Financial adviser commits murder-suicide

Just a few days ago, I wrote on Addie Polk of Akron, Ohio attempting suicide due to financial difficulties. Well, it seems the problem isn’t just an isolated incident. A financial adviser who had worked for Sony Pictures and Price Waterhouse (PWC) purchased a gun on September 16 and killed his wife, mother-in-law, and three children. One can hardly stomach such a tragic occurence let alone begin to understand how one can be driven to carry it out. Without surprise, he then shot and killed himself making the whole mess a murder-suicide. All the victims have yet to be identified.

Clearly, money has far more power over people than we’d like to imagine. If a 90-year-old lady attempts suicide and a man (who, judging by the nature of his work, is financially better off than most) can kill his family all over economic woes, it’s time for a higher institution or power to intervene. The bailout is a joke and the government has done nothing but plague our economy. Will there be a solution or an end to this in the foreseeable future?

[Via USAToday]

 

90-year-old Woman shoots herself after home was foreclosed

What a shame: Addie Polk of Akron, Ohio has instantly become a devastating symbol of the nation’s economic and housing crisis – and not in the most heroic way, either. When Sheriffs attempted to evict her from her home after it was foreclosed, Polk, who is 90 years old, shot herself twice in the upper body and had to be taken to the hospital. You know the economy is very, very bad when a woman who has lived that long and has undoubtedly endured so much would attempt suicide. As a result of the attempt, Fannie Mae decided to sign the property over to Polk without bells and whistles. Excellent choice, Fannie.

Addie Polk’s neighbor, 62-year-old Robert Dillon, used a ladder to get into the second floor of her house after he and the deputies heard the gunshots explode from inside the house. Dillon said, “I was calling her name as I went in, and she wasn’t responding.” He went on to mention that she was still breathing so he ran to let the Sheriffs into the house.

Polk and her husband purchased the 101-year-old home in 1970 and, in 2004, took out a 30-year, 6.375 percent mortgage for $45,620 (taking an additional $11,380 line of credit the same day). After missing payments these past four years, Fannie Mae decided to foreclose the home leading up to the events that had recently taken place and retracting their decision to take action against her.

I once worked in the claims department of the now-government-operated IndyMac Federal Bank. My department was focused on recovering losses from mortgage insurance companies whenever a home was foreclosed. The saddest part of the job was receiving letters from women like Addie Polk – widowed and often alone with little to no support. Many of them had written in on pieces of cardboard, children’s stationary, and other items begging us to reconsider our decision. Naturally, it was out of our hands (my department, anyway) and so I just went on to file those letters away and hope that they could and would be helped somehow.

Regardless of politics and all the silliness of the current Presidential Race, let’s take some time to think about the people who are really hurting here.

[Via CNN]