My existence is being threatened by people who bought too much house!

[salinen]

What utter shitslop. Or, my fave, the illegals getting free medical services are ruining the economy. And naturally they go after the UAW and all other unions as the enemy of the people. All the faux news lookalikes are spitting up with every excuse except the obvious corruptness that is unfettered fundamentalist capitalism.

[Believing Is Art]

1. It's quite genius, actually

Give people an easy to understand reason for our financial situation, and one that gives them someone they know to be mad at. Credit default swaps? Shorting stocks? Sub-prime predatory voodoo? Brain no comprehend! But that colored man isn't paying his mortgage! Republican smash!

Besides, how many average Americans really know any CEO's or derivatives traders? People are really pissed and want to have someone in front of them to be mad at, and the talking heads are doing just that. It doesn't matter if it's wrong and irrational, because anger doesn't often lead to rational action.

[salinen]

2. Everyone knows the housing crisis is the fault of

HOMOSEXUALS!

[scarletwoman]

5. Wait... I thought it was the fault of the pot smokers.

I'm so confused...

[dkofos]

34. Smoke another one. It will come back to you.

[Believing Is Art]

7. Hee hee hee

That made me smile. Umm, let's see, how can I actually make that into a sensible argument . . . okay I got it!

Homosexuals are really into fashion and interior decorating. Through mind control techniques like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and, especially, HGTV, they created these house flippers that artificially inflated the housing market.

Wow, I'm quite impressed with my BS! Maybe I should go into right wing talk radio. I'll make up the most far-fetched, batshit crazy theories and shamelessly spew them on air. After a decade I'll have built up quite a nest egg. Then I'll retire and write a book called "Confessions of a Right Wing Talk Radio Host," detailing how I made up shit and acquired a loyal cult following.

[Arugula Latte]

33. Wait, what about Welfare Queens?

I also want to be mad at all those thousands and thousands and thousands of Welfare Queens driving their fancy cars to the store.

[dkofos]

35. Those aren't wellfare queens. They are CEO's.

[Arugula Latte]

37. But I want to hate Welfare Queens 'cuz Ronnie Reagan told me I should.

He's infallible, you know.

[dkofos]

43. Should be easy to hate CEO's then.

[Raksha]

39. CEOs = welfare queens.

They are the REAL welfare queens!!!

[pipi_k]

47. no, no, no....

see, homosexuals are responsible for the high divorce rate and the general decline of American family values.

As far as Massachusetts goes, we've been fucked up ever since we allowed gay marriage here.

The entire state is ravaged every month by giant man-eating locusts. We have daily earthquakes of magnitude 12 or higher. Cape Cod has broken off and fallen into the ocean, good Christian people are trying to divorce their human spouses and marry farm animals, and Satan lives in the sewer systems and sneaks into people's houses at night by way of the toilets in order to steal people's souls.


Homosexuals are way too busy messing with Massachusetts to worry about causing a housing crisis...

:7

[kiva]

9. Agreed. Most Americans outside of finacial circles don't

know anyone involved in the tier of executives who will benefit from the previous bailouts, but everyone knows someone who (from our point of view) is irresponsible and seem to be rewarded for their mistakes. Who makes a better target for rage--the CEO you've never met, or the idiots next door who have done whatever it is that we define as financially stupid?

[Believing Is Art]

14. I hear ya

I find myself falling victim to the mindset, too. When I went home for Xmas (and for clarification, "home" is in a poor area of the Bible Belt), I saw a lot of women in fancy cars carrying Coach handbags but who didn't have enough money to get their teeth fixed. I would bet a lot of money that many of them were behind on their bills and in serious debt. And I got angry. But I just step back from the situation and remind myself that their irresponsibility is barely even a drop in the bucket compared to the highway robbery going on in the big financial firms. A lot of people are just so downtrodden and have no way out that they get the mindset of fuck it, I'm always going to be in debt, I might as well enjoy it.

[kiva]

27. Me, too...

debt and I will be together forever. :shrug:

Seriously, I know what you mean about slipping into the mindset--a few years ago a woman I worked with was constantly dodging collection calls--she and her husband both drove upscale cars (rented), rented a McMansion, and she was constantly buying costume jewelery that she was convinced looked "real"--right, a 3 caret diamond ring that leaves a green ring on her finger. :crazy: Looking back, she and her husband's multiple scams were nothing compared to the corporate robbery we're seeing today.

[salinen]

31. Neighbor vs. neighbor

is the strategy du jour.

[20score]

25. Bingo! A very time honored tradition. Works in all times and cultures.

[lostnotforgotten]

3. How Much Is Too Much House - I Live Alone In 1,800 Square Feet

Is that too much?

[TwixVoy]

8. It's too much house

When you are a few percentage points in interest away from going completely under. It's too much house when you don't put down ANY down payment. It's too much house when you have to sign a 50 year mortgage. All of those would be qualifiers for "too much house". I can probably name some more.

[Believing Is Art]

11. I think that's a lot

I live alone in 900 sq ft, and that's too much for me. But then I work outside the home and I hate clutter. 1800 sq ft certainly isn't excessive and if you can afford it and use it all, then more power to you.

[lostnotforgotten]

15. Mines Pretty Standard - 3 Bedrooms - Two Baths

One bedroom = Office from which I am typing this message.

Second bedroom = Guest accommodations.

Third bedroom is mine.

One large open plan living room.

One moderate size kitchen.

By modern standards, it seems quaint and frugal.

Have prime mortgage for which I supplied the traditional 20% down.

The real expense is the school and property taxes.

Those two alone double the monthly mortgage amount.

[Believing Is Art]

22. Not too different from mine

3 bedroom, one bath. The main bedroom is pretty big. I have a queen bed in it as well as nightstands and the usual, and still plenty of walking room. Walk-in closet, too. The other two bedrooms are much smaller. One is an office and I have a twin bed in the last one. The bathroom is pretty small. The kitchen and living room aren't very big, but I've been comfortable with much smaller in the past.

I wasn't trying to be critical, it's just by my standards, 900 sq ft is too much so I'd go crazy with twice that. My ideal home is a loft with a balcony, so I'm probably more utilitarian in my living preferences than a lot of people.

[lostnotforgotten]

24. My Perfect Home Would Be Four Car Garage With A Loft Above

Problem is one cannot buy that type of home and there is virtually no resell value.

Admittedly, I purchased a home that would be attractive to the next homeowner.

By modern standards it is not a Mc Mansion.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

4. the right are using this to divide and conquer

they won't conquer

[Bigmack]

6. It's the hippies! nt

[salinen]

32. it always is

[No.23]

10. It's not only the folks who bought too much housing...

that are involved here.

It's the folks who also refinanced their homes too.

Many of them already had conventional mortgages with fixed rates, but applied for refinancing to reap the benefits of an artificially inflated real estate market.

And many refinancing arrangements were ARMs.

Greed, in general, was the single most predominant motivator which prompted many to place themselves in financial hot water.

[Bozita]

29. Also the walkaways from the "under water" folks. There's a wave of 'em coming.

Here's the perfect scenario:

House sells in '03 for $160k. Nice hard working family. Two small kids. Dog.

Owner loses job in early '08. Puts home up for sale at $120k.

November. No offers. Owner lowers asking price to $92k.

January, 2009. Foreclosed. Bank's got it now. Asking price is now $52,900.

And it's still sitting there.

This is going on in my block.

I fear the walkaways. Those folks with a $150k mortgage on a home currently worth only a third of that. The family next door has been upgrading the property since moving in ten years ago. Expensive modifications and add-ons. It's likely they finance their next project by taking out new mortgages.

I'm wondering how long those folks are gonna continue being my neighbors.

[salinen]

36. or an illness

or paying for a college education. Just sayin.

[sam sarrha]

12. this was caused by speculators buying insurance on what they 'Didnt Own' and knew would fail

that is what brought down AIG and the others.. the house thing could have been fixed, but the speculators took all the money

[zeos3]

13. I heard this one last night...

I was talking to a police officer I know and he was telling me that he got an email describing how "the illegals" cost us a lot more money every year than the Iraq war.

...sigh...

I also get a lot of ridiculous emails from other cops.

[20score]

23. Is there anything too ridiculous for them to buy?

[salinen]

38. I've been hearing the same

scary shit

[bridgit]

16. Our existence has always been threatened by republicans and their insatiable...

untethered thirst for obscene profits via junk bonds, junk loans, and a society filled with toxic wastes

[salinen]

40. Those are exactly the reasons why

I love republicans.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

17. Over at my local newspaper's online website...

I have become quite the infamous handful of ambulatory nettles, as I attempt to school anacephalic regurgitators of Ayn Rand, Rush, Hannity and O'Reilly in things like Economics 101 and Basic Human Decency 101. The comments section over there is populated by some of the thickest, densest, dullest, most idiotic drooling mouth racist breathers ever, far beyond anything I would have ever imagined. It's truly appalling. The fact that they can login and type, no matter the run on sentences, poor spelling, tortured syntax and lack of coherency of thought, is a triumph of the human spirit.

But they regurgitate this slop, like the above, in every post. They quote the John Birch Society site as a reputable source of information. They write letters to the editor that is a word by word verbatim re-posit of last night's Squawking Head roundup. And they think they are clever, smart, informed and contributing something meaningful to the civil marketplace of ideas.

If's all quite fucking amazing.

[salinen]

41. They are the real

Scheisskopfs.

[MindPilot]

18. I bought 3 DVD sets of each season.

Is that too much House?

[Bluebear]

19. Boo!

:)

[htuttle]

21. Can't buy too much of that House...

...but I'm going to order a biopsy anyway, because that's how I roll.

[ColbertWatcher]

20. I think you nailed the GOP's basic argument for everything!

They blame gays for "destroying marriage," then they blamed unions for the auto bailout and now they're blaming poor people for the housing crisis.

The GOP blame everyone else but themselves for the predicament they find themselves in!

Bravo!

[salinen]

42. Blaming yourself

is unAmerican.

[jimmyflint]

26. sometimes i feel guilty

there is a house i was looking to buy a few years ago. I choose not to because I knew it was just out of my budget. But sometimes I think I should have bought it and been irresponsible and claim predatory lending like so many others. At least I would have the house I wanted even if I could not afford it. I knew it wasn't the right thing to do then, but now with all the bailout dollars being given out, I think I messed up!

[tabasco]

28. You gotta get out of mommy's basement before you buy a house,

sparky.

[salinen]

44. you're cute

[Blue_Tires]

30. while flipping channels damn near every time i stopped on a news channel

some 'expert' was spitting out the "you're paying for your neighbor's house while they partied and vacationed" meme...sadly, the campaign is getting a lot of traction, because i've overheard in a couple times in public the past 2 days...

i just don't know where we are going as a country...

[dysfunctional press]

46. they're the new "welfare queens"...it worked for the pukes and ronbo raygun once before...

and it may very well work again. :shrug:

we are one FUCKED UP country.

one thing is for certain- we'll be living in "interesting times" for AWHILE.

[Octafish]

45. Banker at dinner party told me the same thing last night.

Blames Obama for doubling deficit, too.

For him, and a sizable fraction of America,
Rush Limbaugh has made it extremely difficult
for the truth to reach the small region known as
the brain.