Letters to the Editor for Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Published: October 7, 2008

Blame for fiscal crisis lies with many
The current mortgage crisis has created a chorus of blame from every corner of the world — the bankers, the Wall Street executives, the mortgage lenders and, most notably, deregulation and lack of sufficient government oversight. I would like to suggest a different view of the problem and, perhaps, a different cause.

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Many years ago, when I applied for my first mortgage, it was a difficult process. The saying among my friends was that “they only loaned money to people who don’t need it.” The bankers were local and familiar with the neighborhoods for which they were lending, and their local bank benefited from stable loans and suffered losses for those that ended in foreclosure. The interesting thing is that we rarely witnessed a foreclosure — they were simply very rare. The bankers were quite careful as their banks success depended on wise choosing in their lending.

Since that time, the federal government, in the form of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has entered the market and created an organization that purchases mortgages from these local banks. This has, undoubtedly, increased home ownership but has also systematically lowered the threshold needed in order to be approved for a mortgage. This created an environment whereby the local banker is able to make riskier loans while passing the mortgage, and its associated risk, onto these quasi-government agencies. We have, in effect, created a situation whereby the banking industry is not accountable for the level of risk in the loans they make.

Thirty years ago there was virtually no government involvement in the mortgage industry, and there were very few defaults and foreclosures. Today, with substantive and extensive government involvement we have many defaults and record foreclosures.

It seems to me that lack of government, in the form of more regulation, is not the cause of what we are seeing, but, rather much of this crisis has been caused by government involvement and the risky environment that it has created.
CHUCK SHAUGHNESSY
Lynchburg

Prayer war
All the recent stir about how a prison chaplain should conclude prayer is unfortunate and unnecessary.

We should remember that the person with whom and for whom a chaplain is engaged in prayer may be a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, a Mormon or of some other religion.

Several years ago, the late Rev. George Bean, the rector at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Lynchburg, recognizing that among Rotarians locally and worldwide, there are members of different faiths, wrote Rotarian’s Prayer, which was phrased so that no one would feel left out or offended by that prayer. Frequently that prayer is used are regular Rotary meetings.

Here is his prayer:

“Almighty God, who has taught us that the meaning of life is to be found in putting serving above self, we beseech thee to bless all who give themselves to the service of their fellow men and women. Endue them with wisdom, patience and courage to strengthen the weak and to raise up those who fall: that, being inspired by love, they may minister to the suffering, the friendless and the needy. In thy name, Amen.”
WILLIAM F. QUILLIAN Jr.
Lynchburg