Dear Hillary Clinton,

Dear HRC,

In my effort to become a more educated voter I was surfing through your website looking at the issues that you feel are the most compelling in today's USA. One of the topics you addressed was the sagging economy and specifically, the subprime loan blowup. I see that your plan is to 1) ask for a 90 day moritorium on foreclosures, 2) freeze adjustable rates for at least 5 years and 3) get regular status reports on giving people mortgages that work for them so that we can have "real accountability." I think your plan is great - as long as I get a piece of the action.

See the thing is that my wife and I bought a new home in mid-2007. Well actually we put money down on the home around Thanksgiving 2006 and then moved in last year. When we made the decision to buy the home we knew that home prices were on the decline and that the economy may have trouble brewing, but we tried to accurately evaluate our risk and decided that we would still go forward. We liked our home and, most importantly, we felt like our home was one that we could afford and live in for a substantial period of time.

When it came time to get a loan, which as it turns out was only a month or so before the subprime loan crisis arose out of the shadows, we thought that getting an ARM (adjustable rate mortgage) would probably be irresponsible. It just seemed too risky. So although ARM rates were significantly lower than our 30 year fixed rate mortgage, we thought we would be doing the smart, responsible thing. But know I realize that I was being dumb.

Had I known at the time we bought our house that I could buy a home that was much larger AND more costly AND sign up for a teaser mortgage rate on an ARM with the knowledge that the teaser rate would last for 7-10 years, even though it's only supposed to just a short period of time, I would have done that. I am pretty dumb to think that I should take a little bit of personal responsibility myself when I know darn well that I can overreach and my government will pick me up. My favorite part of your plan is point 3 where it says that my mortgage company has to give you an update on how well its doing to get me in a mortgage that fits my needs or else it is going to get in trouble for not being accountable.

Hillary, I realize I am not endorsing you for President yet, but I just hope that you'll keep my plight in mind. I'm getting the shaft here. Will you please let me go out and get a teaser rate mortgage? Can it please last for 7-10 years? I really need to blow more money I don't have on things I don't need, but I just don't want to have to take responsibility for my own decisions. Can't the government do that for me?

Sincerely yours,

Tad Davis
Concerned Citizen and Voter