What Would Happen If?

I wonder what would happen, if many of us bypassed the banks and mortgage companies and began paying off our homes in cash? Would we help with the recession? Would we cause more troubles? If our homes were paid off in full, couldn't we realistically be able to reach out and help more people? Wouldn't we be willing to spend a little more in the stores and malls again and help with the economy? Wouldn't we all feel like a weight has been lifted off our shoulders, or would we feel more burdened by helping others?

Years ago when I was working nuclear power, there was a group of people that did not believe in paying income taxes. They didn't want them taken out of their checks (they preferred being contractors), they didn't want to contribute to social security, etc. This group of people went so far as to turn in their social security numbers or something along that line. Me on the other hand, I wanted to stay out of hot water and just pay my taxes and have them taken out of my paycheck so I wouldn't spend it all.

I AM NOT condoning this at all! But the one thing I found unique was there was an actual organization these people belonged to, much like a fraternity or sorority that they paid membership into, dues into and when one of their members was facing jail or whatever sanctions the IRS imposed upon them, they all banded together to bail the person in trouble out of trouble and yes, it is much like being an enabler, however, the people helping out knew when it came time for them needing help, it would be there.

So, here is my crazy idea for the day. What happened if we organized a group of lets say between 200-500 people to begin with (yes, it can be done). You take homes with mortgages left between $50,000-$200,000 and begin paying homes off one at a time.

For a group of 200 people the cost would be $250 - $1000 each per month. I am not sure how the logistics of this would work, but there would have to be some legal backlash to those who joined and wouldn't hold up their end of the bargain. But if your home was totally paid off and you were one of the lucky that still had a job, wouldn't you be willing to help others out?

Perhaps you could start with your church, your neighbors, family members and friends. I think if you walked up to someone and told them you would be paying their mortgage off in full and all they needed to do was pay it forward every month, it would work.

Of course, you would have to keep track of each and every donation you took in so you would have proof of where you received the cash you were paying off your home with to satisfy the homeland security and IRS stuff and yes, you would probably be in a higher tax bracket in the first year, but after that............well, I know many people who depend on their property taxes to help them with income taxes.

Perhaps a non-profit organization can be set up for this purpose only, following 5013C guidelines. The business wouldn't make a profit at all because all the money would be going to pay off homes and once the first test group of 200 or so had their homes paid off, you get another group lined up.

I think it should be done only with people you feel comfortable with at first, because you are helping each other out and then reach out to strangers. Make a priority list of those you are going to help.

1- Families that both parents lost their jobs
2- Single mom who just lost her job
3-Grandparents raising Grandchildren
4-Families facing foreclosure due to a job loss
5-Families that 1 parent lost their job
6-Single moms who work and receive no child support
8

You can make your list as long or as short as you would like. It can be done, it can happen and if it caught on, you might be able to pay 2 houses off a month. Wow! Wouldn't that be amazing and confounding to Washington politicians if people were paying their homes off without a stimulus check?

So, I may be crazy, but I do believe this can work. Who wants to be the first to sign up on my list? Lets shock the banks and give them back the money all at once and surprise the politicians when they see that we people in blog land don't need no stinkin' stimulus checks.

Of course, the less people that sign up, the more money we will have to pool, but I believe in my heart, we can do this and show politicians what the people are really made out of and how adept we are at finding the solutions to the problems.