Jennie M. Xue

Time to protect consumers of home-loan modifications

 

 by Jennie S. Bev

A week ago, the office of Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, and the Mountain House Community Services District co-hosted a Foreclosure Prevention Summit Workshop at Bethany Elementary School in Mountain House.

The resident-led housing activism organization Mountain House Action Group has been involved since the beginning in November 2008 through our advocacy and sharing activities. The event was attended by Bank of America, Chase, Fannie Mae, several Housing and Urban Development Department-approved counselors and more than 150 homeowners.

To bailout or not to bailout, and by whom

 

Read a news article on Mountain House Action Group's activism on foreclosure help: Foreclosure Help in Mountain House on Monday (August 14, 2009).

by Jennie S. Bev

Bailout after bailout, things haven’t shown any significant progress except for a few momentary upsurges in the Wall Street, while the whole world seems to be in the same boat. The recent G-20 Summit might have been another “rock star” performance for The Obamas, but the results have been vague.

Following the banking crisis, the real economy in which goods are sold and products are manufactured is next in line to sink deep. Credit crunch has hit businesses and individuals, which have been causing the economy to stagnate even further. Regardless of government bailouts for banks, credit will be hard to get for many more years to come. Thawing credit will need much more than a microwave, apparently.

An education in life

 by Jennie S. Bev 

In Indonesia, I went to a top-tier high school in Jakarta and the best university in the nation. In the United States, I didn’t go to an Ivy League school, instead I went to a state university and a so-so private university. Still, I did my master’s and doctorate-level studies and am now assisting a think tank at a posh private university in San Diego as a short-term fellow, writing on the subject of peace.

To some people, I’ve had an elite education and live an elite lifestyle. But for those educated at Ivy League schools, like Harvard, Princeton and Yale, I’m just a second-tier intellectual.