June 6, 2011
Elizabeth Murphy
100 F Street, NE
Washington, DC 20549
Dear Murphy,
In 2000 I owned 1 house in Los Angeles free and clear, where I lived and worked and I had NO debt. I had 1.1 million dollars in assets--mainly in stocks, a Piper Cherokee 180, and 3 cars, ALL paid for. I also had a "Cadillac PPO health insurance plan." By 2006, for the FIRST time, I was in deep debt without all the assets necessary to pay... Merrill Lynch--which had my portfolio--squandered what took YEARS to save, and in spite of my questions to them, ("what's going on here? How is it possible to lose $60,000.00 in
2 months?") between 2001 through 2006, my "broker" kept telling me to let it "ride" as I was in the market for the "long term"...
I smelled a "bubble" coming down the pike in 2000, and decided to purchase another home as a hedge investment, taking 1 loan to buy the place, then a 2nd loan to fix it up In 2007 after YEARS of hard work, the house was valued at $817,000.00. As I had just watched my Merrill Lynch portfolio shrink to ZERO, I decided to sell the investment house. It was listed for over 1 year. No buyers. We dropped the price all the way down to $600,000.00 and still no takers.
And, now I was in a mortgage to the tune of $550,000.00. Because of all the foreclosures in the neighborhood, this same home is now worth $440,000.00, so I couldn't sell it then, nor can I sell it now. I'm "underwater", and through no fault of my own. To my credit, I STILL continue to make mortgage payments because you see, HONOR begins at home, even though we know now that it TRULY does NOT exist in the financial sector.
My business dried up thanks to the worsening economy, trickling down to 15% in 2008 of what I'd been making in 2000, my portfolio was empty, and now I could no longer afford to pay for health insurance. I had to sell my beloved Piper Cherokee 180 and the very tools that I used to make money with, JUST to keep up with the mortgage and regular bills.
But to make matters worse, thanks to the unscrupulous lending practices of all the "major" bankers/mortgage brokers etc, now houses were going into default/foreclosure in both of the neighborhoods where my homes were, bringing down the values of both homes by 30-50%.
Now I was reduced to renting them both out and living in a windowless 2 room studio for one year in 2009--just to keep MY commitment to the mortgage which ended up being sold to Countrywide, then BofA... Then, I had to sell my beloved house in L.A., (which had dropped so low in value as to be heartbreaking) to be able to keep up with the mortgage of a home I only bought for investment--never intending to give up my life in L.A. to spend out...here...in the desert.
In the span of a decade, thanks to the deregulation of Wall Street and Banks, I lost almost everything that had taken a lifetime to create.
Oh, I still have the investment house, and struggle to keep up with the mortgage, but UNLIKE Wall Street and the major banks, I have taken full responsibility for where I signed MY name to the mortgage and continue to honor MY obligations--even though those same banks have stolen all my ability to do so and are now rewarding themselves with bonuses for such EVIL, using American tax dollars.
To make matters worse, now my step daughter and her son are living with us because they can't find work, and are HOMELESS, and I am the ONLY provider for 4 people living under this one roof. I'm working 2 jobs--neither of which carry health insurance, as well as take on any odd jobs I can find. And as a 55 year old WOMAN, for all my experience, I'm not able to secure the kind of work I once had at the same pay scale, and have NO HEALTH INSURANCE. I believe that for all the taxes I paid over the years, the least that would' happen is that I could get some assistance if I get sick, but I know now that if I get sick, I MUST die in order to keep the roof over the heads of 3 other people. Treatment will not be an option.
At this stage, I'm so TIRED of working SO HARD when this was supposed to be the time in my life where I could relax a bit, that frankly, death doesn't sound all that bad. Indeed, it appears to be what Paul Ryan and the Republican party wishes: "We squeezed taxes out of you your whole life, frittered it away, sold you out to Wall Street Criminals and now you're worthless...please, just DIE while we take the LAST bit of YOUR hope for at least some medical care when you're older, (Medicare), privatize it, invest for OUR benefit, and we'll send you vouchers! You, (you former upper middle class woman), are worthless and we don't care about you or your family. But we enjoy being RICH RICH RICH at YOUR expense, so just DIE you worthless old lady!"
May Paul Ryan's mother weep...
I would like to THANK the SEC, Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan, Tim Geithner and others for doing absolutely NOTHING to prevent the MASSIVE shakedown of our country and citizens, for allowing the complete and total THEFT of almost everything everyone has except for those Wall Street Bankers/Creeps/Thieves/Liars/Cheats/Ponzie scheming CRIMINALS who are living high off the hog with their multi private jets, multi homes in the Hamptons, Gucci bags and Winston jewels, from monies STOLEN from people like me--and we as taxpayers subsidize THEM? Isn't that like rewarding rapists and saying "thank you!" HOW DARE YOU EVEN CONSIDER GIVING THEM ANY MORE BREAKS than you already HAVE!
It is time to BUST them. EXPOSE them. PUNISH them. NOT reward and encourage them to continue to rob...
And I would like to ask YOU to reinstate the regulations that kept our country prosperous for almost 40 years straight until the Reagan administration, (and subsequent administrations including Clinton's) dismantled them all and left us to the wolves.
IF you consider yourself a "patriot", then please, do the right thing. My story is not unique, and I pray that nothing like what has happened to me and MILLIONS of others, ever happens to YOU. I didn't see it coming. I BELIEVED in this country. Not any more. It's up to YOU to make a change. We, as constituents are now powerless in the face of corporate lobbyists and campaign contributions. No one listens to US anymore. Please, won't YOU?!? Remember, it was MILLIONS of "common" Americans that built this country and MADE it "RICH". Have you forgotten that "VOLUME" is sometimes better than "take the money and RUN"?
If you are NOT part of the solution, then you are part of the problem and complicit in these crimes against our nation, making YOU an accessory to these criminals! How would YOU feel if this had happened to YOU?!?! PLEASE, PLEASE, help us bring our country back to the noble, honorable and prosperous place we all once knew. Stop these criminals once and for all!
Thank you,
Jeanie Cunningham
Referencing Docket No.'s:
OTS: RIN 155-AC49
OCC: RIN 1557-AD39
Fed: RIN 7100-AD69
SEC: RIN 3235-AL06
FHFA: RIN 2590-AA42
FDIC: RIN 3064-AD56
Sincerely,
Ms. Jeanie Cunningham