I feel bad for these people who have found themselves facing foreclosure because they have a mortgage that looks similar to those handed out when Jimmy Carter was President. It really is sad listening to a husband and wife describe their experience of losing their home. It is even more troubling listening to the reasons being given for these horrible financial nightmares. This incredible situation becomes a little bit crazier when I watch the nightly debate to determine if the government should help, bailout or rescue these soon to become fomer home owners. The debate is like any other political question these days having 3 sides to every answer.

 

The debate is heated at times with twist and turns. The argument rages on with the answer for blame depending on the public's perception if the home owners are giving excuses or reasons for their mortgage problems. I am probably missing much of the interaction between the parties but it seems as if the home owner is blaming the loan company for giving them a loan. I thought this was how the loan companies made money. Call me crazy or some other name I answer to but loan companies loan money. My understanding is that the loan company evaluates the credit application and the down payment offered and says yes assigning risk and an interest rate for the length of the loan. The house and down payment is held by the lender for collateral. The Loan compainies are not suppose to loan if the borrower can not pay the monthly payment. The borrower should not borrow the money if they can not afford to pay the loan back. There is a battle raging as to who is at fault. If laws have been broken then prosecute the law breakers. If only rules have been broken then enforce the rules. People are claiming ignorance. My father was a great man. He was a WWII hero. He was the greatest teacher on ethics I have ever known but he only had a second grade education. He never owned a house or a new car with the exception of a 4 door Ramberler American 200. I watched my dad walk away from 3 other deals for new vehechies because he said he could not afford the ''deals.'' I remember the salesman trying to convince my dad that he could afford these ''deals.'' I asked my dad why we didn't buy the cars when we had the chance? He said ''because I am going to have to pay for the car not the salesman.'' We were poor but we always had enough. I am not going to give the reader one of these stories where I had to walk 3 miles a day to attend a little one-room red schoolhouse. It did not snow where I lived and the schoolhouse had four rooms. I didn't understand about money as I grew up. As an adult I still don't understand that much about money with the exception that one has to be careful with it.

 

My wife and I had been looking for a new SUV for the last 18 months. My wife and I walked away from 3 ''deals'' before we finally made our purchase. I could not believe what we went through. During the last negociations that were successful the saleman's manager asked me why we could not close the deal because we were so close? I told the guy with all respect that I was responsible to my wife who was sitting next to me and  to my 4 year old at home. I told them that we were one of the first families to move in on our block and into our community. I explained that we had been in our house for 7 years and when we moved in I noticed a phenomenon in our neighborhood. There were brand new cars showing up all over our streets in every other driver way. There seemed as if there was new furiture being delivered up and down the street everyday. It looked as if everyone had the spending disease. I told the sales manager that there are now for sale and for rent signs decorating my neighborhood. I told him that this is why I have walked away from other deals because I am responsible to pay for what I buy and in 6 months I don't want a for sale sign in my front yard. I have a friend bless his heart that has spent every dime he has ever had his hands on and has an interest in assisting anyone he knows in spending any money they may have. This gentleman has other financial dealings that the mountain people are making songs about so there will be some historical record of his escapades. He was very intense wanting to know about our last efforts trying to buy a car. He was upset that I shared little information and he wanted to know why we did not buy the car. I just said we could not afford it. Then I heard these words from the past when my friend said ''yes but the salesman said you could afford the car.'' Before I could think I said yes but the salesman is not going to pay for it, I am.

 

The question remains who is to blame given this housing crisis? If this question is by some miracle answered then how shall we help. Who should pay the cost to fix the problem. Anyone can see the direction I am heading in with this essay. What is wrong with both parties being responsible to the rules and to the laws. This may seem pretty hard but because of my line of work I have seen many a person loose their house by negotiating it back to the bank or through foreclosure. I have seen people loose their homes because of  loss of employment, death of the breadwinner, catastrophic illness and divorce especially when a spouse runs out on the other. I have never until recently seen a person loose their home because some tall thin guy dressed in black and a cape with a top hat and a long curly cue mustace that answers to the name of Oil Can Hairy or Snidely Whiplash (one may need to be a baby boomer and remember way back to Saturday morning cartoons to connect to Oil Can Hairy and Snidely Whiplash) come around demading payment of all 3 mortgages at once. I haven't seen this until recent. Five years ago we tried to refinance our home and when the loan officer was done with us we would have had 3 brand new morages due at the first of every month. The officer was creative. He said we would save on our taxes.

 

I was listening to a discussion between Clint Eastwood and a popular cable talk show host and Eastwood was very sensitive to the issues of people loosing ''the American dream.'' He ended his statment with the view that there has to be some responsibility by the borrower and thus some pain. There are individuals and couples that were probably hoodwinked. There are those that signed on the dotted line who did the math but figured that their situation would improve over time an that a raise, promotion, new job, a second job, supper lotto or divine intervention would make up the difference when Oil Can came calling from the bank. The borrower and the lender was taking their turn rolling the dice but unfortunitly the supper lotto is not going to help in that many situations. My wife and I loved living in the bay area near the Santa Cruz Hills. We moved into a beautiful professional apartment complex. We were paying top dollar and we understood the cost. When our first 6 months were up we received a rent increase. It was more than 20 percent. Even if we were to have received divine intervention and won the supper lotto we would still had to have moved. We told the couple upstairs to prepare themselves for a significant increase but they told us not to worry. They told me they were getting a special subsidized rate because she decided to quit her job and have a baby. Their income level now allowed them to stay in one of ten apartments that was subsidized by the local city goverment. Their rent would not increase. They were paying a third of what we were because she stopped working to have a child. Now don't get me wrong. I love children but I don't want to pay for someone else's child if they can pay for it themselves. We had to move. I watched a good friend go through a divorce and his wife left the country causing him to loose his home. Sad situations for all. My friend learned through his divorce and has since remarried and has another home but he lost a small fortune. It took him years to recover but all is well for my buddy. The couple who was living beyond their means and living off the taxpayer's dime was crazy makng for me. If those two young people can't aford to pay the same rent as I did why should my taxes and my rent be higher allowing them to live in a place they really can't afford? They made the choice to quit work an have a baby but I wasn't consulted. If I am going to pay for something I would at least like a say in the decision process. If you can't afford the rent then one has to move somewhere where they can afford it. As a middle class taxpayer I cannot afford to live where I want. There are other opportunities in more desirable areas but in many cases a person has to make choices about their work and effort to be able to live in these desirable areas. Is it fair for this couple to choose to earn far less than the taxpayer who is paying a portion of this couple's rent. There are loud cries for the tapayer to take responsibility for the mismanagement of these loans. There is a movement for the government I mean taxpayer to pay these loans off and for everyone to start over. When is the middle class taxpaer going to get a big break. For most of us we have had our ups and downs financially. Most of us learned by our mistakes and from the pain we experienced that was generated by these mistakes. As much as some would like the government cannot be all things to all people. The government cannot solve every problem and I don't believe the founding fathers intended for the government to be the peoples ultimate safety net. If these financial institutions that provided these crazy loans misrepresented the truth and the responsibility of the borrower then these lenders who represent these institutions should be prosecuted under the law and those individuals and institutions should be fined. The money from these fines should be used to help the home owners. If these foreclosures are a result of rule violations or unethical practices then possibly the government could step forward to provide low interest loans so these people could save their homes. This would allow the borrower to remain responsible for the loan and give the borrower a chance to maintain dignity. No one wants to see someone lose their home but contrary to popular belief by some there is no such thing as a free ride. Ultimately it is not the government that is bailing out the financial institutions or the borrower's. It is the taxpayer.