Mortgage crisis my foot!

Oh Lord! It's a mortgage crisis! I agree it's sad, because it's the American dream to own your own home in a nice area and raise your family. But come on, take a look at what happened and is happening right now. Sub prime loans given to people who probably shouldn't have gotten the loan in the first place by greedy brokers. They knew the mortgage would be lumped into a group and sold within the first year to a large bank for investments. Get my money and run. They even would loan more than the home value to give the person a little walking around money. The house is 200K? How about a loan for 220K and you have a little extra? I saw the 60 minutes piece on it and almost threw the remote at the TV when I heard that one. Nothing but greed on both sides of the table and frankly, should be illegal (maybe it is). The banks didn't look at the applications well enough and surprise! The people couldn't pay the note when it ballooned to the higher rate. It really is sad, because a lot of nice people got taken in the scam. Some buyers weren't explained this, or they chose not to listen thinking they would refinance before it ballooned. It's bad business, and right now business is taking care of itself. Mortgage companies in trouble, banks in trouble, and real estate companies in trouble. You run business fast and loose and you run the risk of going under. Survival of the fittest. It hurts, but that's the way it is. And now they want my hard earned dollars to bail it all out! NO! I saved up and applied for my first home loan. Heck it was 12% in the early 80's! They just interviewed some builder on the news in New Jersey. He's putting up a 70 unit housing unit and is scared it won't fill up. He said he hoped Congress passed the legislation because he really needed it, or it would be a hard couple of years!! Here's a news flash for you buddy, why build it??? Save your money and mine and wait for better times. I shouldn't bail everyone out because you don't want a lean year. Ask the people who can't make ends meet right now. It's just disgusting.

Hey don't get me wrong, the loaners aren't the only one's that need to stand up and take responsibility. People are walking away from homes and loans daily. Default on a loan? Unheard of when I was growing up. You signed on the dotted line and committed to it. If the bank repo's the house it's bad, but just to walk away because things are getting hard? That's just wrong and says a lot about our current generation. Not all of this generation are like that. And don't think I'm just spouting off, I don't have to look any further than my oldest son to see hope. He married a girl with a couple of kids and then had one of his own. He's still in college and they both work their butts off. They rented a house they could afford in a good school zone. He is doing great in college, and honestly I don't think I could have done what he is doing right now. I help when I can, but he refuses charity. If you think I'm proud of my son, you're right. Damned proud. It's great to have a shining example to look at when I get disgusted with others of his generation that just throw in the towel and walk away. If you make an agreement, even if you didn't sign on the dotted line and just shook hands, honor your commitment! This country operated since it's inception with honor and reputation. Walking away from a mortgage shows the world you have neither.

So what do we do? Cross our arms and stamp our little feet and scream for Washington to fix it? Hell no. We let the mortgage companies go under. Not all will, and yes the banks will have a hard time, but we need to get back on track. If someone working for me fouled up that bad, I wouldn't bail him out so he could do it again. I'd fire his butt, or demote him to official paper clip sorter. America will go through some hard times, but we survived them before. And I can't believe it will be 1929 all over again. There are too many safe guards in place, but we don't need to throw good money after bad in this mess. The American dream will be safe. A lot of people just needed to get a lesson in the dream. You work your tail off and get it when you can. And these days if it looks too good to be true, trust me it is.