I really don't agree with this. Not every individual lives beyond their means. Quite a few Americans actually did it "right" and paid/pay their mortgages and don't play the house flipping game.
Maybe we do need this to stabilize credit, but does that make it fair that EVERYBODY has to pay for the mistakes of greedy lenders and stupid individuals?
And how is it "fake" money? I mean, I see what you are getting at, but sooner or later it has to be "real" money, and if it's government money, it's paid for by tax dollars.
If anything I think the media has been on the side of the bailout, spredding fear and trying to convince the public that if the government doesn't save us we are doomed. Other than Fox, Glenn Beck, and Lou Dobbs, I haven't seen much anti-bailout talk on the news, unless they are interviewing people on the street.
I rather agree with you, especially the spirit of this post.
I had a conversation at the office where I work at the university the other day that basically came down to me saying that people need to not be so materialistic and greedy (who needs giant houses for only 3-4 people? I just don't get it) and my office mates saying that the American people, including them, just won't be able to turn down the chance to have bigger houses, and that consumer demand will cause this irresponsible lending to happen again, again, and again. (Now, this totally leaves out families who are just scrapping by to pay for a small house, but i guess this is a different issue more connected to fair wages, job opportunities, education, etc).
I (mostly) agree with the sentiment, and as much as it kills me, I do support the bill. However, I really want to know what's being done about student debt in this whole mess. I've never defaulted once, but the payments cripple us. It's like $500/month between the two of us, because we never had help from our working poor parents, because they couldn't afford to, not because they didn't want to. Even before we bought the house, we had no choice (well, I suppose we could've not eaten) but to charge things like groceries if we wanted to live. It's not just people charging vacations or whatever. Sometimes, it's your average family who just can't make the ends meet. How do you help the ones who did everything 'right' and still have to use a credit card to make ends meet? I guess one answer would be that those people shouldn't have their own place to live, but that just seems like such a fundamental right. What's the answer for people who didn't charge vacations, they charged food & medicine & other essentials?
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Maybe we do need this to stabilize credit, but does that make it fair that EVERYBODY has to pay for the mistakes of greedy lenders and stupid individuals?
And how is it "fake" money? I mean, I see what you are getting at, but sooner or later it has to be "real" money, and if it's government money, it's paid for by tax dollars.
If anything I think the media has been on the side of the bailout, spredding fear and trying to convince the public that if the government doesn't save us we are doomed. Other than Fox, Glenn Beck, and Lou Dobbs, I haven't seen much anti-bailout talk on the news, unless they are interviewing people on the street.
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I had a conversation at the office where I work at the university the other day that basically came down to me saying that people need to not be so materialistic and greedy (who needs giant houses for only 3-4 people? I just don't get it) and my office mates saying that the American people, including them, just won't be able to turn down the chance to have bigger houses, and that consumer demand will cause this irresponsible lending to happen again, again, and again. (Now, this totally leaves out families who are just scrapping by to pay for a small house, but i guess this is a different issue more connected to fair wages, job opportunities, education, etc).
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