Great News: Mortage Relief!
Great news from D.C.: Mortgage relief's coming! Yep, the government's thinking about making the whole mortgage nightmare go away. Poof!
Well, it's not decided yet. It's still just a rumor. But you have to think it's being considered seriously. Really.
What am I talking about? It's the idea that all Americans - everyone - who has a home where the mortgage is higher than the current market value of their home - will get a new deal. Their mortgage principal will be reduced so that it's not more than the current market value of their home.
And why not? Everyone else is getting bailed out, aren't they? You've got big banks, AIG, GM,...er...well, I've lost track. But anyway, the point is, everyone's getting bailed out. Everyone's getting a second chance.
Now, haven't you ever been in a situation where you could use a second chance? What? You never have?
C'mon. Didn't you buy a nice big McMansion, or maybe just a condo or something, that you really couldn't afford, but you got an offer from a mortgage salesman who told you that the first payments on your mortgage would be like less than a thousand bucks a month? You didn't? You mean you didn't buy real estate with an adjustable rate mortgage, or maybe one of those negative amortization mortgages (where the monthly payment was super-low, but the principal amount of the mortgage actually grew, rather then got lower)?
To put it simply: You didn't get in over your head?
Well, too bad for you. You weren't sharp enough to get in on the "action" especially between 2002 and 2006. Worse, you may have been one of those duds who decided you really couldn't afford a McMansion, and so you just skipped it all and stayed in your little house, or kept renting your apartment. In other words, you were - what's that called again? - oh, right...prudent.
So what did your prudence get you? Well, if the government does decide to lower the principal mortgage balance of those who weren't, in fact, prudent, you get to pay for their imprudence. As a taxpayer, your tax dollars will be directed to cover the mortgage principal that's being excused.
Yes, that's right, you get to support all the imprudent folks out there - and those imprudent folks get to stay in those luxury homes that you couldn't afford.
You, on the other hand, get to stay in your little home, or your modest rental apartment. Stupid you!
Maybe you'll learn your lesson. Prudence - once thought to be one of the four most important virtues (Prudence, Fortitude, Justice, Temperance) - is old hat. Prudence is for the duds out there. Prudence gets you nowhere.
And so your punishment, friend, is that you'll have to make up for the imprudence of the...well, imprudent. You'll pay for their bad decisions - whether motivated by greed, stupidity, intemperance, or whatever. You'll pay for their mistakes and we'll all be better of for it.
Right? We'll all be better off. Yes?
C'mon. Stop being a dud. That's what got you into this position in the first place. Now you've got to live with not getting in on the mortgage relief.
So go ahead now. Go out and get a big mortgage on some over-sized house or condo or something. It's good for the economy...really.
Well, it's not decided yet. It's still just a rumor. But you have to think it's being considered seriously. Really.
What am I talking about? It's the idea that all Americans - everyone - who has a home where the mortgage is higher than the current market value of their home - will get a new deal. Their mortgage principal will be reduced so that it's not more than the current market value of their home.
And why not? Everyone else is getting bailed out, aren't they? You've got big banks, AIG, GM,...er...well, I've lost track. But anyway, the point is, everyone's getting bailed out. Everyone's getting a second chance.
Now, haven't you ever been in a situation where you could use a second chance? What? You never have?
C'mon. Didn't you buy a nice big McMansion, or maybe just a condo or something, that you really couldn't afford, but you got an offer from a mortgage salesman who told you that the first payments on your mortgage would be like less than a thousand bucks a month? You didn't? You mean you didn't buy real estate with an adjustable rate mortgage, or maybe one of those negative amortization mortgages (where the monthly payment was super-low, but the principal amount of the mortgage actually grew, rather then got lower)?
To put it simply: You didn't get in over your head?
Well, too bad for you. You weren't sharp enough to get in on the "action" especially between 2002 and 2006. Worse, you may have been one of those duds who decided you really couldn't afford a McMansion, and so you just skipped it all and stayed in your little house, or kept renting your apartment. In other words, you were - what's that called again? - oh, right...prudent.
So what did your prudence get you? Well, if the government does decide to lower the principal mortgage balance of those who weren't, in fact, prudent, you get to pay for their imprudence. As a taxpayer, your tax dollars will be directed to cover the mortgage principal that's being excused.
Yes, that's right, you get to support all the imprudent folks out there - and those imprudent folks get to stay in those luxury homes that you couldn't afford.
You, on the other hand, get to stay in your little home, or your modest rental apartment. Stupid you!
Maybe you'll learn your lesson. Prudence - once thought to be one of the four most important virtues (Prudence, Fortitude, Justice, Temperance) - is old hat. Prudence is for the duds out there. Prudence gets you nowhere.
And so your punishment, friend, is that you'll have to make up for the imprudence of the...well, imprudent. You'll pay for their bad decisions - whether motivated by greed, stupidity, intemperance, or whatever. You'll pay for their mistakes and we'll all be better of for it.
Right? We'll all be better off. Yes?
C'mon. Stop being a dud. That's what got you into this position in the first place. Now you've got to live with not getting in on the mortgage relief.
So go ahead now. Go out and get a big mortgage on some over-sized house or condo or something. It's good for the economy...really.
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