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I 'd like to give one little story and maybe others could chime in. My friend and neighbor took out a home equity loan( second mortgage) for 125K two years ago. Now with that money he bought a Sea Ray 33 boat for 115K and with the other 10K he took his family to Key West for 2 weeks. Guess what? With home prices falling and the price of gas rising he is now on the Blame Game. He is now blaming everybody and anybody for his financial woes and not himself. He's blaming the repubs. for letting him get the loan, he's blaming the dem controlled congress for not passing reforms. He's blaming the oil markets. I'd say he's to blame.
He now wants to foreclose on his house or file for bankrupcy. He wants to get on the gravy train of the new govt. bailouts. He says he can't sell his house or boat for what HE wants. Him and his wife and kids would take boating trips to Block Island and go out on the bay every weekend drinking martinis on the boat watching fireworks and enjoying the boat. Should I feel sorry for him or should I think the problem soley rests on him.
Maybe default and living below his means are just what the doctor ordered. Anyone with similar stories. We have paid our bills on time and lived within our budget and have not gone on vacation for years so I don't feel sorry for him. Well maybe I'll rent the garage out to him and let him use the rowboat.
Look - your friend was irresponsible (just like a lot of individuals were/are) and they have to shoulder their part of the blame in their own situations.
BUT there is a bigger picture, obviously - and now we have this major crisis because many lenders were giving $ away when they knew they should not have, but they did not care as it was making them millions. Now we ALL will have to pay - for US and FOREIGN banks playing fast and loose (unregulated) and we get to flip the bill to save everyone from financial collapse. Meanwhile, because of all this, a lot of good, decent hardworking people who did NOT make bad choices will be out of work and it will mean a whole lot more than giving up a timeshare in the Hamptons.
So individual blame can come into play in many stories. But there is so much more to it than just that.
If we are a dem. society in a free market and a capitalist system people have to fail. This is unfortunate but why should our great grandchildren pay for some corp. and peoples mistakes of today. Now a question WHAT happens if stocks and companies don't respond favorably to this unheard of bailout. What do we do then.
Personally I think "free market" and "capitalism" got this country to the point were at - with our financial system about to collapse. So now we have to resort to a very socialist way to try and save everyone...nice.
I know there is a lot of blame to go around, but I blame the big guys getting over at the top (and STILL looking for golden parachutes on our dime) a lot more than the ones on the bottom.
Millions spend half of income on housing - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080923/ap_on_bi_ge/cash_strapped_homeowners - broken link)
Reminds me of listening to my Grandfather telling me to never spend more than one weeks salary on rent/housing. But you know, even when I got my first place on my own back in 1991, that was not really a possibility. It has become less and less of a possibility in this area. I know very few people who could swing that rule of thumb anymore.
Millions spend half of income on housing - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080923/ap_on_bi_ge/cash_strapped_homeowners - broken link)
Reminds me of listening to my Grandfather telling me to never spend more than one weeks salary on rent/housing. But you know, even when I got my first place on my own back in 1991, that was not really a possibility. It has become less and less of a possibility in this area. I know very few people who could swing that rule of thumb anymore.
But there are still areas where you can achieve the one week salary rule. You just have to move there.
But there are still areas where you can achieve the one week salary rule. You just have to move there.
But you know, my life is HERE. My work is here. My friends are here. My kids friends are here. My family is here. People do it the most - I don't want to loose them.
DH and I once considered a move to FL when he got a good job offer. We decided against it for these very reasons. Well, one year later my uncle (who raised me like his own when my dad bolted) died unexpectedly. I would not have had that last year with him had I moved. You can't put a price tag on that.
I 'd like to give one little story and maybe others could chime in. My friend and neighbor took out a home equity loan( second mortgage) for 125K two years ago. Now with that money he bought a Sea Ray 33 boat for 115K and with the other 10K he took his family to Key West for 2 weeks. Guess what? With home prices falling and the price of gas rising he is now on the Blame Game. He is now blaming everybody and anybody for his financial woes and not himself. He's blaming the repubs. for letting him get the loan, he's blaming the dem controlled congress for not passing reforms. He's blaming the oil markets. I'd say he's to blame.
He now wants to foreclose on his house or file for bankrupcy. He wants to get on the gravy train of the new govt. bailouts. He says he can't sell his house or boat for what HE wants. Him and his wife and kids would take boating trips to Block Island and go out on the bay every weekend drinking martinis on the boat watching fireworks and enjoying the boat. Should I feel sorry for him or should I think the problem soley rests on him.
Maybe default and living below his means are just what the doctor ordered. Anyone with similar stories. We have paid our bills on time and lived within our budget and have not gone on vacation for years so I don't feel sorry for him. Well maybe I'll rent the garage out to him and let him use the rowboat.
Blame is becoming America's favorite pastime. It crosses ALL party lines.
But you know, my life is HERE. My work is here. My friends are here. My kids friends are here. My family is here. People do it the most - I don't want to loose them.
DH and I once considered a move to FL when he got a good job offer. We decided against it for these very reasons. Well, one year later my uncle (who raised me like his own when my dad bolted) died unexpectedly. I would not have had that last year with him had I moved. You can't put a price tag on that.
You know the score and are willing to make the decisions that work best for you and your family as opposed to expecting a politician to magically make everthing work the way you want things to.
Too many people won't do that. They won't make ANY sacrifices to change things in their lives. They want to "vote" their way out of any discomfort.
I 'd like to give one little story and maybe others could chime in. My friend and neighbor took out a home equity loan( second mortgage) for 125K two years ago. Now with that money he bought a Sea Ray 33 boat for 115K and with the other 10K he took his family to Key West for 2 weeks. Guess what? With home prices falling and the price of gas rising he is now on the Blame Game. He is now blaming everybody and anybody for his financial woes and not himself. He's blaming the repubs. for letting him get the loan, he's blaming the dem controlled congress for not passing reforms. He's blaming the oil markets. I'd say he's to blame.
He now wants to foreclose on his house or file for bankrupcy. He wants to get on the gravy train of the new govt. bailouts. He says he can't sell his house or boat for what HE wants. Him and his wife and kids would take boating trips to Block Island and go out on the bay every weekend drinking martinis on the boat watching fireworks and enjoying the boat. Should I feel sorry for him or should I think the problem soley rests on him.
Maybe default and living below his means are just what the doctor ordered. Anyone with similar stories. We have paid our bills on time and lived within our budget and have not gone on vacation for years so I don't feel sorry for him. Well maybe I'll rent the garage out to him and let him use the rowboat.
your neighbor needs to put his big boy pants on, sell the boat, sell the house, and get his financial house in order. by standing in line with his hand out, he's only contributing to the meltdown.
is he to blame? yes. is there much more blame to go around? hell yes. personal responsibility doesn't end only at john q. citizen. these disgusting greedy corporate heads have their hands filthy dirty and should be ashamed of themselves. i would love to hear what their punishment will be, but sadly, i don't think i'll live long enough.
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