Obama: Catapillar Will Be Able To Rehire Folks Due To Stimulus Bill…Caterpillar Head Doesn’t Agree

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Nothing I can add to this work from Jake Tapper, one of the MSM journalists of late who take their job seriously rather then trying to be a groupie for Obama:

EAST PEORIA, ILL. — President Obama today repeated the claim we asked about yesterday at the press briefing that Jim Owens, the CEO of Caterpillar, Inc., “said that if Congress passes our plan, this company will be able to rehire some of the folks who were just laid off.”

Caterpillar announced 22,000 layoffs last month.

But after the president left the event, Owens said the exact opposite

Asked if the stimulus package would be able to stop the 22,000 layoffs or not, Owens said, “I think realistically no. The truth is we’re going to have more layoffs before we start hiring again”

“It is going to take some time before that stimulus bill” means re-hiring, he said.

Obama lied about the stimulus plan? What a shock!

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This is quite a shame, actually, as I was laid off from my company, an Engineering consulting firm who placed many product engineering CAD designers/engineers at Caterpillar, back in December due to CAT’s layoffs. CAT dropped a lot of POs (purchased orders) with my company at the last minute in December and it forced my company to lay people off as well, as CAT was our largest customer. When CAT recovers, my company will as well and then maybe they will call me back to work up here at our MI office.

You know, if B.O. would cut corporate tax rates and lower capital gains, that would probably go a long way to helping companies like CAT. But, of course, B.O. is not going to do that. He’s just about words and not about taking the proper actions that will actually help. Brilliant.

Meanwhile, people such as myself are laid off all over Michigan and yet that scumbag Kwame Kilpatrick is out of jail and employed again. Again, just brilliant. Maybe I need to commit a few crimes, not pay my taxes and then go to prison and that will improve my chances to get a job…

@Michael in MI:

If you have unpaid taxes that makes you qualified for Sec of Commerce.

There’s an opening over there at the moment.

You’re right about corporate tax rates as well as capital gains. BO would rather have our dollars going to fund ACORN or STD education or electric golf carts/mini-cars for the gov’t or millions for the salt marsh harvest mouse.

Yep, Nanny Gov’t knows better than you and I how our money should be spent.

***

In all seriousness, I wish you the very best in either finding another job or being able to wait out CAT.

I’ve been where you are and I know how emotionally draining and frustrating it can be.

@Aye Chihuahua:

Yeah, it’s not fun at all. On the good side, it’s been a nice reality check and life lesson. I look back now and wish that I had not bought my house in 2003. While I did not make the mistake of getting an ARM, I now realize that I was probably otherwise unqualified for the 30-year fixed loan I got, had it not been for the lowered standards. I have been able to pay my mortgage without issue the past 5+ years, but I can’t last past the end of May on unemployment. Had I not bought my house back then, I could have a lot more saved in savings right now and could have had my rent payment of $625 instead of my current mortgage of $1500, and then been able to ride out being unemployed for a lot longer. But, as it is, I go broke by the end of May if I don’t find a job by then.

It’s really frustrating, because I don’t have flexibility to relocate with the house tying me down. With the market value of houses falling so much, I think the best I can hope for, if it comes to this, is to short sell my house. But I have already had to pass up on two opportunities for jobs located in San Diego and Connecticut. Meanwhile, BAE Systems here in Michigan is hiring as they are opening up a brand new facility and are planning to hire 200+ employees. However, there were 2000-3000 people who showed up at their Job Fair on January 16th, so the competition is huge. Other than that, from what I have seen, it looks like companies are cutting employees and then filling their needs with one or two hires of very experienced people to take the position of probably where they used to have 3-5 employees doing those jobs. I see lots of postings for people with 7-10 years experience in certain areas, which I just do not have. I have 9 years experience in product engineering CAD design, working directly with engineers at Ford, and I have my BSME, but I have no mechanical engineering experience. So that works against me in many of these opportunities that are out there.

I initially saw this as a great opportunity for me to see what was out there, as my former company really did not pay the best for my experience and the benefits, I am finding out now, are pretty poor compared to other companies. But the longer I go without many opportunities, the more worried and depressed I become. I just turned 33 and last year I had it all planned out to be out of debt this month and set to finally be able to take vacations and enjoy life more and hopefully get back into the dating scene again. Now I look ahead and see the economy and the government doing what it’s doing and I can’t help but think that I am screwed as now I will probably lose my house, lose my good credit rating and still not have a job and won’t be able to recover until my mid to late 30s. In the meantime, no girl in their right mind is going to be interested in a man in my situation.

Emotionally draining and frustrating is an understatement! heh

It’s just so frustrating to have been working so hard all these years to set myself up so well and then to see it all come crashing down within a few weeks (I was laid off Dec 18th).

I would feel much better about things if I felt that the government was either doing something that might help or just staying out of the way and not making things worse. But in addition to my personal worries, it’s even more depressing and aggravating to keep up with the political side and news stories on all the blogs I read. And to add insult to injury, it’s even more aggravating to see our former racist, criminal mayor get out of jail and immediately get employed again, while people such as myself, good upstanding citizens who pay my taxes, obey the law and work hard are struggling. Not to mention seeing tax cheats in the Administration and Obama keep breaking his campaign promises (no lobbyists, transparent gov’t, post-partisan, etc) without being held to account by his supporters or the mass media.

I’m just glad that I am a normally positive and strong-willed person, and also don’t have any vices on which I lean when depressed (don’t drink or smoke or do drugs or anything), so I have remained decently strong through all this. But some days it’s a lot more difficult than others. I just keep telling myself that there are others a lot worse off than myself and it could be worse.

I just keep working to find job opportunities and keep hoping that this will turn around sooner rather than later. I guess we’ll see…

so obama lied, what a shoxk. he wants this to appear that he is working for the nation when he is only working for special interests. cat has built great machines for a long time and because of the high taxes and all of the associated governmental bs they are having issues. most business’ are, and it takes it out on the little guy. thank god my business is just a bit slower than the normal winter slow down, the salon business cycles, my husbands plant is only selling 50% of normal. they laid off 45 people in november, and have rehired about half, but thats through attrition and a few being fired. they work a week, are off a week and get unemployment when they are off, yippy. thats half the pay for a week. his union is happy because when the road and construction projects heat up so will their business, but at what cost? they have a union contract coming in june and they have already givin up so much and i know corprate will want more, several years ago they asked the employees to take a $4.00 an hour pay cut to help keep the company solvent and pt pay off a loan. they did this because they were told when it was paid off the wages would gp back up, well they paid it off sooner than they thought and left the wages the same. and the union said they forgot to get it in writing, god i hate unions.

I read that Jim Owens is on Obama’s economic advisory board…something isn’t jiving here.

So. I checked out the whole story, and this post is innacurate. The head of CAT thinks it won’t stop the immediate layoffs, but will help rehire. He LIKES the economic package. I don’t get the whole Obama lied thing. He’s a democrat. He believes in a different set of principles economically. He thinks this stimulous will work.
Here’s my problem. And please, someone respond to my respose with integrity. The dems treated Bush like a bunch of children. And so they deserve for their guy to deal with the same. But that doesn’t explain why republicans are now acting like a bunch of children. They took issue with the petty behavior of the dems, but are now doing the same. (I’m an independent)

@Bubsta:

What!? The *Republicans* are acting like children? The Republicans are not even allowed to contribute to the “Stimulus” bill, because the Democrats and Obama are keeping them out of the discussions and then B.O. is lying about the Republicans not offering a counter-proposal (saying they are offering nothing) and you’re saying the *Republicans* are acting like children!? Wow. Just wow. “Independent” indeed.

@Bubsta:

Did you click on the link in the post so that you could watch the video of what BO said?

Did you then watch the video of what the CEO of CAT said?

They directly contradicted one another.

It couldn’t be more plain.

Obviously BO was “embellishing” the story to make it sound better.

What exactly has led you to feel that the Republicans are acting like children?

Obama lied about the stimulus plan? What a shock!

I don’t know – I think it’s more likely that Pres. Obama really has no idea what he is doing and what the impacts will be. He’s willing to be malleable because he just has no clue whatsoever and is completely unprepared for this position.

Some people know how to lie very well, right Curt? They can reach out to individuals and make them hear just what they want to hear. They seem to think that no one is on to their game. And it is, afterall, one great big game that tremendously impacts lives. Luckily, for people like Michael who seems to (- mild assumption here Michael!) have his head on straight, they will survive, learn and move on, typically to bigger and better opportunities than they had before being snowed or caught up in the mess. Thank goodness for character, strength and tenacity!

But, the truly unfortunate part is that the liars end up doing more bad than good by trying to make their “innocent”, woe is me, little schemes fly. They sacrifice their reputation and when they get done with all of the storytelling, very few people have any shred of respect for them, regardless of what they were attempting to achieve. Usually, they have a selfish goal in mind and they try to package it as if it were good for all parties involved. No worries though…with time, many people become aware and do everything in their power to ensure that the liar gets treated accordingly. And…more often than not, they do get caught and their lives (or is it lies) unravel.

This just proves that honesty is always the best policy, personally, professionally, and even politically!

Do right by the people, for the people…and for Heaven’s sake, tell the freakin’ truth!

Obama was brought us hope .. hope that POTUS 45 is a hell of a lot smarter than that idiot POTUS 44.

You are more right than you know, Michelle. Hang on to this Obama/Caterpillar/stimulus/Lincoln celebration event. More to come on the six degrees of separation.

Michael in MI: Just to let you know, your situation today was my situation back in LA during a WGA strike in the mid 80s. While the writers held up production in the film/TV industry to get their bennies, the backlog of no work for us peons further down line translated to 8-10 months out of work. This doesn’t help your present situation, I know. But perhaps you will need to know this is not necessarily an event that is restricted to these times. They can happen at the whim of any union, at any given time.

Now we are in new times, and my “slow” business is little different than anyone else’s. It doesn’t make you feel better to say that you aren’t alone in what you are experiencing. But you’re not. But it may make you feel better to know that even in the “boom” of times, it has happened to many of us without some nationwide economic crisis. In other words, it’s part of business life sometimes. So just hang in there, and take advantage of the opportunities of the time… i.e. the loan modifications, etal.

To you, Bubsta. There is nothing “inaccurate” about this story. If you had read my post yesterday, which sorta leads into this post today, you’d know that Caterpillar came to the end of their contracts. Construction is slow world wide. Until the contracts pick back up, they are slimming down, but not taking bailout money.

Now… INRE the BS promise to rehire? This story is more accurate. They MANUFACTURE the cats. And since all the privately owned existing cats are idle, the government contracts – which comprise MOST of the Caterpillar business for contractors – have to first utilize the existing equipment before the crew that builds more equipment is called back. So yes… very logical the layoffs will continue… even if there are new government contracts to be had. Once there are enough contracts to keep the existing equipment busy, they will order new heavy equipment.

Make sense?

What doesn’t make sense is that Obama can pull off this lie in the face of reality…. stay tuned.

@Michael in MI:

Well I kinda agree and I kinda disagree. You’re totally right about the repubs not having “direct” influence over the stimulus. But 43% tax cuts is pretty good for a democratic congress and a president who everyone called a socialist (I understand that most of you believe that a portion of those cuts are welfare). The fact is that repubs didn’t allow any dems in when crafting their bills, so neither did Pelosi. That was a HUGE mistake, no doubt. But let’s just take a step back and remember what Boehner said about Obama after meeting with him to discuss the stimulus package. He said that Obama is more in line with what the republicans want, then what Pelosi wants. And its true. When the bill was festering in the senate, Obama said that he wants more of the trivial spending cut out, and more infrastructure put in. This echoed exactly what the house repubs initially said. It was later on that the repubs found the guts to demand more tax cuts.

Now as for why they are acting like children. Maybe I should come up with a less condescending term. But it seems to fit. Now, I would never in a million years think that Pelosi or Reid are any more mature (actually they’re worse). I’m just starting to hear the murmurs of lowball assaults. Look, I think that all those dems who went after Bush in such a bizarre personal way are much worse. But I’m starting to hear the “inexperienced” rant from Romney, and the “Is this change we can believe in,” and the much worse, “Obama is a liar.”

I think the repubs are on a roll right now. It may be hard for some conservatives to deal with, but the republicans in congress are getting a lot of support for redefining themselves as fiscal conservatives while allowing the social agenda to take the back seat. More power to them. The economic battles are eye to eye, with both sides honoring the oponent. The culural wars have become low and dirty. We all have our differences culturally, and we should respect that, but politics is better played in the field of economics. It’s hard not to admire a repub who won’t sign onto a deal that would aid his OWN STATE. It’s also hard not to admire a dem who fights for better infrastructure. Good people. Good debates. Get it on.

Hey Bubsta,

Criticizing democrats for spending money like there is no tomorrow is not immature. On top of that, this stimulus will have laws with in it like nationalized health care system. There will be a data base created that will store all our medical information. Then board will form to determine what doctors can do and cannot do.

This is the beginning, the nationalizing of our infrastructure.

Then there’s money from this stimulus given to states with deficits so large they can’t bail them selves out like California. California got that way financially because they had fools for a state senate and governor. Now the taxpayers will have to subsidize some other states bad decisions and we have no say in it!

I don’t see any tax cuts coming out of this stimulus. Now, there are rebates which is not a tax cut but no real tax cuts.

We went through this before during FDR’s presidency. Through out the 1930’s unemployment stayed at around 20%. So much for the new deal and investing in infrastructure.

The modern Democratic party is the officially the Socialist party. They were the party of slavery in the early years of this nation now they will control all of us.

What was more astounding was Mr. Obama’s statement in Peoria that the gov’t wasn’t going to mortgage our children, grand children and great grandchildren with massive debt cause that’s not how the people of Peoria handle their families’ finances, AT THE SAME TIME his own party with less than one percent of repubikan RINOs were doing the exact opposite. Do as I say not as I do, the hallmark of Barrack Hypocrite Obamanation.

Here is video of what eaglewingz was referring to.

Classic Obie.

Roll the tape:

Neo,

Thanks for the insightful, intelligent, President Bush is stupid and Mr. Obama is brilliant comment. There is a good discussion here between some adults, and we get your comment.

As a Conservative Republican, you have changed my opinion of President Bush. There, feel better? Now please, go away.

Tom in CA

@Tom in CA:

Tom, I think you misread the comment by Neo.

Ouch, sorry Neo.

Tom in CA

Tom: hint, check the numbers. Who is #44?

Okay, here’s the answer in the back of the book: GWB = #43, BHO = #44, (?) = #45

I hope 45 is Brian Schweitzer.

@MataHarley:

“So just hang in there, and take advantage of the opportunities of the time… i.e. the loan modifications, etal.”

Heh. It’s funny you mention the “loan modifications”. After I was laid off on Dec 18th, it was obviously the only thing on my mind when I went home to Chicago to visit family for the holidays. I talked to my mom about my worries about my house and my budget and such and how I had figured out where I would be, depending on getting my tax refund and unemployment payments in a timely manner. She then talked to her friend who is in the real estate business and he advised me to call my lender and ask about a “forbearance” opportunity. How that works is the lender can decide to postpone a number of monthly payments and then either add them to the end of the mortgage or set up a separate loan for that amount to be paid back within a certain number of months (ie, if it is $1500/mo and they allow me to postpone 3 months, I will have $4500 loan that I will need to pay back by the end of 2009, in addition to my other mortgage payments, or something like that) or any other number of options.

So I called up my lender (Countrywide) last month, explained my situation (I had just gotten laid off, but I could still probably make my mortgage payments for the next few months, but that it would be a lot easier if I could possibly get a forbearance of a few months to get me through the tough times and then I’d probably have a job within a few months). She immediately stated that they don’t grant forbearances for losing one’s job and that they only offer it for things such as marital problems, natural disasters and a few other things (at that point I had pretty much stopped listening, because I was in shock that they wouldn’t help people laid off, but they would help people in marital distress or some such crap). I then asked if there was a way to possibly rework my loan for a lower interest rate or something and she immediately stated that this would not be possible either, with me not having a job. F***ing brilliant, I’m thinking. So I am pretty much f***ed. I said alright then, thanks. She then goes into her spiel of “Okay, well if you have any other questions or if we could be of any further help, please feel free to call… blah blah blah”. I’m sitting there thinking, ‘yeah, because you’ve been such a major f***ing help so far, I’ll be sure to rush to call you again to have you tell me you can’t help me at all.’ But, I simply said, thank you and have a nice day and hung up.

Apparently, lenders are not going to help anyone who tries to take preventative action, but will only help after I am close to foreclosure and my credit is completely f***ed. Pissed me the hell off. Here I thought I would try to be responsible, and it turns out that there is no help until I am up a creek.

But, again, I look back now and realize that I shouldn’t have had this house and should have stayed in my apartment in 2003. So lesson learned the hard way I guess.

As it is, my mom’s friend, after finding out about my awesome experience talking to the lender rep, told me to call back and if I get the same sh*t from them, to ask for their supervisor, ask for a letter stating that their policy is to not offer assistance to those who lose their jobs and then threaten to file a complaint with The Office of Banks and Real Estate and then file it. He also said to e-mail my Senator to outline my problem. He said that many times, a lower payment can be negotiated or an interest only payment, where the principle balance increases at the end of the loan. I haven’t done that yet, but I plan to soon if my job opportunities don’t improve within a month or so.

I don’t want government help and I don’t want handouts. I simply wanted the opportunity to not have to foreclose on my house and not have my credit f***ed after having built it up to a pretty good standing the last 6 years. If I must, I will short-sell, because I do *not* want to rely on government handouts and force other people to pay for my mistake. I’ll simply take this as a life lesson and move on. But it would have been nice if the woman I talked to put a little effort into as least seeming to care about my situation and giving me some options for what I could do, instead of just telling me that I was essentially f***ed and have a nice day.

Hmm, I think all we need is sex…so far we have an enormous amount of lies and videotape!!!

Maybe the Big O (yes, I do crack myself up…) can follow in the footsteps of our last Dem president and provide a scandal?

Bubsta:

Where/how did you arrive at 43% tax cuts? Even the Dems are stating the package is 1/3 (33%) tax cuts, but most economists are coming up with around 22% (less than 1/4) in cuts, given that a large percentage of the tax “cuts” are funds that go to individuals who pay no taxes due to insufficient income. Such “refundable” tax credits are nohting more than wealth distribution. For everyone else who pays taxes to the federal government, the refundable tax credits are really just a loan, since the funds are being financed with future tax revenues.

Actually, it’s worse than that; in reality, the refundable tax credits are a regressive tax that hits lower income individuals and families the hardest. The government has already stated that a large portion of the cost of the “stimulus” bill (officially named the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) will come from printing up more currency. When the money supply gets inflated, so do prices. Inflation always hurts the poor much harder than the better-off.

The refunds amount to about $13 (later to drop to $8) per week, which is a mere drop in the bucket compared to the drop in purchasing power over the life of the bill. And after the last of the ARRA 2009 refund checks have been sent out, the impact to the economy of an expanded money will continue. Accepting a very small, short-term gain for larger, long-term losses is a poor choice. It’s a loan from the mob, and the juice just keeps flowing.

Finally, this is a clear attempt to manipulate or currency, as Obama’s team once again attempts to reinflate the “bubble”. It will last long enough for the bankers and ruling elite to capture an even larger percentage of the nation’s wealth, after which we’ll go through the same crash. The cycle has got to be stopped by sensible (albeit likely very painful) market revaluation.

Right now, some 70% of real wealth in America is held by the richest 1% of individuals, who simply want to capture and hoard more and more. Their share of wealth has grown drastically over the last 20 years, with a real sharp increase back in the 1999-2000 timeframe. Unless we act to make real wealth available to all through legitimate means (i.e., not through federal Robin Hood redistribution schemes), we are headed for a revival of serfdoms. The lesser 99% of the population will have to fight for table scraps.

It ain’t gonna be pretty.

Jeff V

b1jetmech,
Agreed. Like I said at the end of my last reply, a republican who stands up against a stimulus that could go to his state has my respect. I’m speaking of the cable chatter that is revolving in the background. I gave my examples. The republicans have a big chance to create a new image of themselves as a lean mean fighting machine. A valiant opposition party that fights for your tax dollars. They have a message that is simple and powerful. I just hope they don’t mess up this opportunity by reverting to petty one liners.
As for California. I live here in SoCal. Let me tell you something that you probably don’t hear often. IT’S THE PEOPLES FAULT. All of our governors have failed since the passage of Prop 13. Here’s the deal. Prop 13 was on of the largest and most ambitios tax cuts ever implemented in the US. It basically completely wiped out out property taxes. Sounds great right. Wrong. With so little money coming into the state, the cities had to rely upon sales taxes. The state lost all of its manufacturing, and aside from its agriculture, it became a retail state. That’s why you see basically one gigantic mall on the 101 from San Diego to Santa Barbara. However whenever retail drops, the state has a mini crisis. Right now retail just went up for the first time in over a year. We’ve been in a crisis. Retailers have been dropping like flies, even as Arnold is pushing for dramatically higher sales taxes. That’s why we can’t get a budget together. It’s impossible. There’s just not enough money, because there’s no way to tax those huge properties all along the coast. We all loved prop 13. Now it’s a problem.

Michael in MI#22

So sorry for the delayed response to your story. What I will tell you is that your mom’s friend is not only right, but one in the real estate world with ethics after my own heart.

When you call your lender, you ask for the “modification” department. To help you be effective, let me give you a few things you might not think of now.

Remember that the person on the other end of the phone is just someone coming to work each day to shuffle paper in order to, hopefully, continue to take home a paycheck at the end of the week. Altho, for now, I’d say one of the most secure jobs in banking are those in the loss mitigation and loan modification departments.

Also remember that this same person on the other end has a job that entails one person’s sad story after the other. His or her job is to deal *only* with those in dire straights. These people become somewhat hardened and immune…. “desensitized” to the person calling in. You are but a file who must meet some standard criteria. It’s not intentional. It’s how they survive everyday. One who takes every file with personal emotion would be a basketcase in short order.

Knowing who’s on the other end of the phone, you should most certainly demand to speak with the supervisor. But before you do, you should have your information ducks in a row. There are things the bank wants before they do modifications… and a lot of it is just like getting a loan. Because that is, in essence, what you are doing. Only in this case, it’s like applying for a loan and a bankruptcy all at once.

In addition to having standard loan documentation handy, like last two years of tax returns, a couple of months of bank statements, last check stubs, you should have ready all forms of other income… disability, unemployment, family aid, etc. Also, if you have any written reason for your unemployment, you should include that.

You should also have a good idea of what houses like yours are bringing for sales, and the time on the market. This tells them that it may be more beneficial for them to work out arrangements with you for lower and possibly deferred payments than to take the house and sell it for a loss. Bank really don’t want to take back houses…

On the other side you should have a list of your monthly expenses… everything it takes for you to survive, including gas and groceries. Remember that if you have cable plus extras, it may take going down to just the basics again. They will look at everything to see what expenses they think you can live without when they look at this.

And above all, a good “hardship letter”. The reasons that you are in the state you are, what you are doing about it, and what you see as the way to come out of it with your home intact.

Once all that’s provided, you still need to bug them regularly… remember, you’re a file in a stack of files, and it’s easy for them to lose you. Very impersonal.

All of this is unbelievably difficult, emotionally draining and can take months. Some are up to the task, others not. So what I also suggest is that you look around in your local area for some of the many mitigation service companies that are popping up and do all this for you.

Most of them are comprised of former loss mitigation employees that started services to aid distressed sellers thru the process, buyers trying to purchase a short sale, and realtors. They act as the liaison between the bank and homeowner. Many will first try to help you keep your house, if possible. They know if you can’t hold on to it, you’ll use them for the short sale process down line.

Because this is a very emotional time for homeowners, and this takes keeping your cool with those on the other end, I generally recommend the latter if it’s financially possible. If it’s a short sale, they get their money from the proceeds. In a short sale, the homeowner always walks away with nothing in their pocket, but also generally has to pay nothing at the closing table. And, if you’ve done it right, you may have a letter in your pocket that promises the bank will not file a judgment lien for their loss.

Since the Debt Forgiveness Act Dec 2007 under Bush, you will not have to claim your sale loss as income. I don’t believe there is an expiration to that, but I’ll have to recheck. Fine print and Congress, after all….

Last of all, keep this in mind for your own sanity. It’s just “stuff”. It’s not the end of the world. And believe you me, there but by the grace of God go any of us.

With what’s on our horizon, any one of us can be in the same position in a matter of days, weeks, months or a year. We have a healing period here, and Congress has just made sure that healing period is longer. Stuff”, as George Carlin called it, is replaceable. Your spirit, talent and abilities are not. As long as you have yourself and loved ones, and your health, all that “stuff” can again be acquired downline.

Secure a temporary living residence if you have to, and wait it out … and you will be in the position to buy again in the future. Everyone needs a place to live, and I can’t imagine the banking world having the majority of housing in the nation sitting empty with no way for buyers to purchase. Things will come back into sanity. Just need to tighten the belts and ride it out with the rest of us.