Reply #45: Most of these replies miss a simple point - personal responsibility [View All]

No one forced people to sign these mortgages or buy these houses.

Even if there were high pressure sales tactics involved and even if such tactics are highly reprehensible and questionable -- which they are.

No one forced the people to sign the mortgage and I bet it's all written down very clearly in not so fine print what was going to happen.

The same type of principle applies to balance transfers on credit cards. When I get a balance transfer on a credit card at a low percent that is going to go up in a year to a higher percents, I take that into account before I start going hog-wild on charging things on the credit card. I get those balance transfer check offers in the mail all the time. But no one forces me to sign up.

Now that this mess has occurred, I do think that the government needs to get involved and mitigate the problem, so please don't start the posts accusing me of being a right-winger and not caring. I do care about this stuff and do think that there needs to be some governmental assistance put in place.

But I do think it needs to be remembered and acknowledged that the people who signed up for these mortgages in the first place hold some responsibility for their actions.