The Depression of 2008

[Archive]

Posted By: LetsGoBucs

I invite anybody who is naive and uninformed enough to believe that the sub-prime mortgage fiasco is media-created and is the result of "irresponsible" buyers, to come to my neighborhood in a California suburb and tell that to the poor people whose homes are being auctioned-off.
-----------------

Well, with the exception of those who refinanced their homes as a result of being "hoodwinked", or "sweet-talked", or lied to but scum mortgage salemen into going into an ARM, I would say that the rest are responsible for overextending themselves and making the assumption that their home would go up in value 20% a year.

If you buy a 500K home on a 60K salary with no ability to put down a down payment....your making an irresponsible choice.

I believe that the government should try to help those homeowners that are over the age of 60 that have only a primary residence that they have lived in for more than 10 year and was refinanced into an ARM - the vast majority of these folks were simply lied to and didn't know what they were actually agreeing to, and the government provided absolutely no common sense protection in the form of basic regulation. Everyone else needs to take personal responsibility - you take the risk and accept the reward when things are good...you also take the loss when things change.

I know that there are always exceptions - but I can state that I have several friends that refinanced mortgages into ARM's, or took second mortgages and used the money to take vacations, buy cars, necklaces, and basically live a lifestyle well above what they should have....even though they are my friends, I don't think that as a taxpayer I should cough up money to cover their shortfall. Though through fed policy and lower interest rates and lower USD I'm already paying. These people weren't poor, but they chose to live above their means and now have to pay for their year's of living above their means.....a remarkably simliar situation to our federal government and the budget deficit.