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February 24, 2009
Some Thoughts For Us Chumps
You know, us simple folk who didn't use our houses as ATMs
You played by the rules.Invested conservatively. Looked for company names you could trust, like Lehman Bros. (LEHMQ, news, msgs). Didn't sell out at the first or even second downturn in the markets.
Saved up for a down payment. Paid your bills on time and kept your credit card balances down so you could build up your credit rating. Shopped around for a fixed-rate mortgage. Didn't buy more house than you could afford.
Managed your company for the long run. Built up trust with your bank. Earned the trust of your suppliers and customers. Kept debt to a minimum even if it meant growing more slowly.
Now, don't you feel like a chump?
Your retirement portfolio is worth 40% less than at the end of 2007. Your house is worth 20% less. Your company is scrambling to stay afloat because your oh-so-friendly banker has cut your credit line.
But the worst is that you see people all around who behaved like fools, people who lied on their mortgage applications, who piled on debt like there was no tomorrow or who ran their companies into the ground and who are now getting bailed out by the federal government. With your money.
This gets to the core of the groundswell of anger folks are feeling. Those of us who scrimped and saved and bought modest houses after carefully budgeting are getting royally screwed by the bastards who kept re-mortgaging and flipping houses to support extravagant lifestyles and new cars every three years. Why should I support these people? Why should I support companies whose products consumers have stopped buying? Why should my child be put into debt to support these people?
Obama said yesterday
"I refuse to leave our children with a debt they cannot repay," he said in remarks opening the one-day summit at the White House. "We cannot and will not sustain deficits like these without end. ... We cannot simply spend as we please."
Which I guess sounds somewhat noble until you think...why the hell are we burdening our children with any debt for our failure to live within our means? Wouldn't a proper response be to take the bitter medicine now, take the pain now and give our children a chance to live better? But no, Obama wants to burden our children with a debt they can pay, a debt caused by this generations refusal to accept responsibility for it's fiscal insanity.
If there ever was a case for the following generation to hate the previous, he's building it.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at February 24, 2009 07:42 AM
Comments
Yeah, I do kind of feel like a chump.
And in addition, I'm worried - worried that my investments won't recover sufficiently even in the fairly long time I have left until retirement. Worried that the new administration will look at people like me, who are still solvent, and see dollar signs, and I'll be taxed into poverty.
And I'm really puzzled by Obama's claim that he's going to go back to - what did he call it? "Pay as you go?" - after he is presiding over the biggest bowl of candied pork ever handed out.
You can't bail out every goop who doesn't know how to balance a checkbook AND cut the deficit. Not without bleeding the non-goops dry.
In my darker moments, I wonder how long it will be before we're back into a barter economy. Maybe I better look into whether keeping chickens in my backyard is legal...
Posted by: ricki at February 24, 2009 09:53 AM
"You can't bail out every goop who doesn't know how to balance a checkbook AND cut the deficit."
And don't forget about the ones who feel they are "entitled" to a much higher lifestyle than they've earned.
Posted by: Mr. Bingley at February 24, 2009 10:17 AM
There are those that believe that economics are the basis of all wars. If this is true, and I think it is the cause of many but not all wars, then we need to watch out.
A debt that can't be repaid is the type of catalyst that starts a people to try to get out of the debt. And whom will we owe money to? The Chinese.
Yep, things could get real ugly in the coming decade if we continue on this path.
Posted by: Skyler at February 24, 2009 10:52 AM
And I'm really puzzled by Obama's claim that he's going to go back to - what did he call it? "Pay as you go?" - after he is presiding over the biggest bowl of candied pork ever handed out.
And while he's getting ready for Porkulus 2. Obama's audacity is apalling.
Yep, things could get real ugly in the coming decade if we continue on this path.
Skyler, that's my worry as well. I just don't have that much faith in human kindness when the majority of people have their backs against a wall. It's like cornering a rat; be careful, unless you want to get bitten.
Posted by: JeffS at February 24, 2009 02:49 PM
That's Obama through and through. He says what he thinks people want to hear even if it contradicts previous statements and then does whatever he wants.
The media, of course, keeps him covered.
Posted by: Gunslinger at February 24, 2009 05:02 PM