[geeks] [rescue] E250 temperatures

[Dr. Robert Pasken]

Lionel Peterson wrote:
> ***
> *** Moved to geeks
> ***
>
>
>> From: Patrick Giagnocavo <patrick at zill.net>
>> Date: 2008/04/14 Mon AM 08:43:59 CDT
>> To: The Rescue List <rescue at sunhelp.org>
>> Subject: Re: [rescue] E250 temperatures
>>
>
>
>> Lionel Peterson wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Yep, saw a bunch of them at Starbucks this past weekend... The tip
>>> cup had very little in it, though the lines were just as long as
>>> always...
>>>
>> I am amazed that for all the supposed "recession" we are in, that the
>> mall parking lot is always so full, even on say, Wednesday at 1:30PM.
>>
>> Either Lancaster, PA is some special case, or things are not quite as
>> bad as al-Reuters would have us believe.
>>
>
> IMHO, and of course, YMMV, but in my opinion there are many that will get
thrown under the bus in the next year or two, but I contend that much of it
will be self-inflicted, or as a result of someone else incurring some
self-inflicted problem (collateral damage).
>
> I am *constantly* amazed when you see poorly educated, blue-collar workers
on the news complaining how they are losing their home - a home they could
never afford, based on their income level - and in the same breath they seem
almost, oddly proud that they didn't read all that legal-stuff on the
contracts and agreements they signed. The lack of concern is overwhelming -
they are signing up for, say, a $200K mortgage on a house that costs $225K
(but should be worth more like $150-160K), putting them on the hook for 30
years of payments that add up to upwards of $750K (over time). Then, the world
wakes up and their house value is now say $180K, they scream about making
payments even though the value of the house went down (and they are
underwater) - uh, hello! That is what you agreed to!
>
> Then they talk about being kicked out of their house - they never owned it,
but they can't understand even that simple concept. Then the Gov't steps in,
says we gotta protect these people and their American Dream - bull. These are
the same politicians that said the banks *had to* loan money to folks that
want to buy in depressed areas, with poor credit and no stable income -
congratulations! You set them up for failure.
>
> Everybody does *not* deserve a house - everyone deserves the chance to own a
house anywhere they like, assuming they can *afford* it.
>
> In the final analysis, the problem (IMHO) is the education these folks
didn't get growing up - they can't calculate mortgage payments, can't grasp
the impact of an ever-changing mortgage rate, and never questioned the maxim
that "Paying rent is throwing money away!" - never realizing that it was the
Realtor that subtracted 6% of the total value of every house they sell...
>
> Argh.
>
> Back to the original topic, if you ask most people, you find that *they* are
doing OK, but they are concerned about *everyone else*, based on what they see
on the news/read in the paper.
>
> Sorry...
>
> Lionel
> _______________________________________________
> GEEKS:  http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/geeks
>
> I agree with about 95% of what you said. Yes they bought homes that were
sold for more that than their value and they couldn't afford. Yes they were
setup for failure. Yes they should lose the However, and this is a big
however, those people were sold a very big lie. When my wife I bought our home
we came to the bank well prepared. We had built a spreadsheet that had both
assets and liabilities, income, expected taxes and insuranace. We  were told
by the bank that our assumptions were wrong. They spent several hours telling
us what assumptions we should be using. The bank told us we could afford
monthly payments 4 times larger than we calculated we could afford. Based on
the bankers insistence that we could afford much larger payments than we felt
confortable with we changed banks. If we came as well prepared as we did with
a very careful analysis of our finances, how will some without PhD's in
mathemtaics computer science, meteorology and finance fare against a banker
who tells them that they can afford more?  This particularly true since the
the bank officers salary was strictly dependent on how many mortgages they
were able to make each month.The home loan industry sold the amereican
consumer a bill of goods and now they want to be bailed out. My comment is too
bad so sad, you screwed up and now you have to pay the proce.