Only Ourselves To Blame

[Terri]

By Linda Chavez
October 3, 2008

No one wants to talk about who is most to blame for the financial crisis that now threatens the U.S. economy, though there is plenty of blame to go around. It is far easier to blame other people -- greedy Wall Street executives, predatory lenders, President Bush, federal regulators, members of Congress --than it is to look at ourselves.

For too long, Americans have been living on borrowed money they could never pay back. We've bought houses we couldn't afford and taken out loans on home equity that didn't materialize, assuming housing values would continually move upward. We've paid for every new gadget Madison Avenue hawked with credit cards whose principal we never paid down. We sent our children to college on loans, saddling them with debts that crush their futures. And all the while, we've kidded ourselves into believing the bill wouldn't come due. Now it has -- and all of us, responsible and irresponsible alike, will foot the cost.

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[papajaxxx]

Ultimately, all of us have got to rid ourselves of the addiction to spending money we don't have. Instead of pointing fingers, we'd better start looking in the mirror if we want to understand who's really to blame.

Sorry Linda! This might include you, but it does not include me. I paid my home off, and I have no credit card debt, and no outstanding loans of any kind. I pay as I go...always have and always will. My family lives frugal and below what we earn.

Plus I have saved enough money for retirement and my grandkids education. I have started my own business with my own money.

No I'm not to blame!

I will agree that those whom fall into the category you mention in your article are to blame.

But, guess what? I'm going down with them if we go down, and that makes me "mad as h*ll".

[Terri]

Linda is talking about the majority of Americans and she's right.

Of course there are exceptions and I would bet that most of us who do live within our means are at least middle aged and conservative.

I do now.

I didn't always.

One difference though, I always, always, paid the bills on time. Sometimes we ate a lot of Mac & Cheese but the bills were paid on time. I have no doubt I could get a loan today, including a mortgage if I wanted one.

One thing I would like to see stopped is credit cards for kids and students. They get people in trouble before they even get started.

[MISSL]

Amen Terri.....about the credit cards for kids and students.

Several years ago I worked part time at a College Bookstore at the beginning of the fall semester...and there were always people from the CC companies setting up accounts for these kids....that is just foolishness

[tporter21]

Linda is so right! It was refreshing to hear Gov. Palin say that last night! No other politician has ventured to be so bold to say it. One reason I like her. I also don't have anything but 3 years left on my mortgage, so that means someone else has more than the average.

This bailout is so bad for all of us! The value of the dollar has again been diminished, probably more than the loss on Wall Street would have done. And from where will this money come? People still don't get it that as Uncle Sam gets further in debt, it will soon be a National Security issue. The average person doesn't get it that Uncle Sam doesn't have it either and that we are going further, dangereously, in debt!

[migtex1234]

Democrats Have Been Enabling This For Sometime. republicans not fighting enough to prevent & expose. Congress Is Totally To Blame.
Ex: Force Fannie & Freddie To Loan To Unqualified Buyers, Etc.
Greed Of Special Interest groups For Tax Dollars, Seniors Want More, Savings Punished, Double Taxation, CAPITOL gains tax., elimination of light bulbs & Co., force to use
dangerous bulbs (idiotic) phony global warming rules for more control over citizens, carbon credits- rules that only communist could love. etc.

Please Feel Free To Comment On This. I Have Been Analyzing This For Sometime. Very Depressed.

My Opinion/ The Fix Is In On Election, Too Many Strange / Unique "pre-planned" Happening!
1. Mccain Is Not Running. He Is Too Placid, Not Using Any Of The Hundreds Of Questionable Facts About Mr. Strange Man==========
Obama. The Democrats Set Up The Financial Situation, So The Citizens Wd Think It Was The Republicans. ? 97 Demo. Voted Against The Bail Out? Set Up! /yes, Pre Planned/yes.

2. Obama Has Unlimited Money From Soros, Mid Eastern Countries, China & Iran, Venz., Etc
This (behind Closed Doors) Planning Has Been Going On Since Bush Won. The Demo & Associates
Have Been Making Every Effort- Past 8 Years - To Regain Power - By Any Means! They Picked
Their Front Man & Have Been Grooming Him For A Long Time. They Enlisted Our Anti-american
Media With This Planning. (gov't Take Over/nationalize & Control Of Major Co., Banks, Oil,
Etc. Free Health Care/which Will Further Destroy Economy, Etc.

3. Be Very Prepared To Be Stripped Of All Choices, And Huge "income Redistribution" Etc.
Be Prepared For Gov't To Take Over Your Life In Every Area. Hide Your Savings, (as Pelosi
Stated- We Will Take All Savings & Redistribute It According To Needs) The Congress &
Democrats Have Sold American For Their Own Power Grab.
Socialism Plus Will Be In Place =
Military Will Be Dissolved, Forced Volunteer Participation ( Like Hitler's "youth" Program)
Will Happen. Just Read Marx's Book On Steps To Conditions Society. Etc.

4. I Sincerely Hope I Am Very Wrong, But Just Too Many Signs & Happenings All Point To
My Conclusions. Please Tell Me I Am Wrong.

[Ralph Cringely]

Ms. Chavez point is partially valid, but she simplifies too much. The repeal of Glass-Stegal deserves mention, as does the construction of an unstable mortgage system. By this I mean the creation of a system where loan writers were isolated from the failure of the loans they wrote. In the old days, personal irresponsibility could not bring down the system. Grown ups kept conservative rules in place for loan writing and for reselling of loans.

There have always been people lacking fiscal prudence, but there used to be procedures keeping their intemperance from hurting us all. Oops, I guess we needed those silly rules.

Personal decisions are just part of the picture. It's not fair to say we have ONLY ourselves to blame.

[elmerck1]

I have been wondering how long people could live off of credit. Maybe this will be a wakeup call for most of them. I know some wont stop. They just run up a big debt and then declair bankrutcy

[OldBaldy]

The Congress just passed an offensive bailout bill which was only slightly less offensive than the original version that was offered on a take-it-or-leave it basis. The taxpayers have been had – again – and they are angry. Good. They should be. If only this anger could be channeled into a useful direction that leads to a remedy.

I reviewed the transcript of the Palin-Biden debate and about a quarter of the way through I found the following gems from Palin’s response and snipped them out.

Darn right it was the predator lenders...There was deception there, and there was greed and there is corruption on Wall Street. And we need to stop that....we have an opportunity to learn a heck of a lot of good lessons through this and say never again will we be taken advantage of.

If we are not going to be taken advantage of again Sarah will have to learn to use the “F-word” – Fed, that is. The Federal Reserve is at the root of our financial difficulties. Ron Paul made it part of his platform to abolish the Fed but used such a clumsy approach that he was subject to ridicule and setup anyone else that broached the topic to be regarded as some kind of kook. The Fed is not going to be abolished by any president. It is a creation of the Congress and operates with the blessing of the Congress. Besides, there is nothing federal about it, since it is a consortium of private banks, designed by bankers for the benefit of bankers, and it has served the bankers well for nearly 100 years, while frequently doing a great disservice to the general public. But covering this in detail should be a subject for an extensive rant.

The point I am trying to make is that if we are going to have a meaningful change that benefits the general public at least as much as the bankers then a paradigm shift is required: consider replacing Keynes with von Mises, Hayek, Rothbard. In other words, consider applying the Austrian School to our economic system. Read more here.
http://mises.org/etexts/austrian.asp
A pool of Austrian School economists resides at George Mason University which is close by to Washington, D.C. (~15 miles), so interested congresscritters could attend some classes there and get up to speed. If the angry public could stay angry and keep carping on this the situation could begin to turn. A workable alternative to the Fed should enable its gradual replacement. The D.C. establishment will fight this tooth and nail but the increasing availability of the internet will enable a end run around the MSM.