By Mary Malloy
"We are in a recession," she said. "These issues, among others, create a 'perfect storm.'"
At a reporter's roundtable meeting held at her Mineola office early last week, McCarthy said that the mortgage crisis has not hit New York homeowners as hard as those in other parts of the United States - yet. She touted the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, a bill that was signed into law on June 30, as the "the most comprehensive response yet to the American mortgage crisis."
"American families need relief now and we can not risk a worsening of the current housing crisis througKh inaction," McCarthy said.
The American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act will allow hardworking American families in danger of losing their home to refinance into lower cost government-insured mortgages they can afford to repay - at no cost to the American taxpayer. "Some of the mortgages cannot be re-negotiated. Some people never should have gotten mortgages at all," McCarthy said. What was not disclosed during the housing boom, she said, was that it was not just the mortgage, but the taxes, mortgage insurance, and utilities - they all have to be added up. "That came under the heading of predatory lending," she said. "A lot of these brokers were not licensed and went from state to state, selling these dreams - and everyone got greedy, and, honestly, there was no oversight coming from congress." McCarthy said that t here is help out there for those who are facing foreclosure. "They need to continue paying their mortgages, and we can find them a bank to help them refinance their houses."
"Many say we should not bail out mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, but if we don't back them up, we could go into a real tailspin." (Four days later, U.S. legislators reached a deal on legislation that authorizes the Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, to bail out the mortgage finance providers while placing few restrictions on the companies.)
New G.I. Bill
We are seeing more increases in benefits to our servicemen and women, said McCarthy, citing thek new G.I. Bill signed by President Bush last week. This bill fully restores full, four-year college scholarships for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, on par with the educational benefits after World War II, covering up to the cost of the most expensive instate public school and also provides transferability of unused education benefits to spouses and children.
"Servicemen and women can make use of the services now, or they can wait until they get back home," McCarthy said. VA hospitals have also been mandated to reach out to all veterans to encourage the use of their available services. New identification cards have been issued, doing away with the older ones because of identity theft. "You will see that change coming with government issued identifications," said McCarthy. She added that five head trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder specialists have been added to the staff at Northport Hospital.
Oil crisis
McCarthy said that Long Islanders can expect to see their home heating oil bills double from last year's prices. "My concern is the smaller "Mom and Pop" companies will not have enough cash on hand when residents' bill start coming in late, and that they may go out of business. "Do I think someone else will pick them up?" Probably, she said, but that only means less competition.
"I am open to see whatever we can do to make sure we have the energy we need for the future," said McCarthy. "We should drill in Alaska, here on the coast, but there are several reasons why that won't work now," she said. "The federal government needs to inspire people to find new ways to save energy. 'We need to look at windmills and solar energy. These things need to be on the table, and the government needs to help with incentives." She also said that The U.S. does not use enough nuclear power. "We have 114 nuclear power plants," she said, "but other countries put out more because theirs are more efficient. Ours are 35 to 40 years old. "
People, she said, need to take a "green initiative." Some solutions, she said, could include offering incentives for those who use mass transit; we need to use the newest, energy efficient light bulbs, and be careful with our everyday appliances.
"We have gone through 32 recessions or crises," said McCarthy, "and [the nation has] always come out better off than we were before."
Comments about this story? MMalloy@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 202.
