Homeowners and bankruptcy laws
To the editor:
In response to your misleading recent editorial, "Dangerous nonsense":
Under current bankruptcy law, secured debts, including mortgages on non-primary homes, can be restructured or modified in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, and secured creditors can be subject to what is called a "cram down." This happens when the amount of the debt is greater than the value of the collateral securing it. The court reduces the value of the secured debt to the market value of the collateral, with the remainder being treated as unsecured (and subject to the same repayment plan/discharge terms as any other unsecured debt).
So if you are fortunate to own a second home, boat, automobile, business or anything other than a primary residence, you can already take advantage of the cram down, establish a three- to five-year repayment plan, with the unpaid remainder discharged at the end of the repayment plan period.
If bankruptcy is designed to restructure debt and give a struggling debtor a fair chance, current law saddles the unsophisticated home buyer with more debt than the house is worth. So if the wealthy can already do this, it seems to be a common-sense solution for everyone else in order to help families save their homes without any cost to the U.S. Treasury, while ensuring that lenders recover at least what they would in a foreclosure.
Bankruptcy law needs to be reformed to permit a debtor to pay the fair market value of their primary home, rather than the total loan balance, just like any other secured debt.
Steven Damsky
LAS VEGAS
Light in tunnel
To the editor:
Your opposition to floating bonds to solve our current financial problems was, in the current vernacular, spot on. Using the credit card analogy should make that option understood by almost everyone without a basic understanding of economic theory. Highlighting the problems of California and New Jersey where the light at the end of the tunnel is a Japanese bullet train, should also set off alarms.
As an aside, given her proposals, I for one am thankful state Sen Dina Titus is: 1) not Gov. Titus, and, 2) not teaching economics or governmental budgeting at UNLV.
William M. Mosley
HENDERSON
Teacher woes
To the editor:
The teacher faces her new class of students, all approximately the same age, in anticipation of installing a measure of intelligence behind these bright young faces. Yes, they do look much alike, except for that tall lad in the third row, this tiny girl in the front and that chubby one over there. She sees dark heads, blonds and even a glowing patch of red hair. This is personification of the "Bell Curve" she learned about years ago.
After passing out pencils and paper, she directs each student to write his name at the top of the paper. One has already done that and sits waiting while the rest begin writing, except for that one sitting there in bewilderment -- he simply does not understand. Now what?
Her instructions upon acceptance into the school district system emphasized "No Child Left Behind" -- she must not fail because the system will not receive funding unless all of the students are able to write their names at the top of the form. Bedlam breaks out when she redirects her attention to help this one unfortunate. Again what?
The teachers all have a similar frustrating problem. They know that both the over-prepared student and the unprepared one should be assigned elsewhere for their own good, thereby allowing the rest of the group to learn today's lessons. But that is strictly forbidden. What may the professionals do other than cry over not being allowed to prove their capabilities?
Richard E. Law
LAS VEGAS
Too big
To the editor:
Our school board has some "splainin'" to do. How could a body of supposedly educated, informed, intelligent people continue to get F's in the management of the school district?
For those who didn't go to a Clark County school, there is a math symbol that looks like this: >. It means "greater than." Our district has become greater than the ability of our board. It's time to rethink about subdividing it into smaller, more efficient localized districts.
By the way: I wonder what the home-schooled students in our county got on the math test?
Dennis Stransky
HENDERSON
By the numbers
To the editor:
The hullabaloo over the high failure rate on math tests by Clark County students brings to mind my experience with this problem.
In 1962 I took a teaching job in a small town in southeastern Washington. The school board had decreed, in the tradition of Lake Woebegone, that all freshmen would take algebra. I was appalled, but I did my best.
That year one half of my students were in shock wondering why the value of "x" kept changing. The results: half the students failed and the other half were cheated because I spent most of my time and energy trying to teach the failing students. I was fired.
Forty-six years later, the educationists, pedagogues, and educrats haven't learned a thing.
kenneth harris
HENDERSON
