Are you an idiot to keep paying your mortgage?

If you don't, it's getting harder to answer that question, especially when our government keeps giving people who owe more than their homes are worth so many reasons not to pay.

Last week, the government announced a program that will substantially lower payments for many homeowners who have little or no equity, but only if they are at least 90 days delinquent.

Critics say the plan, which applies to loans owned or guaranteed by government wards Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac among others, could encourage people to suspend payments.

Elected officials have been chipping away at that by blaming the foreclosure crisis largely on predatory lenders. In a campaign fact sheet, President-elect Barack Obama says he "recognizes that the real victims in the subprime mortgage crisis are not the lenders, but the millions of borrowers who followed the rules and whose only crime was taking out mortgages that lenders told them they could afford."

Last year, Congress started removing some financial hazards of default when it passed a bill that temporarily waives the income tax on mortgage debt that is canceled when a homeowner is foreclosed upon, sells a home for less than the remaining debt (a short sale) or gets a loan modification that reduces the principal balance.

The tax waiver originally applied only to debt on a primary residence canceled in 2007, 2008 or 2009. Last month, in the bailout bill, Congress extended the waiver until 2013.

Watch the woman get caught hook, line and sinker.

"If I help him, he's gonna help me."

Hmmm, like his illegal aunt in where ever?

Like his half-brother in Kenya?

Like his grandmother in Hawaii?

Like his campaign workers who he didn't pay?

Like Joe the Plumber who he really doesn't want to punish for being successful BUT......?

You know, newb, some of us do have morals and a conscience.

That’s what makes us conservatives.

Maybe FR just isn’t your cup of tea....

I once asked my father, who grew up during the depression, why people didn't just steal, and take what they wanted from others. He explained that in order to have a civilization, it required all of us to be "civilized". If we couldn't trust each other, civilization was lost.

I find it so sad that in just 2 generations, we've gone from The Greatest Generation - who stoicly went through deprivations and then fought for other's freedom because it was the right thing to do - to the Selfish and Greedy Generation.

In a weird way, I'm thinking a depression right now might be the only thing to save this country's moral compass. Boomers and Xers have never sacrificed anything or learned the value of anything not dealing with money. Hardships and how one deals with them is what develops character. That and it may be the only way to overcome what the libs have done to our kids - they are producing soft and entitlement-grabbing illiterates in our schools. After this last election, I think it will take a huge devastating event to change the mindset of many out there. (FR is my refuge from all the craziness.)

This discussion reminds me of Red Green, who reminds his viewers at the end of each show that “If women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.”

;) I think handy is much more important over the years!

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.