My one overarching desire for this bailout bill is that both Obama and McCain have a vote on the books. I really don’t want to hear that if they had been there they would have done blah blah blah. I believe it is more important to have them register a decision that to discuss it to death. I want to see if Obama votes “present”.
Since I’m a clueless noob when it comes to explaining the mess we are in now, I’ll let some others do it. For more information on the current debacle, go read these blogs and articles.
A Primer on the Mortgage Crisis, by Mike K.
Rachel Lucas (I’m not rewriting that title, but the quoted articles are vital for understanding.)
VDH – Dr. Frankenstein’s Wall Street
At American Solutions, Newt Gingrich’s website, there is a lab for learning. I’m going to be spending some time there.
My recommendation for understanding this crisis is to read. A lot. From many different sources. If all you know about the economy you learned from campaign adverts – SHAME ON YOU! Because this affects all of us, we are all responsible for learning about it.
Letters from Glome 
We looked at houses and talked to a bank about a mortgage back in 1999. We were a family of three living on $1000 a month. They were willing to give us a mortgage for a $300,000 home!!
Luckily, my husband is financially smart and knew that no matter what the bank said, we couldn’t afford that and we went with $40,000 pre-fab house. We were squeezed financially just with the payments for that–imagine if we had a mortgage for a $300,000 house! They had no business offering us that kind of loan.
However, I don’t fully blame the lenders for this crisis. I think people need to be accountable–you should know what you can realistically afford. I don’t think we should bail out people in foreclosure. They made their bed, they can lie in it. Just because a bank approves the loan doesn’t mean you can afford it or should take it. It’s not the lender’s responsibility to make sure you live within your means.
I just finished reading the links you provided and I need to comment again. Everyone seems to be blaming congress and whoever else for loosening the restrictions on borrowing. I agree that that was a stupid move, but I have to ask where is the personal responsibility of the borrower here? It is the greedy, got to have it now and got to have it bigger and fancier than I can really afford attitude of Americans in general that has caused this crisis, not congress.
I understand that for some people they saw it as an investment with huge returns. But you don’t invest what you can’t afford to lose. That was the first thing I was taught when I attended a class on stocks and investments.
So, once again, how is congress (or any one in banking and government, etc…) to blame for this? No one held a gun to anyone’s head and said you MUST buy a house that you really can’t afford so that we, the lenders, don’t appear to be racist or classist. The BORROWER can say no.
So, I blame the borrowers.
I realize that who is at fault doesn’t help in solving the problem, but I wish someone would just come out and say it–this crisis was caused by irresponsible people who chose not to live within their means.
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
However, I don’t fully blame the lenders for this crisis. I think people need to be accountable–you should know what you can realistically afford.
Brandi – Oh Heck Yeah! If you sign your name on the dotted line you are responsible to pay the debt. Period. If you can’t, don’t frickin sign. Please, don’t tell me you didn’t understand the ramifications of a mortgage and it’s costs. People who do can’t understand the contract they sign should not be allowed to sign it.
If you got to the VDH article you’ll see he calls US Frankenstein. We ARE the ones responsible.
Well would you look at that! There’s a page 2 of that article. 🙂