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Health & Fitness

Who Pays?

The bottom line on the financial crisis is who must pay and who has gained. Be vigilant and defend your interests!

San Diego county taxpayers may be on the hook to make up the shortfall of several hundred million dollars in the County pension fund caused by the Wall Street fraud in the housing financial market.  Twenty-eight percent of homes with mortgages in San Diego county are “under water” inviting owners to walk away and dumping more properties on the foreclosed homes market. With the loss of these property tax revenues, there will be more deep cuts to vital services.

Public and private pensions for middle class citizens are the popular scapegoats with 401 k’s the purported solutions. Well why not?  The defined benefit plans lost billions and cannot meet their obligations despite being managed by well paid financial experts. And now all the investment risks will be shoved off to individual retirement plans while Wall Street is still a hedge fund and derivatives casino.

The following is a representative letter that I mailed to County Supervisor Dianne Jacob, State Assemblyman Brian Jones, State Senator Joel Anderson, Congressional Representatives Darrell Issa and Duncan Hunter and Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. Apparently it is too much to expect our elected representatives to reply to a single citizen as I did not receive a single response.

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But we can all carefully read their mass communications via their mailings, speeches, emails, etc. We can evaluate the calls and votes for Wall Street reforms, honest open debate on equitable tax levies and fairness in tax deduction repeals. The overwhelming costs for all our country’s debts must be borne equitably and not disproportionately by the middle class. We must not be persuaded to vote against our own interests by patriotic slogans and simplistic blame games while the powerful lobbies for oil, agriculture, prescription drug, health care insurance and other corporations accumulate huge profits. Be vigilant, be informed and be prepared to vote for your best interests.

Dear Supervisor Jacob,

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I am sure that you share our concerns regarding the Financial Crisis and the effect it has had on our County neighborhoods.  I mailed you a letter today by US Postal service and urge you and the other Supervisors again to use the resources of your office to inform your constituents that meaningful reforms to Wall Street investors, investment bankers, rating agencies and the SEC will not be made without demands for these reforms from the public and our elected representatives.

I am also sending an email press release from the office of Senator Carl Levin.  I have requested email updates on the votes on proposed amendments to the current Dodd-Frank legislation and for the progress of additional proposed reforms.

We can not compete with the moneyed lobbyists but we can use all available media to protect the middle class from additional predation.

Sincerely,

Joan Wayman (Mrs. R. E.)

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