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Most people get maybe... 1 or 2 chances to buy a house. I can't blame the buyer more than the lender when it all falls down.
Why not? Seems pretty obvious to me that if you buy a house you can not afford you are more at fault. I do realize that some purchased homes that they could afford before they lost a job and that is very painful; however, that is a part of life with any long term purchase and has been true in America for decades.
When I think of the end game for some of these protestors - crashing the entire capitalist system - I think of an often uttered line in a movie when one bad guy accidentally sets off a bomb in proximity to all of the other bad guys:
Why not? Seems pretty obvious to me that if you buy a house you can not afford you are more at fault. I do realize that some purchased homes that they could afford before they lost a job and that is very painful; however, that is a part of life with any long term purchase and has been true in America for decades.
Caveat emptor.
I don't think anyone has a problem with people getting their house foreclosed on.. it's the packaging of these loans being sold over and over and ending up with bailouts that is the real problem. The average American just wanted a house... those who wanted to flip or used their house as an ATM are who my beef is with.
Blaming those with the least knowledge in the equation makes little sense.
I don't think anyone has a problem with people getting their house foreclosed on.. it's the packaging of these loans being sold over and over and ending up with bailouts that is the real problem. The average American just wanted a house... those who wanted to flip or used their house as an ATM are who my beef is with.
Blaming those with the least knowledge in the equation makes little sense.
Espousing the lack of personal responsibility and blaming someone else for one's own poor judgement is, unfortunately, becoming the "new" American way.
I don't think anyone has a problem with people getting their house foreclosed on.. it's the packaging of these loans being sold over and over and ending up with bailouts that is the real problem. The average American just wanted a house... those who wanted to flip or used their house as an ATM are who my beef is with.
Blaming those with the least knowledge in the equation makes little sense.
Not trying to be contentious on this, Felt, as I think we agree in principle what occurred and why . . . but I am curious as to why you keep giving people a pass who had to be dumber than dirt to believe that all was on the up and up when they were getting a house for pennies on the dollar. I mean, even a low IQ person knows you can't buy a $300K house and pay $400 a month to own it.
Not trying to be contentious on this, Felt, as I think we agree in principle what occurred and why . . . but I am curious as to why you keep giving people a pass who had to be dumber than dirt to believe that all was on the up and up when they were getting a house for pennies on the dollar. I mean, even a low IQ person knows you can't buy a $300K house and pay $400 a month to own it.
I'm not giving them a pass... they are out of a home and have screwed up credit.
A low IQ person may know they can't afford a house on $400 a month but they were given the keys to the house under the impression that they could.
Their responsibility in this equation is minimal compared to the suits who hadthe knowledge and tried to go 2 and 3 steps further with the buyers ignorance.
A person bought more than they could afford but the banks made these loans knowing a person couldn't pay 400 a month for 300K and bundled and sold them. Banks, some of them who had no business being in this practice, bought and sold these things at face value.
There is no way any sane individual can blame the guy at the bottom of the totem pole for this situation. Banks new these individuals without a job couldn't repay these loans but they sold them and tan with the money. I dontunderstand how the guy without a home and bad credit is the main focus while the guy with knowledge, education and made money from these faulty loans are being forgiven.
America is a crazy place.
Last edited by Feltdesigner; 10-06-2011 at 07:09 PM..
I'm not giving them a pass... they are out of a home and have screwed up credit.
A low IQ person may know they can't afford a house on $400 a month but they were given the keys to the house under the impression that they could.
Their responsibility in this equation is minimal compared to the suits who hadthe knowledge and tried to go 2 and 3 steps further with the buyers ignorance.
A person bought more than they could afford but the banks made these loans knowing a person couldn't pay 400 a month for 300K and bundled and sold them. Banks, some of them who had no business being in this practice, bought and sold these things at face value.
There is no way any sane individual can blame the guy at the bottom of the totem pole for this situation. Banks new these individuals without a job could repay these loans but they sold them and bought them anyway...
I don't see how a sane individual could blame anyone other than the person who signed their name promising to repay the loan; however, if we take your premise at face value one needs to look at the Community Reinvestment Act and how it was used to force some shaky loans under penalty of law. This practice of strong arming lenders into making loans they knew were shaky began under Clinton (who I actually like, in the interest of full disclosure). Janet Reno specifically made veiled threats against banks who only made loans in "safe" areas, such as high income areas. Banks, therefore, made the bad loans, then sold them off as investments to Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac, though both of these federal entities knew the investments they were purchasing were bad. By 2001, Washington began to see that Fanny and Freddie were on shaky ground trying to prop up those loans that were over valued but several high powered senators and congressmen dismissed the notion. Fanny and Freddie basically told the banks in the beginning, "Look you make the loans, no matter how bad, and we'll buy them up from you." Under threats from the U.S. Justice Dept with accusations of civil rights violations, many banks made the loans and sold them back to the government.
The collapse soon followed. The government tried to will the "American Dream" onto everyone, even those who couldn't sustain it. Soon, the market - and the government - could not sustain the attempt at making the American Dream a right.
You are, in essence, insulting average Americans by saying they are too ignorant to take care of themselves and that they should be protected from themselves.
Are there some villains in the industry? Of course, but there are villains in every industry, every walk of life. It's far too overly simplistic - and idealistic - to argue that the banks alone preyed on ignorant, mindless people and destroyed the economy.
At the risk of improper English, it ain't that simple.
Last edited by lowercountry; 10-06-2011 at 07:25 PM..
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