An open letter to Congressman Blumenauer

Congressman Blumenauer: I know Congress thinks it is actually helping the "little guys" when it makes money available to banks to loan out to small businesses, however, banks are banks and they work pretty strictly from the financial condition as it looks on paper. When I went to apply for the ARC loan (up to $35,000 to pay off credit cards such as the one that is now charging 39.99% for money borrowed three years ago, that my payments would have long since paid off except that the interest rate has soared -I never missed a payment - so now I am paying interest on interest, and even though I have been managing and the respite of a year before starting to pay back the $35,000 with no interest would have made all the difference in the world, they turned me down.

Additionally, I have been told that the only way I can negotiate to reduce my mortgage payments is to miss a payment for 30 days! That goes entirely against my ethical construct so I keep paying and am nearing a panic state that I will soon lose everything I have worked for in my life. I have cut my staff down to the bare bones and a tax credit will certainly not help me because that involves more money up front. I am 70 years old, have worked since I was 11, and now am very close to having to declare bankruptcy and take kind people who have helped me survive down with me. Perhaps Congress needs to consider alternate organizations for disseminating loans, organizations that are more human scale and people-based than the banks and other financial institutions have shown themselves to be. I truly do not know where else to go except to start the bankruptcy process. I know life is not fair and they never promised me a rose garden and all of that, but it does seem like the whole system has become seriously upside down. When someone who makes $500,000/year quits a job because they aren't getting a bonus and, even after paying taxes and all my bills but my mortgage, I could live quite well for at least five years on that much, there is something amiss with the picture. Do you have any ideas for me? Do you know of any organizational projects that we could apply for? My business www.tsgpdx.biz is an Association and Event Management company. We coordinate street fairs, meetings, and more. I don't want a free ride; I just want to have a life in very stressful economic times.