I can afford the payment. I responsibly only borrowed what I could truly afford. I’ve stayed debt free with no credit card debt, car loans or anything other than a mortgage. I save and invest regularly. I’m pretty much doing all I can to be a financially responsible citizen. Unfortunately our society doesn’t seem to reward good behavior.
In my daughter’s kindergarten class there are kids that pay attention, do their homework, and generally do what they’re told. The reward for being a good student is extra privileges. The kids in the class who act out, don’t pay attention and are hard to keep control over don’t often receive rewards for their behavior. In fact they never do. It seems that our school system believes that rewarding good behavior is a positive reinforcement method to teach good behavioral skills.
I guess this kind of positive reinforcement only works on young children because we certainly don’t seem to be using anything of the sort on all the people that have irresponsibly run up their credit card bills and bought homes that they can’t afford. The remedy for those people is to spend MY tax dollars to adjust the terms on their debt. So, the lesson I’m apt to take away from this current economic crisis is if enough people are living beyond their means and spending more than they can afford to, then I might as well do it too. On the plus side, I’ll get to live far more extravagantly than my old self would have and if things get too bad, someone else will pick up the tab. So far I haven’t seen any drawbacks to taking this approach.
I’m extremely torn on what type of bailout/economic stimulus is needed for our country. It absolutely kills me that people who haven’t planned and have been irresponsible with their lives are now my problem. Sure, there are some people that are being impacted through this that truly did try to do the right things. The problem is that it’s a small percentage of the people that are standing in line asking for help.
I’m trying really hard not to be a whiner/complainer about all of this stuff but it really does kick me in the ass that we are deepening our national debt by trillions of dollars.
What do you think? Should we just let the economy reset on it’s own, or should we use trillions of dollars to try to basically manipulate reality?
So, as much as I’d like to live beyond my means and hope for a bailout some day, I won’t. I won’t because it’s not the right thing to do. I won’t because I pride myself on being financially independent. I won’t because it’s against everything I’ve ever believed was right. I’ll just sit back, keep saving, and hope that someday society will recognize the fiscally responsible people in our midst.
I agree with most of your sentiments…I just try to always remember that regardless of how much of my income the gov’t confiscates on behalf of other Americans, there’s something they can’t take away – my dignity. Honestly, I don’t envy anyone who decides to live a life that will eventually require them to rely on the gov’t for their well being. I take care of myself and my family and that sense of independence is priceless in these turbulent times.
Imagine if in your daughter’s class the majority of the students were disruptive and badly behaved and refused to learn or pay attention. She could defiantly sit at her desk and try to read and learn amid all the chaos around her, but unfortunately she’d be fighting a losing battle.
It’s kind of sad.
Yep, I feel the same way. It’s interesting that the govt is trying to solve an overspending problem by overspending. HMMMM.
If you think about it that’s what “fairness” is all about. All these people weren’t gifted with the financial prowess to make good financial decisions, so it’s up to those of us that have to bail them out. We owe them
You can’t have capitalism without bankruptsy.
Not long ago debt was shameful. Failure to pay one’s debt was more shameful (or illegal). Now these people are on the streets holding picket signs claiming to be victims! Are you freaking kidding me!
It’s unbelievable most of the media and our government seems to think they ARE victims! The real victims are the people (you and me) that made good choices and will have to pay the price of the poor decision makers.
I can only hope prevailing opinions will change and justice will be served. If not, then God help us all.
I agree that a bailout isnt always the best option, but considering the alternatives, you might be better off with it than without. With no help from the government, all major american car companies (and a few major banks) would be bankrupt and unemployment would skyrocket. Of course, according to economic theory, they would then re-enter the workforce in other industries where the demand is. But seriously, how often does theory work in reality? Id guess that unemployment would stay high and instead of paying bailout money, youd be making up the difference in welfare or unemployment.
I think the best way to fix this problem is to get to the heart of WHY spending is out of control amongst the consumer. The subprime mess was caused by people taking on adjustable rate mortgages that got too high for them to pay… and i bet the majority of those who signed those mortgages didnt know (or expect) the interest rates to rise the way they did. Maybe spending on education about buying a home (and keeping debt low) would be the best way to allocate these funds to ensure a crisis like this wont happen again?
I agree with your assessment of the situation. It annoys me to no end that these people are able to make thoughtless choices in their lives and we’ll all be there to bail them out when they find out they made a mistake.
One of the biggest issues I have with this whole thing is people’s attitudes. The people that made mistakes feel like they’re “victimsâ€. These are the same people carrying massive credit card debt or purchase luxury cars while barely being able to make the payments. I understand some people didn’t understand their loans, but come on! How do you purchase something as big as a house or take a 30 year loan and not understand what you are doing? The other thing I’ve noticed recently is that many people feel like they deserve to be bailed out. They have a “bleed the pig†mentality and it sickens me. Having your dignity is great but not so much when you are around a bunch of people that don’t even realize they lost theirs. As far as they are concerned they are just the same as you or I, they just “had bad luckâ€, were “victims†or made a “small†mistake. Why should they have to pay for it? It wasn’t their fault. So instead, we will pay for it so that they can sleep at night.
Steven,
Yeah, I’ve thought about that too. We can either put the money in to stimulus type job creation work, or pay for unemployment benefits for a longer period of time. If you believe the stimulus will work, it’s probably the best course of action. If you are skeptical, like me, then we could end up spending trillions on stimulus and still have to spend billions on unemployment benefits.
You do get rewarded for living within your means. Your interest rates are lower, you do not need to take payday loans, and you are prepared for emergencies.
Yes, many of those people were reckless with their money but there are always reasons. It isn’t easy being financially illiterate nor is it cheap. And the unfortunate thing is that most of the people who are in a financial mess do not know the Financial ‘How tos’.
i think there are bad things happening to a lot of good people. people with families who have been laid off in jobs that, when they took out their mortgage, seemed incredibly secure. obviously that was a mistake, and ideally everyone would plan for a situation like this, but i still view this whole thing as a “help thy neighbor” type of deal.
i pride myself on being independent too, and i don’t know what i would do if the rug got pulled out from under me. but honestly, if you consider the alternatives ($3,000 toilet seats in washington, corporate spa getaways for failing bailed out banks, foodstamps for octomom) i’d much rather my resources be pooled towards average middle class families who are having a tough time, regardless if there are some bad apples thrown in the bunch. hopefully this mess will yield a lot of important lessons about personal finance and responsibility for these people.