Pissed off, Paralyzed and Powerless
I'm sorry I haven't responded to your blog comments this week on the Bucs/Broncos game. I just haven't felt much of a desire to be on the computer the last several days to talk about football, it's seems trivial what with the current economic crisis widening day by day.
This meltdown in the stock market has affected me greatly and knocked the wind out of me not just financially but psychologically, just like I'm sure it has for millions of other Americans. I'm pissed off, paralyzed and feel powerless as I watch the thousands of dollars that me and my wife worked so hard for going right down the drain in our 410K. On Monday if things don't change my wife and I will probably do whatever everybody else is doing and either sell or stop putting our money into the market all together.
I'm beyond absolutely furious about how this thing has gone down. We shouldn't have let these morons in Washington vote for a 1 trillion dollar bailout when this mortgage mess goes far wider and deeper than anyone could ever possibly imagine. You think 1 trillion is a lot of money? Not by a long shot, these mortgage losses could end up being 2 or 3 times that figure or more. I lived in California for 4 years and in that time I predicted this was going to happen, I just wasn't sure how long it was going to take. The bad loans in California alone will be enough to bankrupt the entire country, trust me on that.
It was kind of a 4 way circle jerk that was going on in the mortgage business with banks, borrowers, the politicians in Washington and the brokerage firms which started back in the in the 90's and led up to today. The first set of jerks was the banks for loaning the money in the first place. The banks lent money to people in California who didn't have the money for a down payment and had no business buying a home. Half of these people couldn't even pay their phone bills for God's sakes, let alone make a mortgage payment on a home.
Then the banks encouraged these other set of jerks to get variable interest loans that started out as a small monthly payment. Then when the interest rate went up the payments ballooned 2 or 3 times more than the original amount the people who got these loans were up a creek without a paddle. As if that weren't enough, many of these people who were retarded enough to get these loans before the meltdown were borrowing even more with 2nd and sometimes 3rd refinancing loans which the banks willing encouraged.
The next set of jerks is the politicians in Washington, Democrat or Republican there is plenty of blame to share among all of these dishonest and greedy assholes. There needed to be some form of regulation and oversight on the mortgage banking system but that wasn't going to happen because they were all in the pockets of the politicians. It was absolute insanity for these banks to be lending to people who had no way in hell of ever paying the money back. I'm for a free market economy but some regulation, oversight and common sense was needed long ago in the banking industry and both parties did nothing to stop the bad lending practices of these banks and brokerage firms.
After that many of these stupid people defaulted on their home loans, they were then bought up by greed merchant brokerage firms like Lehman Brothers, AIG, Country Wide and probably the 2 biggest culprits Fannie May and Freddie Mac. They bought up these bad loans or resold them and counted it as equity on their balance sheets when that money might as well have been monopoly money they were counting because it wasn't worth a plug nickel.
Then there are the folks who borrowed this money in the first place because they complete the 4 way circle jerk that has cost us all. They must take some personal responsibility for borrowing money and not having the ability to pay it back. Many of the people in California had bad credit or none at all.
Now we Joe Q Taxpayer, the ones who didn't invest in a house of cards, are suppose to bail them out? Not just bail them out but bailout these greedy brokerage firms and then trust the idiots in Washington to fix it when their final answer is going to be to nail us with it? Have Joe Q Taxpayer pay for it when 80% or 90% of us average folks had nothing to do with?
Some may not like it when say I don't have any compassion for these jerks if they lose their homes but that's to damn bad. I personally didn't have anything to do with it and I'm pissed that somehow I'm expected to bail out the ignorant, greedy, and dishonest people who made these incredibly bad mistakes in judgment. We shouldn't give them a dime and I'm for just letting the chips fall were they may.
Paying more taxes or borrowing our way out it isn't the answer. I don't think the answer is taxing the middle class, the rich or anyone for that matter either. Taxes affect all concerned, if you don't understand that important point then you are part of the problem not part of the solution. I don't have the answers but I don't want another cent of my money going to the federal government. It's time they tighten their belts just like we'll be forced to do.
Here's another thing, anyone who thinks that Mr. Status Quo John McCain or the self proclaimed messiah Barack Obama with all of his rhetoric or flowery speeches have the answer or some creative policy to get us out of this mess is naïve and living in a fantasy world.
Either man is going to be faced with the worst economic meltdown since the great depression. Hell, we could have a resurrected Albert Einstein or an airhead like Paris Hilton as our President; it won't matter either way because rough times are ahead, with more taxes and the ever scary thought of an America turning into a socialist state. I guess all I can do is keep praying to my higher power that I and my family will be provided for.
I guess the one thing I can look forward to this weekend is the Broncos game against the Jaguars; it'll be a welcome distraction.
GO BRONCOS!