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The trifecta of Bailouts: Banks, Homeowners and Home Builders

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by poindexter, Apr 2, 2008.

  1. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-fi-mortgage2apr02,1,6296482.story

    There's going to be billions and billions in bailout goodies for everybody who made mistakes in this mess.

    People who were prudent and rational: Fuck you!
     
  2. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    Mistakes!?!

    They weren't making mistakes. They were chasing every loose dime they could. They were greedy bastards who don't deserve an ounce of sympathy nor a penny of my tax dollars to bail their asses out of trouble.
     
  3. alleyallen

    alleyallen Guest

    I'm genuinely curious...in what opinion do you hold those homeowners caught up in this mess?
     
  4. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    Ignorance is not an excuse.
     
  5. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    Depends on the individual circumstance.

    People who are in lower incomes who took a subprime just so they could buy a cheap house instead of renting are one thing. I have sympathy for them. They're doing the best they can.

    But the people who got one to buy a 4,000 sq. foot McMansion in the newest subdivision can fuck right off.
     
  6. alleyallen

    alleyallen Guest

    That's not what I asked. And I'm not trying to stir stuff up. Lots of people here have blasted homeowners from not understanding ARMs. I'm just trying to find out what Inky thinks of it.
     
  7. alleyallen

    alleyallen Guest

    That's what I was looking for. Thank you!
     
  8. Pancamo

    Pancamo Active Member

    Why should low income buyers be given a free pass on any of this shit?
     
  9. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    Not a free pass, Pancamo. Sympathy for an impossibly unaffordable situation. ... The fact is, people in my parents' generation could afford to buy a house on one (low) income. I can't, even though I make a lot more than my dad did at my age. There's something wrong with that picture when people do everything right and owning a home is still out of reach.
     
  10. hockeybeat

    hockeybeat Guest

    I recently saw an ad for a family house in middle class Levittown, Long Island. The asking price is $515,000.00.

    Who can afford that?
     
  11. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    It's a tough call, since there are so many different circumstances.

    However . . . I would bet that you spend much more on vacations, gadgets, sporting events, eating out, etc., than the average person from your parents' generation did. Outside of visiting relatives, my family took exactly one vacation when I was growing up (a 200-mile drive to Atlanta, woo-hoo!!!). Spend big bucks to take me to a Beatles concert (as opposed to Hannah Montana)? Never. Something like that was never an option. Today's generation of parents feel like failures if they don't do those things . . . and wonder why they are having trouble staying out of debt.

    Unless a lender was criminally in the wrong, I have a hard time not placing much of the blame with the homeowner. Whether you make $20,000 or $200,000, it doesn't take much research to understand that interest rates have been at historical lows. Thus, DO NOT take an adjustable-rate loan just because you can afford a house based on the teaser first-year payment. When making the most important purchase of your life, you must think "worst-case", not think you are going to get 30 years of "best case." If you cannot afford a fixed-rate loan, you cannot afford a loan period. Sorry. It's called the American Dream, not the American Right.


    True, but how much of that has to do with where you live (as opposed to home prices in general)?

    "Doing everything right" could also mean choosing to live in a more affordable part of the country . . . or choosing a profession that would enable you to buy a home anywhere you choose. Saying "this is the job I want and this is the part of the country I must live in . . . so where's my house?" is not reasonable. Supply and demand does suck sometimes.
     
  12. pallister

    pallister Guest

    If there were circumstances out of your control (getting laid off, having to sink most of your money into unexpected medical bills, etc.) that caused you to lose your home, then I feel sorry for you. But far too many of these homeowners signed for mortgages they knew they couldn't afford. For those people, I don't have a bit of sympathy. But, as usual, they'll likely get bailed out for their stupidity so they'll be free to do the same damn thing in the future, at which time they again will be rescued from themselves by a free-spending government and so on and so on.
     
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