NY Times sob journalism

So she bought the condo 12 years ago for $77,000 and now owes $143,00 on it. She can't a problem in this?


Meanwhile, Rick and Pete, maybe it's time the two of you stop preaching like you're some almighty financial experts. You have no idea what situations lead people such as IJAG's parents to the place they are.

If you're concerned about "pissing too much away on snacks and sodas" you've all but stopped living.

 

You can take it as preaching if you want. As I said, the only reason I learned these lessons is because I let things get so bad to begin with.

I'd rather worry about what I piss away on snacks and not have to wait until payday to buy groceries or wonder if I'm going to lose a house, than the other way around.

I've spent whatever I felt like on pop and McDonald's and then had to wonder if I had enough gas in the tank to get to my mother-in-law's dying hours in the hospital, and I've spent afternoons learning to cook so I can save on my grocery budget while knowing that I have enough money to make it six months (probably a year with unemployment mixed in) if I were laid off.

Trust me, the latter is more fun.

 

"people of her type" apparently being "stupid in-work people" who "should" save more even when they literally can't.

Oh, and those you have no sympathy for.

Course, I shouldn't expect more. My mom would laugh at you for not knowing what to do with a baby or trying to take one to a major league baseball game at 15 months old. So I guess we each have our crosses to bear.

 

If it wasn't going to be houses, it was going to be credit-card debt. It was going to happen eventually no matter what. A person savings rate nationally of under 2 percent, even occasionally dipping into the negatives, was never going to be sustainable, especially when mixed with rising consumer debt.

 

IJAG. Why can't they save more? I don't understand.

This lady had a job. At a university. Seems pretty safe to me - safer career than we're all in, for the most part. So yes, she should have saved more. I don't understand why she couldn't have. It would seem to me, she chose not to.

Please, explain why people in her situation "can't" save more. She CAN sell her place and get a smaller one. She CAN sell her car and take the bus. She CAN stop buying things she doesn't need (whatever they may be). She CAN rent out a room in her house. She CAN carpool. She CAN buy no name products. And on and on and on.

Now, maybe she does all that. Or did all that. But there are SEVERAL people who don't.

Oh, and I'm glad you took my general post - about people NOT in your parents' situation and made it personal. And continue to do so.

But anyway, back to my point. Why CAN'T she - or anyone - do what I suggested at the start of this post?

 

Big difference in buying a house I can't afford and simply getting up and walking out of a ball game after three pitches with a 15-month-old in my arms.

 

Your post that has been quoted many times had nothing to do with that woman. It was a general comment on anyone working.

I'm calling you on it, and you're whining like a bitch.

 

Well IJAG, considering the NYT story and the women it was based on, wouldn't it make sense to think those are type of folks I'm talking about?

Or is that too difficult for you to deduct?

And, may you be reminded, you made it personal and whine first, assuming I was attacking your parents and their situation.

I may be a bitch from time to time but you made the assumption in this case. And you know what that makes you, as the saying goes.

 

I wasn't assuming you were attacking my parents. You don't KNOW my parents.

But you were attacking the demographic they're in, i.e., those who work. And those who aren't financial gods like you (Red Vines notwithstanding).

 

I never claimed to be a financial god. I claimed to be a guy who can balance my budget. That is all. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

Fine then. Why say you have "no sympathy" for those who DON'T have the ability to make cuts? Yes, my folks' situation is their own fault. I'm well aware of that. Their own mistakes in the past have gotten them to a point where digging out on their own is all but impossible.

But to sit there and post shit like "I've done it, and I'm just a JOURNALIST so screw anyone who can't" is judgmental and uncalled for.

 

IJAG, you're missing my point. It's folks like your parents I have sympaty for. It's the folks like the lady the story is hooked on for whom I don't.

Sorry if my original post was too general, but then again, it was a post made in regard to the story linked.

People like that lady, I have no sympathy for.