Being a bankruptcy lawyer for almost 22 years has given me a front row seat when the economy or change brings hardship and misery to a farm or small business in Iowa.  Being an economist makes me ask what went wrong and how we could make it better before hard-working Iowans reach that place.

I have seen disturbing trends in the last year. I hope to repair the damage and turn us to a responsible course as a U.S. Senator from Iowa. 

First, I have seen the largest banks push homeowners around when they fall behind on their payments, or when the value of the home drops below the mortgage balance. Banks adopt rigid policies that require throwing a family out, even if they can pay more than the bank will realize through foreclosure. It doesn't make sense, and causes major disruption for the family.

As a U.S. Senator, I would make sure families can get a judge to take evidence and modify the mortgage so that the family can stay in their home so long as the bank gets as much money as it would through a foreclosure. Chapter 12 did this for family farms in the 80s, and it could help homeowners today. It would also benefit all of us by stabilizing the residential real estate market.

Second, banks are tightening credit, especially for my farmer clients, and seed and chemical companies are piling on.  This spring, banks are asking farmers for a second or third mortgage on their farm and/or home, the title to their family car and even an assignment of their life insurance.  Farm families are worried that the bank is setting them up, just like in the 80s. 

I am also seeing seed and chemical companies extend credit to farmers, again just like the 80s, but at credit card interest rates of 18 – 21% that are difficult, if not impossible, to pay back. Farmers need protection against loan-shark tactics. One thing we could do is limit the things that big companies can seize and sell, like plows and tools and wages, if they are charging loan shark interest rates and garbage fees.

A third trend that I am seeing in 2010 is that government agencies, such as the SBA, do not work well with banks administering guaranteed loans to farmers or businesses. When a bank wants to keep the farmer or small business going by tweaking the loan to make it feasible in the current economy, we need to make sure the SBA promptly addresses requests for a loan modification. As a U.S. Senator, I would assure action on these requests in a reasonable time and I would work to ensure that SBA has enough people to handle the workload.

Finally, I see more retired people filing for bankruptcy, especially widows.  I have filed bankruptcy for two widows in the last two months. In both cases, when their husband died, their small pensions and Social Security were not enough to keep their home and pay their bills. In both cases, they realized that they couldn’t afford their home too late and lost their homes and virtually everything else. Widows and orphans have always been the most vulnerable members of society. As a U.S. Senator, I plan to do all that I can to protect the pensions/retirement nest eggs of or our retirees and assure Social Security remains solvent.

Beginning in the Reagan years almost 30 years ago, the laws in the United States have favored those at the top of the economic pyramid at the expense of the working people and the most vulnerable, like our widows. I have seen it firsthand as a steady stream of people have come through my front door and asked me to help them. Help them save their home, help them save their dignity, help them hang on in tough and changing times. 

As a U.S. Senator, I will push back on the laws that favor the rich, the loan sharks, those at the top of the economic pyramid. The rich have had too many of their own watching out for their interests in Congress for too long. I have represented the working and vulnerable people of Iowa, one at a time. I will represent them together in the U.S. Senate.