Goodbye Middle Class: The Percentage Of Wealth Owned By The Top 10% Just Got Even Bigger.
If I read another one of these sorties I just might lose my mind. Day in and day out people act like the government is killing them when in fact they are killing themselves.
You see - I had a front row seat to the housing recession and saw a LOT wealthy people jingle mail their key's to the bank because the media told them their houses would never be worth what they paid for them. These were people who COULD afford the houses they were giving up, but were underwater.
At the time I just couldn't understand it. I too was crazy underwater, but chose to fight for my houses (I also have a rental) because I understood the rent trap from growing up poor. My family moved every year because the landlord raised the rent. I must have done dozens of stories during the recession asking - where are these people going to live?!
Well... now we know don't we. On the streets. I'm still bitter honestly because I was the LAST to be refinanced. Every loser on the planet got relief before I did because the banks calculated that I didn't want to screw up my credit. But apparently I was pretty alone in this concept. I knew that if I gave up my stuff - the banks would never lend me that kind of money again. I took a loss on my rental for a decade. Which at the time seemed something only stupid people would do. But if you knew how many large corporations know they won't make money on something for many years, yet still invest that money anyway - it wouldn't seem so stupid.
When I bought my place you had to list all your credit cards. I have two. At the time this was completely shocking to the people trying to close my loan. They said usually people have a page of credit cards. People seem completely blind to how much money they waste on credit card interest. It's like a tax on everything! My family used to know almost down to the day when they could get new credit after defaulting.
People walk away from EVERYTHING and then cry - it's the government fault I'm a loser. When in reality - it's the government that allows them to be deadbeats and forgives every bad decision they make. I am just over it today. And it's just really a sad day when someone with a house and a rental is considered super effing wealthy. When I was growing up, that didn't make you that wealthy. We didn't always understand how people did it - but it didn't stand out in any way.
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I agree with you that a lot of Americans made some stupid purchasing decisions. It does floor me that too many could apparently not read the English language and intuitively grasp that 'adjustable rate mortgage' probably meant what it said all by itself.
ReplyDeleteEven though I paid my mortgage and taxes and insurance, I can't get a reduced rate because I could not show work for two years and I even have a 800 credit score. Total BS.
However, I do think that the corrupt monetary system does benefit the corporatocracy and those wealthier who have the money to game the system. That does not excuse though people making dumb purchasing decisions or voting for more 'free stuff'.
I agree with you. Full stop. But peoples laziness combined with how easily they can be conned is also a large contributor. I mean, when Apple or Google or any of these other guys come out and say - I'm only going to take a buck as a salary and people cheer and fawn all over them is part of the problem. I wish just once the media would say.... but yeah you are taking salary in the form of stock and probably paying only 15% tax. When billionaires who are mostly socialists some out and say - I'd love to pay more in taxes - if everyone does. People cheer and fawn. When in reality those billionaires are sticking it to you making it harder for you to get up the ladder. So in a way, people let this happen by being financially ignorant.
ReplyDeleteOn the weight of blame - I think people not being smart leans slightly ahead of corruption. And I'm not saying that isn't a huge deal. I just think the corruption would be slightly less if the people were slightly more smart. But people allow the corruption.