Posted By:
LetsGoBucsCan you really blame the uneducated and financially unsophisticated people that believed them?
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My father had a high school education, military service, and a lifetime of hard knocks. He used to tell me..."if its too good to be true".
Yes I do blame people who bought houses knowing there was no way they could afford them. I know people that were making 40-50K that were buying 400K houses. How could they reasonably think that they could afford that house?
I do agree that elderly people were "hoodwinked" by mortgage brokers and many were tricked or bullied into refinancing their mortgages. I fully support government action for anyone over the age of 60 that owns one home that they have lived in for more than 5-10 years. If they refinanced into an ARM mortgage and say they didn't understand what they agreed to, then I'm willing to help.
For all others, especially those that BOUGHT a house, they have to take personal responsibility. After all, just because someone reads an analyst report that a stock might go to $100 when its at $40....doesn't mean you can go out and spend $60 and then ask someone to give you money when the stock doesn't get to $100.
People made personal investment decisions. I have friends that have good jobs that bought homes in the early 2000's.....and by 05 and 06 had refinanced (their homes had gone from 250- 500 or even 700K in "value") and used the money to buy cars, take trips, buy jewerly. Thats fine, but to later say that well now we can't actually afford to pay the money back is a matter of their own responsibility. I have other friends that bought houses before they were built assuming that they would resell for 20-40% higher a year later....for a year or two they actually did. But when that ends they have to take responsibility for the two houses they have mortgages on.
There is a percentage of buyers who I'm sure fit your description as uneducated and unsophisticated. But some of them are probably fairly clever and use common sense (and have learned life's lessons the hard way). I have no doubt that some of them aren't clever nor use common sense....and it is unfortunate that not everyone in life is thinking of others. But (aside from the elderly I mention above), I do believe that these people must take responsibility for their actions. I do fully support prosecuting anyone that lied or made untrue promises (including both mortgage agents and buyers who falsified their incomes).
Too much of this fits into the category of "keeping up with the Jones'es" and "easy money" mentality. Hopefully those that fell into that trap, or were just plain greedy, or didn't use common sense will learn some tough lessons and apply them later in their lives to their advantage.
We as a nation need to step up and start taking responsibility. For too long we've voted for politicians that "promise" things for free. We have a lot of hard work ahead of use to improve our country and the sooner we start the sooner we'll achieve it. And it will require sacrifice from all, and responsibility from all. Just as we all have rights, we all have responsibilities. And when you enter into a responsibility, I do believe that you individually should be held to it.