Reply #62: Call me desperately cynical if you like, but the sad thing is that humanity [View All]

Has exceeded my cynicism time and again.

I realize that outsourcing is driving this country to ruin, and I oppose it with every fiber of my being. But blaming outsourcing, or predatory lenders or what have you obscures the fact that far too many people let their greed override their common sense. They purchased homes that they couldn't afford, used lending tools that are dicey at best, and it was they who signed on the dotted line. Outsourcing had nothing to do with those poor decisions, predatory lending firms simply offered these temptations, but it is the individual homebuyers who risked their future due to caving into greed and failing to use their common sense.

Yes, I'm smack dab in the middle of this crap with everybody else. But I also used my common sense when purchasing my house, I didn't go for the glitzy ARMs and what have you, and I certainly didn't buy a house beyond my means. Yet somehow you want to absolve the people who did these things, who let their greed and stupidity rule them, absolve them of all the blame in the matter? Why? Is it not their fault that they signed onto the dotted line for something that any sane, rational person would know is a disaster waiting to happen?

Yes, the middle class is being destroyed by many forces, outsourcing, energy prices, national debt, etc. etc. But one factor in this mess is the greed and stupidity of people who want it all, the big house, the big car, and that isn't the fault of any other institution force at work. It is the fault of the person who signed the dotted line.

Being fiscally responsible, especially in this day and age, is the purview of each and every one of us. Sadly, there are too many people who want to blame everybody else in this matter except themselves. Sorry, it doesn't work that way. When you find yourself in a hole and wanting to get out, the absolutely wrong thing to do is to keep digging. Sadly, that's what many people have done, and yes, we're all paying the price for it.

And frankly, if all you're basing your opinion of me on is a single post on an anonymous internet chatboard, well then perhaps you're simply a person whom it isn't worthwhile to get to know. Ce la vie.