Vito Fossella loses debate to constituent

It is nice to see Vito Fossella getting smacked around by his own constituents;

I read Rep. Vito Fossella's letter [Feb. 13: "Public isn't served when elected officials mischaracterize each other's legislation"] in which he responded to Sen. Diane Savino about his proposed bill to allow people to tap into their IRA accounts to pay their subrpime debts.

His response just proves how out of touch Mr. Fossella is with his constituents and reality. Mr. Fossella, what makes you think those who have subprime loans have any retirement fund at all, let alone enough money in it to help them pay off their mortgage?

Secondly, your solution to take money out of their retirement fund (if any) would make matters worst in the end. Jim Dau of AARP warned that "homeowners at risk should understand that tapping into retirement savings compounds into a bigger loss."

What Mr. Fossella also fails to mention is that he voted against a real piece of legislation, H.R. 3915, which would have required the disclosure of an estimated interest rate (APR) and the maximum it can adjust to, the total estimated monthly payment and what percentage it is of a borrower's monthly income. These measures would make it very clear to the borrower about their projected expenses. However, Mr. Fossella voted against this bill.

thanks Richard!

Sub Prime Mortgages on Staten Island

State Senator Diane Savino wrote into the Advance to talk about the administration and Vito Fossella's lack of action to solve the problem;

Staten Island was given the dubious honor in January of being the only borough with an increase in foreclosures. As reported by Karen O'Shea in the Jan. 16 edition of the Advance, foreclosures on the Island jumped by 53 percent by the end of 2007.

snip

The White House's response is too little, too late. Last December, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced a plan where lenders agreed to temporarily freeze rates on certain ARM's. Unfortunately, this will only apply to individuals with good credit histories, whose mortgages reset in January, leaving out thousands of homeowners who truly need help.

Rep. Vito Fossella's proposal allowing seniors to dip into their retirement accounts to avoid foreclosure is hardly the panacea, either. The proposal, referred to by an AARP spokesperson as a "last resort," may put seniors at risk of losing their life savings. If Congressman Fossella were serious about tackling this crisis, he would have voted for HR 3915, a bill that would have reformed abusive practices in the subprime industry.

LTE: More Subprime Mortgage Crisis and Fossella

A recent LTE in the Advace;

Who could see the sub-prime mortgage crisis coming? Well, Congress for one.

In April 2005, the Republican Congress tightened up personal bankruptcy filing laws, making it harder for individuals to find relief and get back on their feet. Many Democrats joined in this vote; Bush signed it into law. Who benefited? Not the working poor or the middle class.

Where are his calls for investigations? Where were his efforts before this escalated to this point? If Vito Fossella is part of the problem he can not be part of the
solution.

LTE: Subprime Mortgage Crisis and Fossella

A recent LTE in the Advace;

If Fossella really wants to help the problem, why not lobby for an investigation into the business practices of the mortgage businesses and brokers who made so much money on these loans, fully knowing that most of them would default? Fines for fraud violations could be applied to a fund for the victims. I don't expect to see that from Vito, since he receives much of his campaign money from banks and financial industry services and probably would not want to hurt his friends.

The people of Staten Island need some new thoughts and some real answers to the problems we are facing now and in the future. We don't have to accept the hollow offers and half-hearted attempts at problem solving. We can demand that government work for the people again instead of the other way around.

Vito Fossella bought by those who profit from subprime lending victims

Recent news in the Wall Street Journal on Wall Streets involvement in the subprme mortgage crisis raises some concerns over where Rep. Fossella's loyalties lie;

The group's big bet that securities backed by risky home loans would fall in value generated nearly $4 billion of profits during the year ended Nov. 30, according to people familiar with the firm's finances. Those gains erased $1.5 billion to $2 billion of mortgage-related losses elsewhere in the firm. On Tuesday, despite a terrible November and some of the worst market conditions in decades, analysts expect Goldman to report record net annual income of more than $11 billion.

Rep. Fossella has taken $17,500 from Goldman Sachs, with $5000 of that coming in last year's election cycle alone. Rightfully so a few eyebrows are being raised then by what Goldman knew and who exactly they were serving, their clients or those at the top reaping these massive gains;

Goldman's success at wringing profits out of the subprime fiasco, however, raises questions about how the firm balances its responsibilities to its shareholders and to its clients. Goldman's mortgage department underwrote collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, complex securities created from pools of subprime mortgages and other debt. When those securities plunged in value this year, Goldman's customers suffered major losses, as did units within Goldman itself, thanks to their CDO holdings. The question now being raised: Why did Goldman continue to peddle CDOs to customers early this year while its own traders were betting that CDO values would fall? A spokesman for Goldman Sachs declined to comment on the issue.

Goldman bet money and profited against this subprime lending craze all the while underwriting those debts. Can you have responsible government when your representative is taking money from the likes of Goldman Sachs, and not just a small contribution. Goldman's $5,000 is more than any individual is legally allowed to give ($4,800) raising the question of who Rep. Fossella represents and listens to when it comes time for him to draft and vote on legislation.