Jack Lewitz

It was the perfect day to drive around town and look at Halloween Decorations in Evanston!!

Evanston Halloween Events:

• Trick or Treat Hours on October 31, 2008 is 4 to 7 p.m

• Spooky Daze at Fleetwood-Jourdaine Center 1655 Foster Street Friday October 27 from 6-8:30 pm for children 4-12 includes costume parade games, clowns, magic show, refreshments. Everything Free.

• Bug-a-Boo Walk at Ladd Arboretum Oct. 27 at the Ecology Center from 4- 6:40 pm

• Robert Crown Center Halloween Skate Party Tuesday October 30 from 6-7:15 pm

• Project Pumpkin at Northwestern's Norris University Center for children ages 4 to 12. Contact Alondra Canizal @ a-canizal@northwestern.edu for dates.

I am compelled to write about the 700 billion dollar bailout plan. Here is my problem, nobody is talking about helping the homeowner who is about to lose his home. Mr Paulson states, this bailout is not the same bailout which took place for the Savings and Loan Industry. During the Savings and Loan crisis, the treasury owned the real estate as collateral. Mr Paulson says the bailout today will not involve ownership of real estate as collateral. I say thats crazy....If the government is going to bailout bad mortgage securities and not attach a value to them then I think there is something fundamentally wrong with the plan. I say these loans are worth nothing if you do not use the real estate as collateral.

So, here is my solution to the financial mess and it should not cost $700 billion dollars.

Banks should clasify their bank portfolio of loans into three groups.

Group 1 should be those loans who should be restructured for people who want to keep their home and have the ability to pay a new mortgage.

Group 2 should be loans where people have no interest in home ownership today but do not want a bad credit on their records. These homeowners have other buyers "Short Sales" interested in buying the property at a discount.

Group 3 should be those loans already foreclosed by the bank.

In each group the mortgage security is backed by the market value of the asset which is the real estate. The treasury should help those who want to restructure their loan. should assist in the sale of the asset to a new buyer "short sale". and finally should have the ability to own title to the asset in the form of home ownership when the home has been foreclosed and wait until the market corrects itself. In each situation I bet the bailout would be less than what the government is proposing. It is my opinion that, once these bad loans get off the books of the banks confidence will come back to the market. Banks will be able to borrow money and lend money under new regulation standards which are needed in the banking industry. Your comment are always welcome..