A unique phenomena is happening with people strapped in debt: they have been paying their credit card bills before their mortgages. Forced by high energy prices and soaring adjustable mortgages they are faced with hard choices and the bankruptcy bill is guiding them to new behaviors. The bankruptcy bill passed by Republicans and signed by Bush was a huge government corporate welfare program for the banking industry. It makes it nearly impossible for people to declare bankruptcy and begin again.
The alternative they face is whether to allow their bank to take their home since that erases that debt from their financial portfolio. The credit card debt cannot be made to disappear so that is what homeowners are choosing to pay. This is fueling the foreclosure crisis along with the other factors. Congress is seeking to provide some relief from the onerous provisions of the current law and George W. Bush has threatened a veto.
The President said, again, that he doesn't think the country is in a recession. Is this denial or cluelessness? Maybe he needs to get more and meet real people, not those robotic clones collected for his fake "town halls."
Home foreclosures were up 57% in January from a year ago and prices are climbing on everything. Spring will provide some relief to people paying $500/month for heat but will be negated by $4/gallon gasoline. Sure, lots of people made bad decisions buying McMansions and huge cars and trucks but we cannot allow these failures to pull down the entire economy. That allows their bad decisions to seriously affect your financial situation.
One thing everyone needs to do is get financial savvy. Bookstores are filled with good tomes on personal finance. Go buy a few and learn what and how to properly manage your finances. Watching Gerri Willis' excellent advice on CNN is another resource.
Why, John, I am shocked that Bush, the very man who once based nearly 1/2 of an entire State of the Union address and several other domestic initiatives on the "great American dream of homeownership", and touting the rather sharp increase in home ownership not more than a few years ago (when he needed a 2nd term to complete his utter failure) would just turn his back on and utterly sell out such a large segment of American society in a time of need.
Why that is so unlike our wonderful President John. I just don't understand. I mean where else have we seen this kind of strange (all too common) behavior...
...oh wait...I know...in the way he's treated veterans from the very conflicts he had the brevity[Afghanistan] (and stupidity -see Iraq) to start but woefully under plan for the consequences of our continued presence (or premature pull-out -see Afghanistan).
Oh wait, I know, I know...how about all that money that he promised NOLA and all the federal help to make sure the city and gulf coast was going to be rebuilt better than ever. I guess he thought the city was confined to the NOLA Superdome (the only facility in that town that can fit his inflated head).
Oooo,oooo, wait, there's another I missed. What about all those overtures to seek alternative fuel methods so that we could decrease our dependence on foreign sources of oil or even fossil fuel sources for that matter.
Gee, I guess I was wrong about how shocking and strange this latest turn of events and the sell out of the American people when they are down and in deep pain. Yes, I suppose right now it might be nice to have Bill Clinton back, because at least he would have the compassion to say that he felt our pain and would not just turn a blind eye and a cold shoulder to the masses, but he was so evil don'tcha know and Bush is just the greatest. How many of you GOP members out there who have mortgages about to go *pop* are still sitting there loving ole Georgie now I wonder. Does that hook in your mouth feel a little tug right about now, it should.
Do you still think developers and financiers who work together to fleece the crap out of Americans who are hot to buy the best home their money can't quite afford, are still wonderful people and just doing what capitalism tells them to, regardless of the consequences.
Folks, this is just the ugly beginning of the run through the collective pig pit of nasty for our country and even electing Hillary or Barack at this point will only help to stem the tide somewhat. We've got hard personal choices to make and some will be made for us, because some made their choices to set this in motion a while back and had not the presence of vision, more than a weekend boozer, to realize just what kind of Faustian deal they've made and agreed to, in the name of some hoped for gains and greed.
Prosperity is one thing, unabashed greed and power grabbing is always a recipie for disaster. Somtimes that recipie takes just a bit longer to stew and serve up.
Posted by: DC 93 | February 27, 2008 at 10:46 AM
That's a sorry summary of the Bush legacy. It's such an remarkable record John McCain is running so he can extend these failed policies for four more years.
Posted by: John Morgan | February 27, 2008 at 11:13 AM