Well, it is not an insight or even an opinion. It's just Math, and not very difficult math at that. If I recall, the concept of negative numbers were taught even before algebra.
Since when is it a conservative thing to use government to put pain on people. The government and the fed helped create the loose money situation which fueled the housing boom. Tightened too much is gonna crunch a lot of people, even those who were fairly responsible with their mortgage. I see this as a bunch of jealous losers. It is in the best interest of everyone to make this a soft-landing, which is what we currently have. If the housing market is hit too hard by getting too tight, the whole economy will be taken down with it. Good thing the fed gets it. I don't think the White House does, but the fed does.
I think this guy just hates any kind of financial success because he is a failure. But he does have a point that a lot of this was built on over greedy stupid people.
They knew what they were doing and called us stupid..now they will pay.
hey ladies and germs..this mortgage disaster is a freakin cRISIS....!
i know the latch key kid crisis was way worse and the gol danged alar poison apple crises was a real cringer
...n that ‘land waste garbage is swallowin us up’ crisis was pretty mean ....not to mention the grand daddy of em all...the ‘polar bear aint got no ice floe no mo’ crisis...that one is more than even a crisis afficianado fan like me can stand.
see whut it is, is...i love polar bears...especially the ones in those coke commericals...i have coke stock so thats pretty good.
actually ..im an equal opportunity crisis kind a feller...yes i am.....i don’t descriminate amongst crises....
they’re diversified n IM proud to say so am i.
‘i’d like to invite a crisis over and buy it a coke..in perfeck harmoneee....’
I do not agree with this guy on his happiness.
Many FReepers have said for a while that this would happen and now it is coming like a run away train.
Financial disaster will be hard to stop as the panic sets in with already scared investors.
It was not more than a year ago that I jogged through a beach front community in San Diego and saw tiny 700 square foot homes selling for $795,00 dollars with a zero lot line and street only parking.
I pity the poor dufoos that ponied up a down payment and assumed a VRM on what I would have considered a $35,000 dollar bungalow at best.
Posters on many forums have told of their disdain for public welfare for the poor.
Some of these posters may soon have ample opportunity to find out for themselves just how lousy public assistance really is.
At least they will be able to tell the welfare folks to stick their help where the Sun don’t shine.
Class envy is in play here, though. I don’t think the government should bail anyone out. On the other hand, how are sub-prime loans “sleazy” when a good-sized portion of the population would never get a loan without them? Do we really want to go back to requiring sterling credit and 20% down on all mortgages? If we do, there will be far fewer homes bought and sold in this country, and the economy will no doubt tank.
There also seems to be an extremely naive belief that these developments will mean that housing prices will change "back to normal" (as he considers it). Why would anyone think that? I hope he and others like him don't get their hopes up too high....
Homeowner bailouts, as warm and loving as they seem, are, in fact, bailouts for mortgage companies, and they don’t deserve it.
I agree with most of what the author wrote.
Unlike her, however, I’m not happy about the suffering caused by a bunch of greedy bastard mortgage bankers making Cinderella loans to people with lousy credit.
If it were only a few thousand folks, then the guy might be correct in expressing this particularly ugly thought. However, the crisis is so big and involves so many people that it is likely to have a negative impact on everyone.
Do you know the columnist, or do you just assume he’s a liberal Democrat because he works for the a major metropolitan paper?
If you don’t know him, I’d not be too sure with the LA Times. They perpetually suprise FReepers with sensible editorials, and since at least the Clinton air campaign on behalf of the Muslim terrorist in the Balkans have given straight reporting on a lot of issues to the discomfort of the left (they debunked the ‘genocide’ claims used to ‘justify’ the ‘humanitarian intervention’ while the bombs were still falling).
For all the people that are getting buried by adjustable rates, they should have figured that there was a risk of this.
The major flaw in this argument, besides the one that doesn’t care if I lose my job, (which I guess is fair, as I don’t care of the author loses his) is that a major crash in real estate trickles down through the entire economy and affects everyone.
Bingo!
It’s never a good idea to cheer the misfortune of others.
Can people sue Alan Greenspan for urging Americans to take out ARMs back in April 2004?
Kind of Gets it.
1) She’s right that a huge government bailout of mortgage holders will only encourage further reckless mortgage lending practices and set us up for yet another one of these disasters 10 to 15 years hence. If stupid doesn’t get penalized, it becomes the policy instead of the exception.
2) The reason people took these no down payment loans was because they wanted a short cut to home ownership. Saving up a 20% down payment on a $350K property isn’t beanbag. That’s a heck of a lot of most people’s paycheck that could be spent on the fun things in life instead. Some John Edwards of a mortgage banker figured out that if you promised them to let them have their cake and eat it to, he could then vicitimize the gullible.
3) But let one thing be clear, the gullible don’t deserve to weasal off the hook for having shown totally worthless judgement. More importantly, the financial institution that put the John Edwards in question up to these stupid ethics tricks deserves to have a ledger full of non-performing loans. It should sued, sc***ed, and painfully tatooed. Pain, in this case, would be both condign and educational. It’s the only way the postmodern ethical sleaze gets taught the fundamental difference between what’s wrong and what’s fun.
4) Where this woman lost me, was when she started taking joy in seeing these people go bust. No one should enjoy that. It’s one thing to let consequence take its course, it’s a whole different ball of wax to derive schaudenfraude from the fates of those truly rendered miserable. Karma keeps meticulous books and has a way of behaving like an assertive female, with coarse manners, and a vindictive streak that’s a mile wide.
Perhaps Mrs/Ms Garza should go check the holdings of her retirement fund when she gets home from work. Let’s see her dance in the streets over that one.
Not at all.
Better to support restructuring of the loan industry and government-sponsored mass refinancing for at-risk homeowners.
This moron Mariel Garza gets nothing.
A dirty word in America.
BUMP