Pajiba

Ha, Do Do.

And, unfortunately, your new government hasn't really done anything to prevent it from happening all over again.

You can't really rag on the Wall Street assholes too much for my liking, but this - "Billy Sue’s house lost half its value" - is problematic.

"Value" is relative. Part of the reason we got the housing clusterfuck is because home buyers were encouraged (and I'm guessing lots of them didn't need much encouragement) to borrow a shitload of money to buy houses they probably weren't going to be able to pay for even if the economy hadn't gone tits up (or they borrowed money against their house to make improvements, which they were probably told would have big-time ROI).

The value of housing was not going to go up forever. It was up so fucking high in some areas, it really had no direction to go but down.

Just sayin'. Housing was overpriced. That the "value" of overpriced houses fell is not a tragedy. Esp. when a lot of those houses were "investment properties" bought by house flippers and other idiots looking for easy money.

Right now (as always) your house is worth as much as someone else is willing to pay for it. If that number isn't as much as the amount you paid for it, that's called a market. It's how markets work. I don't want anyone to be homeless, and I do feel some sympathy for people who paid a ton of money for a house during the height of the boom because they were in an overheated area and had no choice and now owe more than it's worth through no fault of their own, but many home buyers (and sellers) were just greedy. A lot of Baby Boomers thought they'd cash in their houses for a ton of money, like a lottery ticket, and then retire in luxury. It's hard for me to feel bad that that isn't how it's working out.

A house is a place to live. Seeing it as an investment that should pay off like a stock or bond is part of the problem. And admin is right. Our govt. hasn't done much to prevent the next meltdown.

to*

One thing I don't get: If your house is now worth less than what you owe on it, wouldn't it make sense to hang on to it and keep making the payments until the market rebounds? Isn't it like buying a stock a $30/share and then it slips to $25? Wouldn't it make sense for you to hang in there and see if it goes to $35?

"Pick on" them? These are people who made shit up, who didn't even understand what they were selling.

I don't believe the problem is related to the two-party system as much as it is to the hysterical belief that the free market can solve any problem. The free market doesn't look past its own nose. It's short-sighted thinking at its finest.

Nobody thought the market would go up forever. Nobody with a brain, anyway. What we didn't expect was that the guys at the top would steer the financial vehicles over the guard rails AND walk away much, much richer for it.

a farcical 2 party system
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Absolutely right! Supreme executive power should not derive from a mandate from the masses. We should instead choose our leaders by some farcical aquatic ceremony. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords IS a basis for a system of government!

At least that's how it works at my house ...

What the new transported man said, Frontline covered this pretty well. NPR also did something similar, I think it's titled "Big Pile of Money" or something like that (yes, really).

Someone sit on me before I get up and try to FIND the kind of assholes who actually DEFEND this fucking bullshit. "...pick on a few guyas..."

Lemme guess, asshole, you work in the money industry?

Motherfucking cocksucking fuck.

A few guys. Right. Go down to Wall Street on a weekday, sit down on the sidewalk at 5 am and start trying to COUNT the assholes in two thousand dollar suits who walk into those buildings.

And those are just the ones who actually walk into the front door, who arent DRIVEN in through the basement by their fucking limos.

Jesus fucking christ.

Maryscott,

I missed your venomous ass, baby! Where ya been?