April Fools…..not.
I am reading my news websites this morning and there is more and more talk about “mortgage bailouts”. All I can ask is why? If these idiots buy a $400,000 house on a $40,000 salary, they deserve bankruptcy. It makes me want to default on my loan just so Government the Saviour can come redeem me. Now, let me state for the record before all of you left-leaners cry foul, if your life situation (such as job loss, health, death) makes you miss payments, then I welcome the idea of a helping hand. My comment is specifically addressing these people who have the Escalade, iPhone, 60″ plasma TV, and PS3 but cannot seem to “find the money” to pay their damn mortgage. Why does our society reward folks who feel the rules are not made for them?
Another website tells me that the “impact” of stupid “earth hour” over the weekend was a reduction of power by less than 0.01% worldwide — or the result of removing 6 cars from the road. 6!!!!! LOL! LOL! LOL! LOL! Wow, six cars!!! Woo Hoo! Thanks Al Gore! I can breathe so much easier now. I saw this website in Australia (the hotbed of the green movement) that showed three pictures taken of a Melbourne suburb consisting mainly of homes. Pictures were taken one hour before, during, and one hour after the “earth hour” and I could not tell any difference. All three pictures looked the same. What a fraud. I equate this Green crap to parachute pants and the Michael Jackson zipper coat — they will pass as a fad. Let the “Where’s mine?” generation suck on that!
Has anyone else ever seen a show called Space:1999? It has a cool theme song and Barbara Bain’s hair bounces when she walks! Check it on YouTube. It makes me giggle.
I’ve got some sort of crud so I might be a bit slow getting this week’s posts up. Please be patient.
April 1, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Oh now you’ve done it. You’ve hit a subject near and dear to my heart. I mean I’ve taught personal finance and helped people get out of these very situations. You’re right about the current housing and credit market “crisis”. The talk of bailouts is nothing more than election year politics. Why? First of all, there is no credit market crisis. Ask anybody who filed bankruptcy in the last year how many offers for new credit they’ve gotten since and it’ll probably be in the hundreds. The banks sent out 1.6 billion card offers nationwide last year. Thats rights BILLION. The banks have even figured out how to make money even if you do default. Don’t believe it, watch the documentary Maxed Out. Fact is, this is a correction needed on both sides of the equation. The greedy banks and the folks who thought “oh I can afford the payments so I must be able to afford the item.” Now, don’t misunderstand me. If the banks misrepresented the loans to the borrower, then yes those borrowers should get some sort of assistance but not in a government hand out. Instead it should be judicial and regulatory penalties against the bank itself for perpetrating the fraud. Any other situation, I’m sorry but you made your bed and your choices are limited. 1. Bust your hump to get out the situation by working 2 or more jobs to get caught up and putting the thing up for sale or 2. Pack your crap and prepare to go for the worst ride of your life
No-one could have possibly thought a mortgage payment at 25% or greater of their net pay was sustainable. That’s just pure stupidity.
I’m not trying to be a jerk, but the truth hurts and the only assistance there is in personal finance is your own. That’s why they call it PERSONAL FINANCE. Fixing the situation isn’t easy but rarely is anything worth completing ever easy. I especially don’t want the government getting involved when they can’t even balance their own books.