To the man in the beautiful Mazda Miata convertible with the bumper sticker that read, "Honk if I'm paying your Mortgage" with a mocking Obama symbol for the O":
You suck. What a lovely way to rub your relative wealth in others' (who are less fortunate) faces. I hate asshat bumper stickers. They so cowardly ridicule or scorn others with the comfort of relative anonymity. I equally hate the stupid little pieces of paper that mock anyone for their beliefs or status whether I agree with them or not. No buttface, you are not paying my mortgage; partly because of our hard nosed dedication to fiscal responsibility, hard work and minimizing, but also partly because I lucked out and didn't have a major health problem crop up and lose my job, or have no one to turn to for help during desperate times, or get sucked into a really bad housing situation unknowingly. We actually DID get sucked into a mortgage that is not the best situation in the world due to a very unscrupulous mortgage broker who changed our loan at the last minute without our knowledge. We are making it work, but worry about what happens if the market doesn't improve before that balloon loan is due, or if something happens to one of our jobs while we are paying the higher interest rate than we were quoted.* Yes we were stupid first time home buyers and didn't have a lawyer, or we would have nailed his ass. But we did as much homework as we possibly could to prepare for this. Guess what? Sometimes you still get stuck with the shit end of the stick. It's nice that hasn't happened to you. Yippee hooray, here's your cookie. The problem is so widespread you can't tell me everyone in the U.S. who has had mortgage problems is an ass, and there is no blame to go anywhere else.
And guess what else? I don't pretend to know what exactly should have been done to help the mortgage crisis or if what was done was the best route. However, the idea of stemming the tide of foreclosures etc is to hopefully shore up the whole economy. As much as those of you judgmental jerks** who have everything you could possibly need think you are immune to what the rest of the country suffers, eventually you are not. The bubble of ignorant prosperity shrinks more and more and eventually, most of you would be feeling the burn too.
Tirade over.
*Yes we WANTED a 30 yr fixed rate. We are somewhat on a 30 yr fixed rate, with a few caveats. Bait and switch baby.
**I know the minority. OK.. I believe the minority. Thank God. But it still pisses me off.