Graham: Wall Street sank a hook in our mouths

By Zachary Graham

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

I’m honestly surprised that more people aren’t committing suicide these days to get something accomplished.

photo

Photo by Mariam Saifan

I heard the story about Karthik Rajaram, a California man who killed his mother-in-law, his wife, his three children and then himself. Many are speculating that the financial crisis drove him to it. He had an MBA but no job and his stocks were plummeting.

And then we have the story of Addie Polk. Polk is an elderly woman in Akron, Ohio, who shot herself multiple times as the local sheriff tried to escort her away from her foreclosed property. She lived through the ordeal, and officials at Fannie Mae said they would forgive the loan and allow her to keep her house.

The reason that these stories are intriguing and garnered national attention is because they strike at the heart of our society.

Rajaram was a successful businessman who had lived in an exclusive gated community. He was an Indian immigrant who had lived the American Dream.

Addie Polk reminds us of our grandmothers, a woman who had lived in the same house for 38 years and, seemingly, was taken advantage of by a subprime lender. Both had the same problem because they couldn’t afford their mortgages and both tried the same method to end the problem.

What are we supposed to take away from this? According to the Centers for Disease Control, the data from this summer reported that the suicide rate in America was 11.1 suicides for every 100,000 Americans.

In contrast, the suicide rate during the Great Depression was 17 per 100,000 Americans.

Will we reach the levels that the Great Depression gave us? I don’t know.

But what I do know is that we need to have more protection for people who are being affected, from the rich, successful Rajarams to the poor, elderly Polks.

For starters, the government should have immediately provided assistance to help those who needed it the most. Instead of bartering about earmarks and the pork on the taxpayers’ dimes, there should have been communication to how we can protect the taxpayers.

We need better basic lending practices. There should be complete transparency, and the burden should lie on the lenders.

Ultimately, they are giving the money. Yes, people should know that they should buy only within their means, but the responsibility lies on the lender to make sure their customers have the ability to pay.

I hope I won’t have to read about an increasing suicide rate in the coming months. I hope the government’s plan works. I hope people get to keep their houses.

But hope just isn’t enough for some people.

— Graham is a Columbus, Ohio, graduate student in exercise physiology.

Comments

missmia (anonymous) says...

love the cartoon! (sad as it may be...)

October 21, 2008 at 4:23 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

mma (anonymous) says...

Some day, not too many years away,you will go shopping for your first house. When you do, do not buy as much as house as a bank will loan you money to buy. They will always give you a larger loan than you can really afford, unless you plan on eating nothing but peanut butter sandwiches and wearing the same clothes for the next five years. Do the math to figure out what payment you can really afford yourself and put at least 10% down, so your whole house payment isn't just going towards interest.

October 21, 2008 at 10:41 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

ralphralph (anonymous) says...

Anybody want to look at the root of all this?
Okay, then: our government is a brothel.
Examples? Sure.
Immigration: Laws are in place, but not enforced. Why not? Because those entrusted to enforce it (at the top levels, not on the street) are bought and paid for by big money interests. (think produce farmers, Tyson, construction, etc.)
Wall Street: Securities regulations are in place, but not enforced. Why not? Same thing. The politicians are flat-out owned by the big money boys.

We can tweak this and that, bail out this bank or that insuror, and try to make people think they feel better; but the root is corrupt money, and it runs very deep. We must develop the will to dig it out, or all the bail-outs will just delay the inevitable recurrence. Corruption tears the heart out of a democracy, and it's happening.
Do you care enough to demand action or (gasp!) actually take action yourself?

October 22, 2008 at 9:36 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

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