I need your help…

 In my town there is a man, a good man, a hard working man. He goes to church, he volunteers in the town, he pays his taxes, and his bills.Well most of his bills.

He is behind on his mortgage and is home is in foreclosure, with a sheriff sale scheduled for Jan 28, 2010.

http://acsheriff.org/main/sales_list.asp?varPl=&varLoc=&varDef=Oneill&varLaw=&varDocket=&button=Search

Funny thing is his mortgage is with GMAC, the same GMAC that his, and your, tax dollars have gone to bail out.

His problem started a few years ago when his wife of 25 years decided that she was not being “fulfilled” or that life had passed her by and she decided that life should be more fun, than her husband and 3 girls provided. See, she was working at a store with a bunch of 20 year olds, she saw that they had no responsibility, no bills, and no worries. She envied their lifestyle, out partying, drinking, gambling and drugs. He tired to get her to see reality. Not only did she refuse but left, taking most of savings in the joint accounts with her.

Needless to say with the reduced income, he got behind on his mortgage and was months away from foreclosure. He thought he found salvation when a company called Castle Point Mortgage offered him a mortgage with a high ( 12.5% ) rate for the first year with a rate reduction if he kept his mortgage up to date for a year. He struggled, but he did manage to make his payments on time.

He kept his part of the bargain, unfortunately at the end of the year, rather than Castle Point redoing his mortgage they sold it to GMAC. GMAC did not reduce the rate; GMAC did not even consider reducing the rate.

The economy has crashed; his hours have been reduced at work. I have gotten him a job delivering papers in the early morning but he is not making enough to pay a 12.5% mortgage.

Now he is back where he was 3 years ago. He is in foreclosure, his family home is scheduled for sheriff sale and he does not know what to do. He is trying to work it out with GMAC or their lawyers, but it does not look like that is going to happen. Because he does not have the money needed to pay the missed payments.

He refuses to go to the government for help, even though there are programs to help.

His belief is this is AMERICA, here you are given the tools to succeed, if you work hard you will. But hard work only goes so far when the chips are stacked against you.

The news is full of reports about the people in Haiti who need help the people who have lost their homes. Everyone (charities, politicians, celebrities, as well as average citizens) are rushing to help the people in Haiti.
How about helping someone right here at home, right here in America who is about to lose his family home.

His address is Walter O'Neill 6170 White Oak Way Mays Landing, NJ 08330.


Please help this guy. Just a dollar or two…

This blog is MY idea. He has no knowledge of it. He would be upset with me if he knew I have told you of his plight, or asked you to help, but I cannot sit by and do nothing.

Every once in a blue moon, I read something that I think others need to read too. This is one of those things. It was in my local paper, on the commentary page. I know most of the readers here will not agree, and most will not read it but they should read it.

I'm wealthy - and the truth is, I should pay more in taxes.

by Arul Menezes

In recent weeks, there has been a lot of discussion about raising taxes on the wealthy. As a higher-income person who would pay such taxes, I have no objection.

I grew up in India and came to the United States in 1988. I attended graduate school at Stanford and have since had a successful career in the technology industry. There is no other country in the world where this could have happened.

I could choose to tell my story this way: "I arrived with $250 in my pocket, and got where I am based entirely on my hard work." This is true, but it's not the whole truth.

A more honest reckoning would take into consideration that I received an excellent engineering education paid for by the taxpayers of India, and that my graduate education at Stanford was funded by National Science Foundation grants and other U.S. government investments in scientific research.

My professional success - and that of the technology industry as a whole - was enabled, in part, by the advent of the Internet, itself a creation of public investments in research and development and by the available pool of talent, trained and nurtured by our public education system.

A more accurate telling of my story would consider that every day I benefit from schools, hospitals, roads, bridges, parks and civic amenities that were built and paid for by previous generations. They were much less well off than we are today. Yet they had the collective will to invest in their future and the future of their children.

I am worried, though, that things are changing in America. The kinds of public investments that made my success possible are vanishing.

Two decades ago, the United States was unique in its meritocratic system and the depth of infrastructure that enabled individuals to succeed.

But during the last decade, taxpayers in my income group received significant tax breaks.

The Bush-era tax cuts gave $700 billion in breaks over eight years to those of us with annual incomes more than $200,000. The United States borrowed money to make these tax cuts possible, even as our schools, infrastructure, research institutions and social services were in need of new investments.

This is extremely shortsighted. Our investment as citizens in our collective "commons" lays the foundation for our individual wealth and success. That's why I've joined hundreds of other high-income taxpayers in calling for a reversal of these tax cuts. This would generate roughly $43 billion in annual federal revenue, which could be used to make investments in public education, health care and revamping our nation's energy system.

Taxes are the price we pay to live in a civilized and healthy society. Those of us who have disproportionately benefited from public investments have a responsibility to pay back our society so that others can have similar opportunities.

It is only just and fair that our generation make comparable investments in our future to ensure that America continues to offer our children and grandchildren the same kind of opportunities it offered me.