Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Short and Not So Sweet

The day got away from me, and so this is a very short posting.

The number of foreclosures is quite high. This is not where we want to be as a country. Home ownership is no longer going up. The House and the Senate have been working on legislation to help keep more families in their homes. Given the dislocation in family budgets from the sharp rise in the price of gas, it is no wonder that many families are feeling the pressures of $4 a gallon gasoline. There was a mortgage crisis, there were problems in the sub-prime loans, but even without the mortgage meltdown, the price of gas has certainly caused more families to the brink. Let us hope that the bill that the Congress comes up with will over ride the President’s threatened veto. We, as a nation, do not need more people out of their homes, we need less.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I saw a commercial the other day - some place that wanted to teach you how to make money in 'foreclosed homes'. I realize there are people who do that. I have a friend who does that. She's a nice person. And it's just 'business'. But that commercial just gives me a little mental smack in the head. It just doesn't feel right. You know?

moneythoughts said...

You know Lou, even the vulture has a purpose. They clean up the scraps left my the lions and the other meat eaters. Unfortunately, there are lions and other big cats and then there is the lion's meat. The whole process of education is to reduce the number of easy marks in society. Unfortunately again, there are far too many people being eaten alive. I have no problem with two professional traders going at, and let the best trader win. My problem is with the pros taking advantage of the old, the young and those a little slow to catch on. We, as a society, should look out for those people that are the easy marks, and protect them with regulation and oversight. Those in the investment and brokerage profession that what to shoot fish in a rain barrel should not get their way. A lot of people got hurt with mortgage products they had no business being in. For them, I think the system failed them.