This week, the American public will witness another bill: The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act is up for vote in Congress to help American homeowners. A $700 billion bailout - here’s what I am hearing from media players that it will do:

• “Help homeowners save their homes by giving them the ability to refinance into another loan”
• “Save America from a financial crisis similar to the Great Depression”
• “Restore consumer confidence in the economy”

So it’s all great news, everyone’s happy - right?

I have a few questions.

While homeowners might be able to refinance their loans … will it be too late? Do many of these homeowners have the means to pay on their mortgages, especially if they are already behind?

• Are we delaying an inevitable cause-and-effect ripple?
• Will there be reasonable criteria to approve home buyers for a mortgage? Will the bill cause mortgage approval restrictions to tighten up further and push first-time home buyers out of the housing market?
• What about the unemployment rate? As of the Washington Mutual bankruptcy, financial experts are saying hundreds of thousands will be jobless. Isn’t unemployment a factor that affects the economy?
• Which homeowners will the bill help? There is already a glut of foreclosed properties and REOs on markets across the United States … can the bill help that?

My biggest question (selfish me) is: How does this affect me, an American taxpayer? Before this $700 billion bill, there have been other monetary bills passed to help stop the downturn in the housing market. Is anyone adding up the bill?

What does this mean for me and my family come tax time 2009?

I have so many questions because I am serious about my money and how it’s spent. Maybe it’s because I only hear pros and cons, not a serious “common person” discussion of the major points of the bill and the cause and effect of each.

I am asking Congress members before they vote to put a face on the people this bill will affect. Put real-life scenarios behind your words … and once you’ve done that, and only then … cast your vote. And make sure to be real with the American people about what this bailout means to us.

It is our money, after all.

UPDATE as of 1:56 p.m EST today: US HOUSE VOTES ON BAILOUT — YES to plan: 186; NO: 201; Not yet voted: 47; VOTING HAS ENDED; VOTING EXTENDED. -Courtesy of my associates onTwitter - @andykaufman and @mdelfs

UPDATE as of 3:348 P.M.-  Bill rejected 228 to 205.

Back to the drawing board, we’ll be watching.

Posted by Rebecca D. Levinson

Tags: $700 billion dollar bailout, emergency economic stabilization act

This entry was posted on Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 1:23 pm and is filed under Current Affairs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.