I am amused at how tightly bunched up the old folks have their tightie whities. There are kids protesting corporate excess, ON WALL STREET!!! For one, I am glad they are protesting. I was afraid we had raised a generation of self centered pussies. It is good to see they care enough to take a stand for something.
The conversation with my wife went something like this:
Wife "What is the deal with interest only home loans?"
Me "Banks are lending up to 125% of your home's value and all you have to do is pay the interest, there is no scheduled principal repayment."
Wife "Isn't that stupid? You will always be in debt. What happens when you try to sell your house and you owe more than what it is worth?"
Me "They are betting the can make more in appreciation than the loan, which is questionable."
Wife "It is still stupid."
Me "No argument"
I don't blame the kids for protesting. Mortgage banking stupidity triggered the recession. For home loans, it was the equivalent of selling liquor to a high school student with his blockbuster card as ID. If I had a pile of student loans and no prospects of paying them off, I would be pissed too.
Herman Cain yesterday stated that a) these kids ought to be THANKING Wall Street for all they've done for us; and b) that the protesters were all unemployed because of their own inferiority...
ReplyDeleteI wondered what these kids had to do with Wall Street helping to deregulate entire industries, which then acted irresponsibly on a system-wide level, leading to the collapse of the industries and the international economy.
That was their fault?
Not to get on my high horse, but... Most people only take out ONE or maybe TWO mortgages in their lifetimes. Mortgage companies do this every day. They know better than you or I when someone is a bad bet for a mortgage.
They handed out money they knew was bad. Systematically.
And now, we are all living with the consequences.
I had not heard the Cain comments. Clearly he is playing to the right wing audience. Blaming the victim is an interesting ploy. I am pretty sure the 9.1% unemployment rate is not the fault of a bunch of 20 somethings.
ReplyDeleteI am on my third, and hopefully last, mortgage. I am blessed to be in a position where we will pay a 15 year loan off early. That is not the case for most people, including my co workers who cannot refinance their loans because the market has depreciated more than their equity. It is still a bad system and will remain that way until something bad happens (worse than in 2008)
Katy - I posted this on my other social networking sites
ReplyDelete"I may not agree with what you are saying, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Evelyn Beatrice Hall (although it is frequently and incorrectly credited to Voltaire)
We shall see what reaction I get. Apparently I feel like stirring the pot this morning.