reagan_fanatic: “There is no excuse for this.”
It shouldn’t matter if they have an excuse or not. The only thing that matters is that they be held responsible for the decisions they made. Who knows? They might even deserve a bit of sympathy. Nevertheless, no one should have the power to compel the rest of us to pay for the mistakes they made. If the bank decides to voluntarily rewrite the terms of the loan or allow a short sale, that’s OK. I also don’t care if people voluntarily donate to help the folks pay off their $800K home. As I stated, the problem is simply this: they are demanding that other people cover the losses. Even worse, they are attempting to use the force of government to require you and I to cover their mistake! That is simply not acceptable under any circumstance. If nothing else, it places the value of their property higher than the value of our property (since they want to confiscate OUR property to pay for theirs). When a thief breaks into your house, you have the right to defend it. Yet, these are thieves who are being aided and abetted by the very government that was founded to defend our property rights!