Thursday, October 09, 2008

Did I Miss Something Here?

***I interrupt this Iron Man training blog to interject my unsolicited rant about bailouts and accountability. If you are easily offended or if you are currently seeking to be bailed out of your irresponsible ARM mortgage or second mortgage or whatever it is for double of what you can actually afford, I give you fair warning - just skip this post and come back later.***

Ok, first we have a bailout for Wall St. sold to the public that it is something necessary for Main St. as well. My original thoughts are:

- hmmm...well, it sucks, but if it's gotta be done, it's gotta be done. I don't want to live through a depression anymore than the next gal does.

- If you take $700B of the taxpayers money and bailout these failing corporations, there's no way that it doesn't hurt your average tax payer.

- BUT - being that my husband is a real estate appraiser, we want the housing market to come back. Sooner better than later.

So the bailout finally passes, and the market drops even more. Ha! The government helps AIG with my tax contributions, and they send their "top performers" to a posh resort.

Hold up a minute.

Did I hear that right? You need government assistance but you can still send your agents to a resort that I wouldn't dare consider because I can't freakin' afford it?!?! Isn't that kinda like paying for your groceries with food stamps and then buying cigarrettes and beer like it ain't no thang? Believe me, I see it all the time here. Well, I guess if it's good for AIG it's good for Joe Six Pack, huh? That's some real accountability there. No wonder they're in a mess. AIG gets no more of my sympathy than Joe Six Pack on foodstamps. And that's ZERO.

Next, I'm riding down the road, listening to Carmen (CNBC-"On The Money") on my XM radio, and I hear this chick call in asking how she can get bailed out of her mortgage. Evidently she's one of the many who went nuts because they could get a little credit and bought a big house she couldn't afford....not even close to afford. And they're foreclosing on her. Poor thing. But oh - the government's handing out money?!?!? Yeah, just call your lender and get your loaned restructured. Never mind the fact that you knew damn well that rate was going to be adjusted in two years when you signed your name on the dotted line. Never mind the fact that you knew you couldn't afford that house to begin with. Even if you could at the time, did it not occur to you that you might want to keep a little breathing room in your budget because unforseen things do happen? Of course not. You wanted the $400k house(that's an expensive house in my neck of the woods)...and now, who's paying for it? Not only you, but all your taxpaying friends.

No sympathy here. I wanted that $400k house too. Badly. But I didn't buy it, because if economic conditions didn't continue to flourish, we might not be able to make that payment. So I'm not happy about handing the government the ridiculous chunk of money that I do year after year so that you can stay in your mansion. Or so that AIG's top performers can go to resorts and be treated like royalty at the tax payers' expense.

Whatever happened to saying "Sorry, but we don't have the funds for this right now."?

Whatever happened to respect in this country? Or accountability? Or spending your own money, and only what you can afford? What ever happened to "I'd like to have that, but I cannot afford it right now?" Or even "Ok, I got myself into this, I'll have to find a way out."

In a way it kind of reminds me of the same concept of what I see each time I go to a Titan's game. To get to the stadium, most of the spectators have to walk across the river on one of a couple different bridges. And on the pretty days - not the cold ones - it never fails that there are at least 2 or 3 youth football or cheerleading teams standing out on that bridge holding there hands out and their signs up and yelling "Support the (fill in team name here)! Can you spare a couple bucks for our team?! Help the (fill in team name here)!" And their parents are standing around with them, doing the same thing. Holding their hands out, asking someone else to pay their way. I've got no problem with fundraisers...you know, like a car wash, or selling candy or whatever...but what are we teaching our kids when we take them downtown to hold their hands out and beg for free money?

Ok, I think I made my point. It's been brewing for weeks now...and it had to come out. Back to the regularly scheduled programming.

11 comments:

triguyjt said...

I hope you feel better.....

and I agree with all of it..

I have backed off of going for a home in an area thats above my range...
but it still have too much credit card debt and thats another big part of this....
cuz not only are the people who have the over extended mortgage gonna want a bailout...what will stop everyone from wanting to have a plastic bailout too?? where do you draw the line.??

Andrea said...

I totally agree with you!! I'm pissed that people aren't taking more responsibility for their own actions. We sold our house a year ago so that we could afford for me to stay home with the kids - but with the general mentality, I guess we could've kept our nice, big house & just been bailed out. Of course, I would never consider that, because it's irresponsible! We all make choices in life - you have to give up some things for others, but we are bringing up a society that thinks they deserve everything for nothing. If you don't believe it - just look at our kids (not everyone, but a good majority). I saw it every day in the high school I taught at & I know your dad has to be seeing the same things - they don't want to work for what they get, they feel it is owed to them. Wonder why - because they see it all around them. We are constantly giving out help with no conditions. Sorry - got a little off topic, but I feel better. :)

Cliff said...

Lana,

I know what u mean...the whole situation started off with greed.

Those who wanted a bigger house or more money and take a loan more than they can afford.

Those who provided the mortgages knowing full well some will not be able to make the payment. They decided to do so for the quick money.

Now the economy is stuck b/c the gov't has to come in and help them out.

Btw, belated happy b-day and i hope you got something nice for yourself.

Marathoner in Training said...

Lana,

I am shocked at you, this has only been brewing for weeks now. I would say months. Other than that, I have to agree with you.

:) said...

Wow. I had the EXACT same conversation with my wife last night....almost verbatim. What are we teaching our kids?

Don't worry about those underhanded deals, kids...the government will bail you out!

Me thinks this is going to get MUCH worse before it gets better.

(I wanted THAT house too, but we got what we could easily afford...and boy am I glad now!) :)

Melanie said...

DANG. This is EXACTLY how I feel, too. I am not a believer in the whole "every American should be able to own a home." I think it should be "you can own a home if you can afford to own a home." Simple as that. Why are the people who pay their housenotes (and on time) being forced to help bail out the people who don't? It's ridiculous!

Lisa said...

As a single woman who is always trying to better myself ALL BY MYSELF, amen, sister!

Darrell said...

I couldn't agree more. It had to be said. No I guess the rest of us just get to deal with it the best we can.

Jill Ann said...

I made the same comments a few weeks ago. I got a "subprime mortgage" in August 2006 b/c I was selling the store and could not afford the house I wanted. So, we stated my income as 90k...yea, right! And I got the house. Now, I have to pay for it...and it kills me but 2+ years now and I have never missed a payment or been late. I can NOW afford the house...but I have to do without a lot.

This whole "bail out" totally pisses me off too! You ought to see the 'hoodrats over here driving their bling cars and paying for Walmart stuff with food stamps.

It is absolutely ridiculous. Now, I heard that they want to bail them out of their car loans. Good LORD what is this USA coming to??

I wish they'd use me as an example on how to live like a poor folk because you got a subprime. They can do it too...they're just WAY too lazy!

Alysha said...

Great post; I completely agree about how disappointing the lack of accountability is. What happened to taking ownership of our own decisions?
Good luck with training!

Sam said...

Right on. Whatever happened to personal accountability and living within your means?