From homeowners facing foreclosure to small-business owners struggling, Baltimore residents took to the streets Tuesday to protest President Bush’s $700 billion bailout plan, arguing the average taxpayer is getting the short end of the stick.
“I don’t think they should just turn over all that money to just a few people,” said Lawrence Kimel, 45, a groundskeeper at the Old Otterbein Church in downtown Baltimore. I know they wouldn’t help me for me if I was in trouble.”
Small-business owners said that the government should focus on helping them stay afloat, not bailing out investment banks.
“It’s as slow as I’ve seen it ever. It’s like one good week every month,” said Herman McKoy, 54, owner of Herman’s Auto Repair shop in Northwest Baltimore. “I think the economy is in really bad shape and they should help us out first.”
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry J. Paulson Jr. and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke proposed the bailout after an $85 billion loan to insurance giant AIG failed to stabilize world credit markets. In emergency meetings held over the weekend, the pair pressured congressional leaders to back the creation of special trust funded with a $700 billion loan to buy back liquid securities at taxpayers’ expense, warning congressional leaders that without the bailout the economy could be headed toward a meltdown.
But outside the Baltimore branch of the Federal Reserve Bank, about a dozen protesters from the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now took issue with the bailout, arguing that federal funds should not be spent without new mortgage lending reforms and extra assistance for homeowners in trouble.
Richard Sien, 38, health care benefits manager from Baltimore said let the market sort it out.
“I’m not a supporter of the bailout. I think you have to let the problems work themselves out in the free market,” Sein said. “As painful as it might be, you have to let market correct these problems if you truly want a workable solution. Also, if the government money is involved, then there should be restrictions on salaries for CEOs. If you’re using taxpayer money, there should be accountability.”
“If the fed can bail out the investment banks, why can’t it help me save my home?” asked activist Lewis Beverly to a representative from the bank who greeted protesters outside a metal gate on the bank’s grounds. “Why can’t they put some of the 700 billion dollars toward foreclosures?”
Beverly lost his him home in July when a new bank took over his mortgage and called in the loan — giving him 14 days to pay off the entire balance — a feature of a so-called “balloon” mortgage. “I received notice on July 2nd that I had until July 16th to pay $48,000, which I couldn’t do it.”
With his Baltimore City home owned by the bank, Beverly, an unemployed social worker, said his situation exemplifies why more reform is needed to protect homeowners before the government bails out banks.
“I can still make the payments if they would let me pay, but I didn’t have a chance,” he said. “All I’m asking is for the some help too.”
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