The middle class is suffering with very little assistance in these times

The middle class in America have been left neglected with very little assistance in these tough times.

One of the affected is Doris Stauble. During family dinners in their 3 bed roomed house in Dracut, the most popular item on the menu was her meat pies. In summer she went on camping trips with her husband and family in two cars. Till recently the couple was steadily employed with a combined income amounting to $70,000.

But things have changed for the worse. Her husband suffered strokes causing disability. Unable to work their income was sliced down by half. Medical bills added to their woes. It soon became impossible for them to continue paying their monthly mortgage of $1,578.

Ironically the state and federal government representatives think that the income of the couple exceeds qualifying limits for being eligible for loan modification. Doris has reached a breaking point desperately trying to put up her house on Woodbine Path for short sale so as to skirt foreclosure. Doris has been spending sleepless nights crying continuously.

The story of the Staubles is re-enacted right across USA as millions are battling foreclosure and unemployment during the worst recession since the last 4 decades. The unemployed numbers have reached 8.2 million since 2007 December as per the findings of Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Over 4.4 million borrowers were defaulting on their mortgages during the third quarter of the current year – it being a record since Mortgage Bankers Association has been keeping records from 1972. In Massachusetts 76,344 are delinquent but the survey has been limited to approximately 85% of all the mortgages indicating that perhaps the figures are higher. The ratio of default is 1:4 said Carolyn Kemp of Mortgage Bankers Association.

The experts are not blaming the present increase in foreclosures to the sub-prime mayhem. Middle class households holding prime mortgages with fixed rates are also stumbling as jobs are vanishing and medical bills increase.

On the positive side the companies are slowly recovering after having shed many of their workers informed Emily Rosenbaum of Coalition for a Better Acre. She said, “There’s been some more profitability in the market and that hasn’t yet translated into jobs. It’s just more commonly hitting middle-class families that haven’t been in the system before, that haven’t asked for public assistance before. I think it’s equally painful for low-income people, but because it’s hitting the middle class, where it hasn’t hit in a long time, it’s a more surprising phenomenon.”

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