Give Thanks

Every Thanksgiving for as many years as I can remember, my mother had a tradition at Thanksgiving dinner. After my father prayed over the food, my mother asked each of us to name one thing that had happened in the last year that we were thankful for. As I got older, knowing that I would have to state what I was grateful for, I started thinking about the year a couple of weeks in advance of the holiday, and I found that even in difficult years, I had a lot to be thankful for. My mother's tradition, which she continues to this day, has helped me to really think about the meaning of Thanksgiving each year.

For many of us, 2012 has been an exceptionally tough year ending in an extraordinarily disappointing election. We have seen so many negative changes and so much bad news, while being painfully aware that that we are weeks away from another onslaught of bad news in the form of massive new regulations,  that those of us who work in real estate and mortgage lending might feel stumped at my mother's dinner table next week. So in the spirit of Thanksgiving week, I have compiled a list of 4 things that all of us in our industry can give thanks for on November 22.

1. We still have low interest rates (for now at least).   For all of the problems we have had with rule changes, underwriting changes and guideline changes, 2012 has seen record low interest rates. When I started in this industry in 1998, I would have never believed it possible that I would be financing people at fixed interest rates in the 2's. I realize that this is mixed blessing at best--a short term boon with long-term inflationary implications--but in the spirit of Thanksgiving I choose to focus on the bright side of the situation. Those low interest rates have allowed those of us in lending to weather tough times and perform a real service for borrowers who now have fixed rates lower than we ever imagined.

2. We are seeing lower housing prices (a trend which is likely to continue into 2013.) Yes, I know that this is also a mixed blessing at best, but think about it. With underwriting standards so tight, many borrowers could not qualify at all if housing prices had not dropped. Lower prices mean that many home buyers who had been priced out of an accelerating market can actually afford a home (provided that they can navigate the minefield of strict guidelines waiting for them.)

3. We still have access to great programs (for now at least). We have seen a huge number of products go away, but there are still some great loan programs that allow borrowers to qualify for financing. Programs like Fannie Mae's Home Path give borrowers an opportunity to buy a home with conventional financing, a reduced down payment and no mortgage insurance. I just finished quoting a loan on the Home Path investment program with 10% down and no mortgage insurance and a 3.875% fixed rate for 15 years. Although we mourn the loss of some of our past programs, great financing still exists for qualified buyers.

4. We are still alive, and we are not alone! "Don't worry about things--food, drink and clothes. For you already have life and a body--and they are more important than what to eat and what to wear. Look at the birds! They don't worry about what to eat--they don't need to sow or reap or store up food--for your heavenly Father feeds them...And why worry about your clothes? Look at the field lilies! They don't worry about theirs. Yet King Solomon in all his glory was not clothed as beautifully as they. And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won't He more surely care for you....So don't be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time." (Matthew 6: 25-34 TLB)

Now that's something we can be thankful for every day! Happy Thanksgiving.

Alexandra Swann is the author of No Regrets: How Homeschooling Earned me a Master's Degree at Age Sixteen and several other books. Her novel, The Planner about an out of control, environmentally-driven federal government, is available on Kindle and in paperback. For more information, visit her website at http://www.frontier2000.net.

Guilty until proven innocent through the payment of fees? - access to justice in Scotland

With the second stage of the Scottish Civil Justice Council and Criminal Legal Assistance Bill before the Scottish Parliament tomorrow (Tuesday, 13 November 2012) it is important to consider whether a fundamental principle of Scots law - 'innocent until proven guilty' - will remain intact in Scotland if this Bill is passed as currently drafted.

Govan Law Centre does not undertake criminal defence work as a community controlled charitable law centre; our focus is on initiatives to tackle social injustice, disadvantage and discrimination. Yet, injustice is injustice whether civil or criminal in our society; and people are people.

The present proposals by the Scottish Government would see anyone in Scotland accused of a crime having to pay upfront fees for their defence where their disposable income was £68 per week or more to obtain criminal legal aid.

Furthermore, such upfront contributions for criminal legal aid would have to be collected by the accused's solicitor. At present the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) are paid by the taxpayer to collect similar civil legal aid contributions. Why should criminal legal aid contributions be different?

It makes no sense for solicitors to undertake debt collection work which the taxpayer presently pays SLAB to undertake. Moreover, forcing those who are defending accused persons to collect upfront fees creates an inherent flaw, which requires defence solicitors to cease from acting where fees are not paid. Such an approach introduces a systemic blockage into Scotland's criminal defence system which cannot be compliant with Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Ultimately, how can it be just for citizens up against the power of the State in Scotland to be denied access to justice for the inability of paying legal fees? How can it be just for people with disposable incomes as low as £68 per week to be required to pay for their defence in a criminal case? Incredibly, how can it be right that those found innocent or not proven of an alleged crime still have to pay fees?

We believe that the Scottish Government are in danger of undermining a precious tenent of Scots law - the principle of 'innocent until proven guilty' - with the risk that many Scots may be deemed guilty in the future unless able to pay a fee to be proved innocent.

For God and Country

Tomorrow is November 6th--a day many of us have been awaiting for several years.  I work in a heavily liberal Democrat district of the United States.  El Paso County, Texas voted for George W. Bush when he ran for his second term as governor, but Bush did not carry the county during his two presidential runs, although he easily carried the rest of the state.  In fact, I cannot remember El Paso County voting for a Republican candidate for president at any time during the past twenty-four years that I have been voting in presidential elections.  But even here, in this stronghold of liberalism, Romney-Ryan signs are appearing throughout the area.  I am also seeing a number of professionally made signs saying some variation of "This is my business; I did build it," coupled with or without Romney Ryan signs.  Yesterday on my way to church I noticed a new banner sign posted at a business that read in part, "I built this business without any help from the government."  That sentence was followed by a crass, unprintable suggestion to President Obama. The tone of the banners and the whispered conversations of my clients who reluctantly tell me that they are not going to vote for Obama indicate to me that there is a huge amount of anxiety, concern and discontentment in the business community and in our society at large.

During the month of October, I wrote a series of posts on various reasons why I am voting FOR Mitt Romney tomorrow and not just Against Barack Obama.  I am completely opposed to Obama's policies--not just in terms of the anti-business practices that he is using to crush the small business community, or the anti-Israel foreign policy that threatens our most important ally in the Middle East.  I am opposed to this "remaking" of America that Obama is determined to impose on all of us.  I stand against this idea that we need to be a socialist nanny state that has no room for God or freedom but plenty of room for an ever-expanding bureaucracy of government that should tell us where to live, what to eat, what to drink, where to work, what we can earn and what we should think. 

Last week, President Obama told his supporters that the best revenge is voting. Revenge for what?  Revenge against whom?  Why does one group of citizens need to plan revenge against another group who disagrees with them politically?  The revenge comments ties in nicely to comments made by White House advisor Valerie Jarrett last week that when the election is over it will be "payback" time for everyone who has opposed this Administration politically.  Of all of the un-American rhetoric that has eminated from the Obama camp over the past four years, these final threats against political opposition have to be a first from our political leaders.  The whole idea of voting for revenge is repugnant; it is the language of an angry, vengeful Administration that has nothing new to offer us and has therefore resorted to bullying and threatening the citizenry.

I will not vote for revenge tomorrow; I do not want revenge.  I want to see freedom expanded, I want to see harmful, abusive regulations turned back, I want to see jobs added, I want to see greater opportunities made available for all Americans.  I want to see the ranks of those on government assistance shrinking as those people who are currently receiving government assistance experience the self-respect that comes only from self-reliance.  I want to see our Bill of Rights defended for all Americans.  I want to see freedom of religion defended so that no one is forced by the government to violate his or her conscience.  I cling to God and guns and Freedom, but I do not do so bitterly as President Obama once derisively commented.  Rather, I cling hopefully to the values and freedoms that founded and built the greatest and most prosperous nation on earth.  Tomorrow I am voting for the Constitution and the rule of law--for the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.  That's why tomorrow, I am voting for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, and I am praying that across this country tens of millions of other Americans will do the same.  Tomorrow is our decision day; it is our chance to take a stand for God and country.

Alexandra Swann is the author of No Regrets: How Homeschooling Earned me a Master's Degree At Age Sixteen and several other books. Her novel, The Planner, about an out of control, environmentally-driven federal government, is available on Kindle and in paperback. For more information, visit her website at http://www.frontier2000.net.