Jeff,
The really evil thing in all of this is how a very few people with a wad of cash entrusted to them really found a way to abuse the responsibility. But we are where we are. The banks killed themselves trying to throw securities together for investors to throw money at. But just because we aren't them, it doesn't mean there are no consequences for us. I am not a fan of saving people who caused this. I am less of a fan of letting the country fall apart. Remember, the great depression was a 10% reduction in consumer spending. We've seen that happening now. It's beyond the point of worrying someone who got a variable rate loan without a job is going to lose their house. What we are talking about is it doesn't matter that stupid kids set the building on fire. Someone has to put it out.
The really evil thing in all of this is how a very few people with a wad of cash entrusted to them really found a way to abuse the responsibility. But we are where we are. The banks killed themselves trying to throw securities together for investors to throw money at. But just because we aren't them, it doesn't mean there are no consequences for us. I am not a fan of saving people who caused this. I am less of a fan of letting the country fall apart. Remember, the great depression was a 10% reduction in consumer spending. We've seen that happening now. It's beyond the point of worrying someone who got a variable rate loan without a job is going to lose their house. What we are talking about is it doesn't matter that stupid kids set the building on fire. Someone has to put it out.
Jeffrey Counsil said:
Ah, but I *can* say that I am separate! *I* did not buy a house. Your delusion that *everyone* has a mortgage, that everyone rides the elevator, and that everyone even cares about the housing and financial Fat-Cats is simply too narrow minded. I am NOT lying to myself one bit and your claim to it being some kind of moral issue is insulting. Trying to prey on people to guilt them into handing money to people whom still have 6 figure incomes is absurd and self-serving. All you want is for me, who didn't buy a home, who didn't have "investments" (READ Didn't take a risk) to now pay *you* for *your* risks YOU took? YOU are the one who went out on a limb for YOUR chance to gain. *NOT* me. Those Banks that were so greedy MUST fail! THEY took risks, NOT ME. They were unethical, NOT ME. *I* had ZERO say in any of it. THEY are still RICH and whine about wanting their asses "saved" (READ Rewarded and Keep their spoils) for bad behavior and making BAD choices. THEY are the ones who should PAY for their actions! NOT the American Taxpayer!
You all talk about taking responsibility for ones's actions. So where are the consequences of those actions?? Why are you so willing to HELP those that HURT YOU???
Sure, I can feel bad about a lot of people getting caught up in all this. But *I* didn't do it to them! If you want to go after someone, go after the ONES WHO CAUSED THE DAMAGE! You do NOT punish Mike for what greedy jerk Joe did! Where are your ethics??Richard Wright said:
My point is the fairness is irrelevant. But we can't say too bad to anyone who bought a house in the past 4 years as though they were separate from the rest of us. The problem is, the fate of the entire housing and financial sectors is tied to everything else. So while there is a visceral bit of joy in thinking at least we aren't the ones on the elevator with the broken cable, that's the wrong analogy. We all need businesses to be able to get loans. Broken banks won't do that. We all need there to be such a thing as stable investments. And now there aren't. We can lie to ourselves and claim some sort of moral superiority over the people sitting on the other side of the plane, but we are going where they are. Yes, the arrival times may be slightly different. But that isn't much help in a crash.Mike Hosea said:
I think the "it's not fair" sentiment resonates deep in the human psyche. It comes from somewhere inside us at an early age. Fairness remains an unrealized ideal. Almost nothing in life is really fair. As George Carlin once said, death is one of the fairest things we've got--everybody get's just one.
Since I have given up on "fairness" in life, I would just like to see that tax dollars are spent well. I think the investment in infrastructure is a good idea. Infrastructure is one of the things government is for. I worry, however, about that forestalling home devaluation is both futile and undesirable. When the growth of home values has outstripped inflation in the past (especially true here in the Boston area since 2000), corrections are not unhealthy things, despite the pain that any homeowner who bought in high must feel. C'est la vie. I think government should focus on doing what government in the US is supposed to do, and that should not, IMO, include trying to manipulate fair market prices of anything.