Nice Going, Guardians of Our Financial System
So last week, faced with the imminent meltdown of the U.S. economy, our government had to cut the crap and finally tell the truth about what was really going on — namely, that the U.S. is basically bankrupt. 
For decades we’ve been told that the only way to have a comfortable retirement is to invest our retirement dollars in the stock market. First, the tech bubble cut everyone’s hard-earned IRAs in half. Now, the Wall Street wizards to whom we entrusted our nest eggs have screwed things up so badly that millions of retirement-age people can’t sleep at night.
The giant con that was the housing bubble is at the root of the whole mess. All those unpaid mortgages are bringing the lenders and investors who backed them to their knees.
This isn’t a family blog, so I’m just going to come out and say that I’m pissed off.
Pissed off at the lenders who ripped off consumers with these lame mortgages. At the gulllible, greedy people who leveraged themselves into bankruptcy and foreclosure. At the CEOs and investment bankers and lenders who raked in millions by preying on others’ weaknesses. At our leaders, for failing to stop the madness before it became this bad. At all the people who cheated while the rest of us played by the rules.
Most of the people who perpetrated this scam on the American people won’t give a second thought to the damage they’ve done to families and individuals. They’re too selfish and greedy to worry about anyone else but themselves. The only thing we can hope is that karma somehow comes back and bites them (and it would be nice if we got to witness it). If you believe that what goes around comes around, these people are gonna get theirs.
In the meantime, what message does this send to hardworking folks who are trying to live good, honest lives? Their incomes are stagnant, their expenses are skyrocketing, their housing is unaffordable, their jobs are threatened, and their nest eggs are ravaged.
The whole thing sucks.
The ONLY good thing that could come out of this mess is that people might finally learn how to SAVE. That’s what happened when the Great Depression hit our grandparents’ generation. But things were different 80 years ago. People didn’t have the sense of entitlement they have now. They were used to working hard and doing without.
Today’s Americans think of financial conservatism as deprivation. And until that changes, we’re doomed to relive this cycle over and over again.
Recent Redfin posts:
Arroyo Seco Scenes on view at Glendale Studio Tour
Eagle Rock Foreclosures and Short Sales
House Shopping: How Safe Is the Neighborhood?
