Saving Ed...Heeeerrre'ssss Donald!

Ed McMahon's house in Hollywood

Last month in this country, one in every 464 households was under the threat of foreclosure. July foreclosures were up 55% over the same period last year, and home sales fell by more than 16%. Of the 4.5 million homes for sale in this country, 750,000 of them were under pressure from foreclosure. The states of Nevada, California, Florida, Arizona, Ohio, Georgia and Michigan featured the most foreclosures, and there were increases in such an action in 42 states nationwide. OUCH! That's a lot by any standard and conjures up images of deadbeats who overspend on luxuries, maxed out ten different credit cards and generally aren't very smart. Maybe that describes Ed McMahon, and maybe not. The fact is, however, that his Hollywood house was about to be foreclosed on recently.

The 6-bedroom, 5-bathroom home which he purchased in 1992 for 2.6 million dollars was on the block...and the asking price had dropped precipitously from 7 million to its final price of 4.6 million. Wow!

It seems that Ed, 85, had defaulted on a 4.8 million-dollar loan from Countrywide Financial Corporation and was desperate. Due to a recent injury, he was unable to work and faced the humiliation of losing his home. His reasoning was simple: "I spent more than I made." He's been on various talk shows lately telling his story and putting a face to this crisis...lucky for him. Donald Trump has come to the rescue.

It seems that Trump heard about Ed's plight and came through with the needed cash to buy the posh digs in L.A. In a moment of philanthropy, Trump has even agreed to let Ed live in the house. It seems all those nights of watching "The Tonight Show" when he was attending Wharton Business School made an impression.

Now, how about the other 750,000 folks?