AARP Urges Members to Contact Congree About Bailout

By: Bill Novelli, Chief Executive Officer, AARP | September 2008

Our nation is facing a huge economic crisis that affects every American, certainly older people. It requires urgent action. Investments owned by older households have declined by 23 percent—or almost 1.2 trillion dollars—over the past year. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their homes and millions more are seeing the value of their homes decline—and things could get much, much worse.

We need action now to protect jobs, homes, retirements, and the economic security of our children and grandchildren.

Americans are angry at the idea of bailing out Wall Street, but in this case Wall Street is us. These are our stocks; our retirement funds; our futures. That's why our elected officials in Washington must come together with overwhelming, bipartisan support to pass legislation and fix this economic crisis.

This requires urgent action and it has to be fair. AARP has urged Congress to pass a bipartisan plan that:

• Protects taxpayers
• Lets people know where the money is going
• Helps homeowners with huge mortgage debts who are facing foreclosure

People can't afford to wait 10 years for this economy to turn around. We need action, but anger alone won't do it. Tell your elected officials that you want them to fix this problem; do it right; and do it now.