How the Mighty Have Fallen

crossposted thursday 22 may 2008 at firedoglake

If you've ever complained that the people who run the government just don't understand what it's like for the little guy, this story is for you.

Laura Richardson of Long Beach, California, just saw her house go into foreclosure like so many other Americans this year.

Just one little thing that's special: she is a member of Congress.

You may recall our previous discussions of the House of Cards that is this administration's concept of a housing policy:

The government got rid of the speed limit and the brakes and all the guardrails, and woohoo! Anything goes in the financial markets.

Mortgages were given to people who couldn't possibly pay them back, bad debts were put in a dress and high heels and resold as speculative financial instruments, and now everybody owes everybody. But I'm sure everything is fine.

We have been warned that the storm was approaching.

But Congress didn't seem to care very much, this was only a problem for the little people. Well, not any more:

She bought the three-bedroom, 1 1/2-bath home in the state capital for $535,500. The bill collectors started knocking soon after.

The city utility department placed a lien on her property in June 2007....

In December, she received a default notice on the mortgage from the collection agency of Washington Mutual....

County records show the property was sold to a company called Red Rock Mortgage Inc. of Sacramento.

Richardson says the house isn't really in foreclosure. Um hm, that explains this sad visual:

A real estate agent's lock box hung Wednesday from the front door of the 1926-vintage house.

Hello, Congress? The people, you know -- the ones you were elected to represent -- are hurting out here. A lot of people have lost their houses already. Many, many more are on the edge.

If *this* is what it takes to get your attention, so be it.

Third in a series

photo of Cardstacker Bryan Berg building Boston's Government Center by jpolaski