I suppose a self-answering one. Would the anti-abortion/birth control crowd rather a bunch of young single mothers? You don't have to be brilliant to figure out this leads to lower quality of life in most cases not to mention crime, and yes yes all the inspiring stories aside, statistically speaking it is indisputable. Maybe if they said "Hey get pregnant! We will support financially you and your bastard for life!" they would have better luck. Hey plenty of people are looking for a free ride after all.
We were out driving this weekend when I spotted a sweet 68 fastback up on the rack at a dealership we were passing. Naturally I had to stop and look at it. Not in the market for a new car at the moment, but I still wanted a look at this thing.
Pulled into the parking lot and got out, strolled over to have a look see when suddenly SWOOP! I was swarmed by four sales guys and a sales manager. I looked around the parking lot and we were THE ONLY other people there.
I made as hasty a retreat as I could. I fully expected them to be hanging onto the rear bumper as we drove out.
Some people have been saying that it is the fault of the individual homeowners who bought funky mortgages and now cannot afford them after they have reset. They should get the blame for the glut of houses available depressing home equity and making it impossible nearly to sell your home and break even for even those who had traditional mortgages and now must sell due to moving, divorce, getting laid off whatever. Well I say, as I always do...its complicated.
Now we hear how banks like Wacovia were requiring their mortgage officers to sell at least 45% of all loans they originated as "Pick-Your-Payment" adjustable ARM and similar shoddy products. First of all the commission on these loans was double and if greed was not enough to appeal to the loan officers, they would be reprimanded and penalized for failing to sell their quota.
When I went to buy my house some years ago, I knew I wanted a traditional fixed rate mortgage...with a great rate of 4.5% it was a no-brainier and even if I didn't have as great a rate I was pretty sure that while sure the rate might go down, it might also go up and when time to re-finance came around I would be screwed and being cautious as I am I HATE gambling. Now even though I knew this and qualified for the loan I wanted, oh how much grief I got, EVERYONE involved in the process from the real estate agent to the bank was trying to pressure, yes that's right pressure me into another type of non-traditional loan. At one point I was shouting "I do not want an adjustable rate loan, I want this loan right here!" only to be met with "I understand ma'am but if you would just let me explain how these other options would be better for you and your family...." I'm dead serious. I had to finally threaten to walk out before they would shut up. So what would happen to a less stubborn person, perhaps they would have yielded to the appeals made on their emotions such as, you can save the difference you would pay and ensure your children's education and future success....perhaps had I not been such a bitch about stuff I would have folded.
So yes ultimately it is the loan holders responsibility but it doesn't help much when the experts are trying to cram a craptastic and ultimately destructive product down your throat all the while marketing themselves as a financial institution that values you and your family above everything else.
Now of course we must bail out these banks because we cannot let the markets fail and we cannot afford to have our debts called in. So fine here's the money....and here's even more money if you say you are "working with homeowners to restructure their mortgages and keep them in their houses." Ah ha! That's a good thing, right? This is helping homeowners and trying to salvage us from the flood. Only the problem is the banks have taken the money and say they are working with homeowners, which to them entails talking to them and saying "Sorry, we can't help you." There - we "worked" with them. Never mind the problem wasn't solved.....we "made an effort"
As everyone knows these risky products were sold in bundles and still paid against by the mortgage payments. Here's the rub....very few loans are now owned directly by one bank or even a few banks. Most of the loans ownership is now scattered over the entire US and planet for that matter. Therein lies the rub, there is no one person to make restructuring decisions or even a few people. So it is virtually IMPOSSIBLE to get an agreement on such a thing.
Even if most of these banks felt like doing anything but taking the money thank you very much now we turn around and continue sticking it to our customers, they would hardly be in a position to.
Right now the problem with foreclosure has been set around products that were set to reset the rates around 2 - 3 years which is now. What we are not talking about yet is the ARM products that we set to reset in 5 years of which there are PLENTY. This means 2009 - 2010 we will start to see these loans reset at a time when we will least be able to afford it on the nationwide level.
Add to this an unemployment rate that I predict will grow to at least 9 or 10% before all is said and done (take into consideration the people who have been out of work for more than 13 weeks as well....doesn't mean they aren't still unemployed, but they don't count any more) and we are ripe set for the kind of recession/depression unheard of in modern history. No jobs, no tax income for the states and schools who get most of their funding from property taxes and well we have to come in under budget, right? More unemployment.
And all because the greedy mortgage companies who's asses we are now saving while they stick it to us in turn.
About this there is nothing the average person can do except to say like Jim Carrey in Liar Liar "So what I am going to do is piss and moan like an impotent jerk, and then bend over and take it up the tailpipe!"
This is a good one...going in my book of excuses. A guy in San Antonio crashed his truck into a womans car at more than 100 miles per hour. He told authorities that he smashed into her because God had told him "she needed to be taken off the road."
Bexar County Sheriff's Office spokesman Kyle Coleman is quoted as saying "He just said God said she wasn't driving right, and she needed to be taken off the road. God must have been with them, 'cause any other time, the severity of this crash, it would have been a fatal."
Police could not find alcohol or drugs in either driver.
