention to what is happening in the rest of the world (or even in our own neck of the woods), so too do our legislators get caught in their little world. It reminded me that the only way that our Representatives know what we think is important is to LET THEM KNOW!
I intend to Google all my elected officials and develop a piece to be emailed to all of them about how important this issue is. I do believe, and I am not alone, that we could be entering another Great Depression and how our governments (local, state, and federal) respond are going to be key in how quickly we come out of the troubles ahead of us. First they need to pay attention. I would strongly encourage you all to think about doing the same. People are losing jobs and homes as a result of this latest credit debacle and it will effect all of us eventually. If people can't spend money, all businesses suffer.
I am surprised at where I am today. While I always tried to keep myself informed about the doings of the world in the past, I find myself becoming more and more of an activist. But I am also realizing that part of the reason the world is so screwed up is because it is only as good as the input WE provide, and most of us (myself included) don't really provide any input. We don't get involved. It is real hard with everything else that goes on in our lives, but all this other stuff actually affects our lives so I decided to start getting involved and paying attention.
It is amazing how much of an impact I can have. Some of my suggestions may eventually make it to State law (we hope). And I am not special. I just took some time, an idea, and speaking out. I hope you will all try it! As hard and annoying as it is sometimes, it is incredibly rewarding!!
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I'm in. I'll write to my Reps as you are doing. I can't imagine what another depression would do to this country and even myself. Already my stocks are going down and I'm not sure just how far they will sink. I can't think of how it would be to lose everything we've worked so hard to acheive.
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