24 September 2008

Humpday Happenings...
All this flap about the lending agencies being bailed out by the "gub'ment" has got me thinking...and you know THAT can be dangerous.
I tend to see things from the "everyman" perspective.
The bailout, as originally put forth is wrong on too many levels, not the least of which is having someone else wanting to reach into my "Hip National Bank" for yet another withdrawal. Got enough "Uncles" as it is.
Of course, all the Chicken Littles out there feel the sky WILL fall if the government doesn't step in. Financially speaking, it would normally be a rough row to hoe, should nothing be done. Sounds a lot like MY neighborhood, because as the saying goes: "If people do NOTHING...NOTHING gets done".
Well, the government could have prevented all this if they had been watch dogging these lending agencies, but they were too busy worrying about the wording of bills put forth and filibustering until it's time to hit the golf course.
Developers had a field day building all the new houses that the lenders allowed, and filling said houses with ALL those people taking out ALL those mortgages, knowing full well, that many that were buying houses were what we call "at risk" prospects. All the lenders were concerned about was M O N E Y...and lots of it.
So when these people defaulted on their mortgages, because their jobs were allowed to go south of the border (or overseas), someone had to cover all the "bad stuff", and that sent Wall St. into a tailspin, due to the fact that the agencies could NOT cover anything with anything.
What I want to know is WHY, if ALL these people were being put into HOUSES, didn't the APARTMENT scene also tank in the process. It would seem that with so many folks moving into a HOUSE, that apartments would be running in "glut" mode...so many vacancies, so few tenants. But I didn't hear word one about that? Seems to me it would be a renter's dream...pick and choose at a lower cost, because apartment complexes can't get anyone into the units...they're all moving into HOUSES (that they will soon find out they can't afford and rents are going down).
It's been as quiet as a graveyard at midnight regarding that, hasn't it?
Unless the mortgages on these COMPLEXES came into play (which probably didn't occur, or we would have heard about THAT).
To me, it's a colossal waste of FEDERAL money (a lot more so than a $600 hammer or a $3000 stepladder they usually purchase), I find it appalling that "we" (the taxpayer) should foot any of the $700 BILLION dollar bill. I mean if the government WANTS to feel free to give ME a paltry MILLION, I can sure as hell put THAT to much better use than some lending agency that made a lot more wrong moves in THEIR existence, than I could EVER do. Hell, I could probably parlay that million into several million in a decade or so. But then again, I'm NOT Wall St., nor am I a "federal" government.
They had some analyst guy on TV last night, and he said this bailout would cost $2300 per EVERY man, woman and child.
Well, he must have forgotten to take OFF those on welfare or most all my neighbors who don't want to work, because as far as THEY are concerned...you ain't getting blood from THOSE turnips, Bub! That would instantly bump UP that $2300 to a lot HIGHER figure, wouldn't it?
And I don't feel like paying THAT number either.
We ( this nation) like to think of ourselves as free-thinkers...innovative, concerned, and yet at liberty to seek out and grab for the brass ring we affectionately call the American Dream. But sometimes, all that "free" thinking winds up costing something...and to a lot of people that had no real stake in the matter.
That's what I have to take exception to.
I didn't get a bad mortgage I couldn't afford. I didn't play the stock market like a cheap fiddle, nor did I basically give away mortgages wholesale to those with no concept of responsibility or financial management, and I certainly did NOT permit ANY American company to ship our jobs to some other country, putting thousands HERE out of work to save a buck for the stockholders.
And yet I, along with millions of other taxpayers am going to be (basically) told that I will be taking part in this "great adventure" of bailing out some companies that couldn't see past their own billfolds?
I...don't...think...so.
And neither should you.
Think of it this way - You go and buy a car, knowing full well you don't plan to carry insurance on it, AND you are a person who tends to "imbibe" a bit too often, and a bit too much. You get into an accident, are sued and have to cough up a ton of settlement money. So you take the ONLY "logical" course of action...namely, you get someone ELSE to pay all the costs, because of YOUR stupidity and irresponsibility.
Sorry...you make your bed...you sleep in it.
It sounds a tad simplistic, but the basic gist of it is all too similar between Wall St., and your vehicular escapades.
It could have been prevented, but you (like Wall St) were too busy feeding your financial ID, when you should have thought matters out, and responded in a more mature and responsible manner.
Like I said...simple.
And simple IS...as simple (always) DOES.
Let's wait and see what Congress and the Senate have to SAY, as well as what they are going to DO on this bailout before we go popping the damn canopy, grabbing the handle, and punching the hell out, shall we?

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