Hey Robert! Its OK to be bi-partisan

Although Robert Aderholt is my opponent in the upcoming election he is, at least for the moment, my congressman.

Today was yet another blunder by Robert Aderholt. His vote in favor of the CAFTA agreement is his most noteworthy blunder to date because of its aggrandized effect on the DeKalb County, Alabama economy but today represents a new low.

I have yet to see any press release or any specials to news organizations on his behalf explaining why he didn’t vote in favor of the Economic Stabilization/Bailout Bill (HR 3997). In any event, I completely agree with the rest of the Alabama delegation’s vote in favor of the plan.

The present crisis presents a huge risk to the American way of life. The fallout of not passing such legislation has the capability of being immense. Unlike typical Republican economic policy, this has an uncomfortable likelihood of ACTUALLY trickling down and affecting small business and average American workers.

Institutional investors and lenders buy and sell various financial instruments for profit. Mortgage backed securities are some of the most popular instruments traded among these giant institutions.

Wherever these mortgages find their origin, they are typically securitized and sold by smaller lenders to larger institutions for the sake of liquidity. The larger organizations usually have the financial staying power and the patience to wait to collect 30 years worth of mortgage payments.

However, because of the steady decline of housing prices, thousands of mortgages have a projected rate of return that is less than the value of the underlying property that gave the original mortgage.

In any event, predatory lending schemes that approved mortgage loans for those individuals that were not credit worthy to begin with did so with little or no government regulation. Such regulation would have shielded the American taxpayer from a crisis such as this and at least mitigate the damages of such crisis.

Robert Aderholt didn’t see the need in regulating such predatory schemes back in November 2007. He voted against the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Subprime Lending Act (HR 3915). The purpose of that legislation was to make requirements for mortgage loans originators uniform and would have required a full disclosure of the maximum costs of mortgage loan contracts. This would have even included adjustable rate mortgages and would have protected homeowners as well as tax payers.
Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) voted in favor of that no-brainer piece of legislation. So did every Democratic member of the Alabama delegation.

The question is, what do they know that Robert does not? Apparently they know a lot that he doesn’t.

Listen Robert; some things come ahead of partisan politics like the best interest of America. Even if Speaker Pelosi did say something that hurt your feelings, you should have voted in favor of the legislation today.

Every other member of the Alabama delegation did. Of course it leaves taxpayers on the hook. So does your support of financing the Iraq war with billions of dollars worth of debt. The only difference is you don’t see the pensions and retirement funds at stake if the market fails and you wouldn’t have the fortitude to commit to any sort of safety net for citizens if it does.

Small businesses need to have access to money that is not being lent at loan shark rates and banks need to get back to lending money.

At least the bailout legislation does provide for stock warrants that could enable us to recoup our investment.

Robert, start making decisions for our good this week in congress. We need you to. You are my congressman just as much as George W. Bush is your President. We are stuck with both of you!

Now, do what is prudent. Reach across the aisle and save the country!

Its OK to be bi-partisan. This is a lot bigger that Democrat or Republican. This is a joint resolution of economic policy to fix what you had a hand in messing up.

For the record, I hate the thought of this bailout but I do think it is necessary.

Blessings,

Nicholas B. Sparks