Rebecca Levinson, Real Estate Marketing Consultant

Dear Mr. Stein,

I came across your oh so enlightening article on Yahoo Finance! today, “Why I’m Still Buying” and wanted to share an important lesson with my readers, using you as a perfect example.

Thanks in advance.

Dear fellow Americans,

Mr. Stein wrote a post last Friday, “Why I’m Still Buying” in which he gave his oh so narrow sighted views on why our great nation is experiencing financial turmoil and what a glimpse into the future might look like.

Mr. Stein’s bent on the source of the weakened economy goes like this,

“Groups involved with civil rights issues and activities for poor people began to complain that poor people and especially non-white poor people got mortgages much less often than white well to do people.”

And foolishly continued….

“…the advocates for poor and black people had immense political clout. Under President Bill Clinton, they passed legislation that called on banks to be required to lend to non credit worthy borrower”

Stop…I need go no further. Stein continue to wax inanely, blaming the uprising minority homeowners for the subprime mortgage debacle and the shakedown of the American Economy.

On the housing front:

There certainly weren’t any middle to upper middle class trying to buy up on interest only, adjustable rate mortgage, and 110% financing products.

There weren’t any homeowners using their home equity like atm machines.

There weren’t any investors left holding houses, unable to flip them.

Did you, Mr. Ben Stein, not profit from the subprime?  Did you Mr. Ben Stein, complain about these loan products way back when?  Did you, Mr. Ben Stein, not enourage your audience to invest as you do today?

Thou doth protest too much, methinks, Mr. Ben Stein.

Let alone the problems with credit, the auto industry, healthcare and others that have remained near stagnant, needy for real solutions.

Mr. Stein-You could have used your platform wisely....but took the road adjacent to the gutter.

Thanks for showing my readers yet another example of a person in a glass house who threw one hell of a stone.

Get past the blame and get on with the solution.

I write this post as I sit on a Sunday evening enjoying time with my family, each of us engaged in separate activities, but all of us together and united. I am reflecting on a blog post I just read, “Beneath the financial crisis waits a nastier beast”, which explores the last domino of the financial crisis.

The blogger, Waleed Aly, discusses what might happen with social politics as a result of the economy. Aly’s belief is that government intervention and the new marketplace cannot help but alter social politics. Aly’s words are sobering:

“This is what happens in times of great insecurity. As the foundations of our lives erode, we search for an anchor, and social politics very often provides it. When all else fails, we may still rally around old certainties: nation, culture, religion, race. We crave strong authority figures that can imbue us with certainty and articulate for us a sense of self. That often involves fabricating a scapegoat who becomes a mortal enemy.”

I have great hopes that the lessons of the past have taught us that fear-controlled decisions are usually led by sheep in wolves’ clothing.

Check this post, "Bachmann blames minorities for housing crisis"

Watch this video

I have great hopes that the lessons of the past have taught us that fear-controlled decisions are usually led by sheep in wolves’ clothing.

Realize this:

• If your property values decline, understand that in most cases they appreciated unrealistically and were overvalued.
• If your company starts layoffs or downsizing and outsources overseas or hires cheaper labor, that is the decision of the company, not the end laborer.
• If you look to blame the subprime mortgage crisis on a race or ethnicity, you are blinding yourself to the source.

In the end, the blame does nothing to improve your situation. Empowerment lies in finding a solution by working together and looking inside ourselves.

People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. We all live in glass houses.

It is no wonder that hundreds of thousands of people were hoping to look to the sky today for inspiration.

We need a change. We need to start from within and work our way out.

We can flip the switch from the age of entitlement to the age of enlightenment.

Get past the blame and get on with the solution.

UPDATE: I will list any unfortunate examples that come across my path here:

Ben Stein's "Why I'm Still Buying"

During the events of yesterday, I was able to pick up the phone and call my father to talk through my thoughts on this issue. This is a huge deal - the biggest shake-up in many American's lifetimes. I am going to pay attention. I am going to listen. I am going to participate. I am going to learn.

We are a society used to instant gratification. Yesterday, anyone on the pro-bailout side, used to our "gimme now" culture, had a new order thrust their way - wait and see.

Regardless of what side of the fence you're on, we're all chomping at the bit. We all want the same thing in the end - a reasonable resolution and some peace of mind.

After my conversation with my father, the television spouting its fear in the background, I turned to the Internet and scoured the news stories. I watched in eerie fascination as Congress cast its vote and Wall Street responded in kind. Even though I wasn't keen on the bailout, I do feel we can't be completely hands off this issue, so when the politicking began, I was feeling a little powerless; a little sad.

Continue reading, "Web 2.0 is Prozac for your bailout blues"....

Yesterday I attended a Law Of Attraction seminar hosted by Esther and Jerry Hicks. If you don't know their story, the Hicks were the ones originally enlightening people about the The Secret. They have a unique value proposition, one that I listen to daily. Whether you follow their teachings or believe in their story is irrelevant, because what they have to say is just good common sense.

I get fired up about the Law of Attraction because it keeps me on track, focused and hopeful. I know I am a positive person, but that doesn't mean that the contrast existent in day to day doesn't throw me for a loop. Somedays I have allowed it to just knock me on my butt.

Remembering the law of attraction helps me to reach for things that make me feel better. When I am reallly good, remembering the law of attraction helps me to use the negative factors to my advantage because it allows me to desire things that make me feel better and turn my attention toward those things instead.

I read a lot of blog posts as well as write and conduct interviews every week. I observe through reading or listening a lot of mixed emotions when it comes to the pursuit of happiness. So many people struggling with self worth and past and present struggles. All different people from all walks of life have an Eleanor Rigby inside of them.

Once the questions started pouring out at the seminar I attended yesterday and the answer was given, I just found my pen flying. So many great responses and some truly life altering ones for me. Just as I was given a gift yesterday, I want to share that same gift now and offer these same words that are penned in my notebook.

These words comforted a young 20 year old boy who had just suffered a loss, a 30 something professional unsure if he should accept a gift of homeownership from his father, a middle aged woman seeking to love herself and accept herself as she loves and accepts others. These words comforted all who heard them in the room. The buzz of positive energy flowing in the 800 other attendees was transparent.

These words comforted me.

On dealing with life's obstacles-"From your contrast is always born clarity of improvement. Contrast proples you to what you want, what could be better. These better things contribute to the expansion of the world" ( I can think of a few inventions that have come about this way)

On dealing with negative emotions-"In your present negative emotion, you are not keeping up with who you really are and who you were meant to be. If you are feeling hopelessness/despair you are low on the ladder and you need to start climbing those rungs. You can climb up to revenge (just feel those thoughts, not actually acting out vengeance), from revenge climb up to anger, than climb to frustration/pettiness,and from there climb to hope.

"From hope you can really get to the best things in life that were meant to be yours. You can reach for your desires from hope." (Think of Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King or the Dalai Lama)

On the media- "It's okay to turn turn toward the media when you are having curious thoughts about what's going on in the bigger world outside of your front door. The key is not to take in all the negative media and use it as an excuse to simmer on negative feelings. Use it as a source to pinpoint what you do want. Focus on those things that you do want and do not keep your attention on the media's reporting"

The best media reporters would show you a wide picture of what was going on, and then show you how to make it better....and what is out there to make you feel good.

(Can you relate real estate to this equation?)

On accepting good things happening to you and wanting more (it's amazing how we can be our own worst enemies on this one)- "How do you justify the well being that is coming to you? My existence is justification enough."

Attending the seminar just to hear this last statement was worth it. As a mother, a writer and a coach, I have a hard time accepting things from others. I have an even harder time accepting things for myself. I always want to give, but one of the best things I can do is to accept gifts and life's rewards with open arms. this is what life is all about.

Before I left the conference I was looking at a series of books for children. I want to start teaching my children more about the Law of Attracting and the Art of Allowing. I don't want them to grow up in this world thinking defeatist thoughts and feeding into the negative hype. As I was at the table I started a conversation with the woman next to me, a grandmother who told me she would be purchasing the children's books.

This was a gift for her granchildren. She wanted them to "...have the opportunity to learn this stuff earlier than her".

There wasn't any religion, race, creed or sexual preference that wasn't welcome in the conference room yesterday. I was sitting in a rainbow of acceptance and love. In a room of people who knew that life was about feeling good. I walked away from the conference confident and assured, eager to share with my children. The first thing I will tell them?

"Your perspective makes all the difference"

Today is the 7th anniversary of 911. Almost a decade later after the tragic events and stregths that united our country and our nation's friends and I still remember where I was, how I felt, what I did on that day in 2001.

I remember that my family was in Door County Wisconsin for a family wedding, my cousin had just gotten married the day before. I remember coming into the living room where my brother was fixated on the t.v., and then I remember watching the t.v. as a plane hit the second tower.

I remember my dad, a New Yorker, pacing back and forth and saying that it was the "end of the world as we knew it". I remember being relieved when I found out the daycare in one of the twin towers had not been occupied that day. I remember worrying about what was next.

I remember the need to hug my children tight. I remember driving home how quiet the ride was, flags were at half mast, there were no planes in the sky. 911- I remember.

What I learned today is that the events of that day are fresh in the minds of many.

I sent an email to my fellow co-workers at Connect2Agent , asking them to "...answer the question what do you remember, starting each thought with "I remember...".

Here are their memories of September 11th, 2001: