I want my money!

At my age, money goes from being the root of all evil to very nearly the substance of life. I’ll soon be 60 years old, and as a widow it can be very scary looking at that dwindling retirement fund. In fact, retirement is looking farther and farther down the road. Let’s face it; I have to work. And now I’ll probably be working a lot longer.

That being said, I’m still against a full scale bailout of the financial industry. I truly believe in capitalism and think that it would work if rules are in place and banks, mortgage institutes, brokerage houses and borrowers accept and follow them.

My late husband and I were married for 12 years before we bought our first house. It took that long to save up the down payment. When we finally did buy a house, it was one we could definitely afford. I watch the home decorating shows on television and see the prices people pay for houses and wonder what they could possibly be thinking. People with two children just have to have a four bedroom house, and heaven forbid the children should share a bathroom.

I grew up the second of six children. We lived in a three bedroom house, and I shared a room with my two sisters. A room without a closet and with a set of bunk beds. My sisters are 10 and 12 years younger than me and shared the top bunk until I married and moved out.

If you think that was bad, we had one bathroom. Yes, eight people and one bathroom. Guess what! It worked. We all grew up without major trauma and learned how to really share. But the most important thing about that house was we could afford it. It was home. Overcrowded, well worn, but home.

It really irritates me the more I read about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These government-designed programs were used to buy up poorly granted mortgages that government regulations practically forced lenders to make. The books were cooked by the biggies in charge — biggies who got their jobs because of their compassion for the people. At least that’s what we were told. Unfortunately, the head honchos left the two companies with huge windfalls for themselves, having no thoughts for the people they were cheating. And that’s exactly what they were doing. The regulators went before Congress in 2004 and told them these were foxes stealing from the hen house. Unfortunately, these foxes were well connected to the Democratic party, and the members of the committee shot down the messenger, actually trying to blame the problems the companies had on the regulators. They were tearing down the poor bureaucrat who was trying to tell them the problems and holding up the Freddie Mae president as a pillar of the financial world.

Unfortunately, the pillar walked off with bonuses of close to $100 million that weren’t earned and were in fact fraudulently obtained.

Even Bill Clinton agreed that the Republicans and he tried to put some controls in place and were shot down by his party. President Bush sent legislation to Congress time and time again in his eight years in office and saw each bill fail as partisanship and greed raised their ugly heads.

Fortunately, the FBI is currently looking into the mess, and it’s possible heads will roll, or maybe payback will be achieved. Let’s face it; Enron was a financial disaster where all the employees lost their pensions. Well look around folks, it looks like we all might lose our pensions if these guys get away with it.

Pat Morrison is a native of Ft. Wayne, Ind., but has made Washington her home for the past 17 years.