Saturday, September 27, 2008
Ok, Here's The Deal
As we continue to watch this financial “crisis” going on, I’ve been reading and hearing many opinions on the subject. My own opinion was that those who knew what they were doing was corrupt and greedy, meaning wrong, should have to face some jail time. I also opine that I put most of the blame on the people who got loans they could not afford. Without those people, those loans wouldn’t have happened in the first place. Some people think that the people who do not pay their bills or mortgages should face jail time.
Well, I don’t agree that those who don’t pay their bills should be thrown in jail. Our American history shows that we fought against that kind of process. In this country, you do not go to jail for not paying up. (Except for taxes.)
And I agree with that.
However, I do think that these people should have to repay their loans and that there should be no getting out of it.
Reality is, however, that you cannot squeeze blood from a turnip so we should be sticking to strict rules and policies to qualify for a loan in the first place.
It’s not about race and as soon as we shoot that race card in to oblivion, we can start concentrating on the reality. If you cannot afford a home, you do not get a home. If you cannot afford a car, you do not get a car. If you cannot afford that boat, you don’t get that boat. If you want those things, work harder, save up, maybe realize that cable t.v. is NOT a necessity, maybe your cell phone with 500,000 gadgets and add ons is NOT a necessity, maybe you don’t actually NEED a $40,000 car, go get a used one, maybe you really don’t need that triple grande mocha soy latte every damn morning.
We have been raising people with a sense of entitlement and it begins in the early years. Every toy is bought for the child. Every want, after an hysterical fit on the department store floor has ensued, is given. Everyone gets on the team. Everyone gets a trophy. No one gets a red mark to indicate the question was answered wrong. We are all ENTITLED to exactly the same as the other, is what people have been told. It’s not your fault you are poor. It’s not your fault you can’t get ahead.
(I’ve said all of the following before but I’m going to say it again because apparently, to some idiots out there, I’m a spoiled, rich, white girl who has been given everything by her mommy and daddy. You assholes could not be any further from the truth if you went to another solar system. I’m a white girl but I’m not nor have I ever been spoiled, I’m not nor have I ever been rich and I do not nor have I ever been given everything, hell, anything, really, in my adult years by my “mommy and daddy”. In fact, they’ve done everything in their power to find all the possible ways NOT to help me the two entire times I’ve asked in my life time, (one time for $400 and one time for $500), so stick that in your pie hole before you make snide little comments to my face or send me nasty little emails judging me.)
Wrong. We are not entitled to it. We are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. PURSUIT. That means that you are allowed to PURSUE happiness. That means that you work for it. And if Mr. Jones has a $500,000 home, maybe it’s because Mr. Jones worked for it. If you want that, work for it. The opportunities in this country are endless and there is NO excuse that anyone cannot make something of themselves and get the things they want.
Listen up, kids. I know what it’s like to be poor. I know what it’s like to work, work, work, work and never get ahead because DAMNIT if something doesn’t always happen to suck down what I may have managed to save up. I do absolutely understand what that is like. I’ve starved. Literally. I’ve gone without. I’ve had to count my pennies, again, literally. When I’ve said, “I’m broke”, in the past, it did not mean I had a couple thousand sitting in my bank account, it meant I was flat, ass broke. Not a fucking dime to my name. I know what it’s like to make the Kool-Aid last as long as possible by continuing to add more water to it. I know what it’s like to eat Top Ramen for a year. I know what’s it like to watch everyone around me drink a pop with their lunch and know that if I wanted to have one that day, I could not afford my bus fare for the ride home by the end of the week. I know what it’s like to be homeless. I know what it’s like not to have a damn thing. I’ve been there.
So I really, really do not want to hear anyone whine to me about how I don’t understand. “You just don’t know how hard it is.” My aching ass I don’t know how hard it is. I do NOT have a family to fall back on. I do not have anyone supporting me every time shit hits the fan. I’ve been blessed a few times in my life to find people who HAVE helped me out when I really needed it either financially or by giving me room and board so that I could save up for myself, but for the most part, I’ve done this shit all on my own.
How did I get to go to college if I was so poor? I served my country. I sacrificed. I worked my ass off. I was rewarded for that. How do I have my own place and car and computer and satellite t.v.? Because I’ve sacrificed. I’ve given up some things to get those things. I’ve realized that to have some of what I want, I will not get exactly what I want. Because I get it. Because I don’t feel like I’m entitled to everything. Because I know that sometimes you have to work hard, save up, be patient and in the meantime, deal with the cards you hold in your hand and make the best out of those cards. Do I have what I want? Yes. Is it exactly what I want? No. I’d like to have a home on the beach, too! I’d like to whip around town in a Mercedes Benz 560 SL convertible, (black exterior, white interior). I’d like to have internet access at my beck and call no matter where I am located. I’d like to have enough land that I can save multitudes of dogs and cats and other assorted animals plus be far away from annoying neighbors. I’d like to have a giant arsenal of weapons. I’d like to have some nicer clothes. I’d like to go to the spa, get my hair done professionally, have my nails done, I’d like to go eat at a nice restaurant three times a week. Hell, I’d settle for steak cooked at home three nights a week. Yah, I’d like all those things, as well.
But that’s not the reality right now. Right now I have my own place. I own it. I have my own car. In two years I’ll own it. Everything else I own, I own, outright. I owe no one a thing except the car. Because I worked my ever loving ass off for these things. Because I sacrificed, scrimped, saved, and gave up a lot. And that’s how I will get it. I do not expect the American public to GIVE me those things just because some of them have it. What kind of crap is that?
In this country, if you want something, you go out and you earn it. If you cannot afford it right now, deal with it, SUCK IT UP, stop blaming race on everything and accept that right now, you can’t afford it. If you work for it, one day you will be able to afford it. And also realize that no matter how hard you work, some people will just always be more rich than you are. And they will have bigger things. They will take more trips. They will drink more wine. They do NOT owe you one red penny of their money just because you don’t think it’s fair that you don’t have that.
Money and things do not buy happiness. Some people in this country better get their priorities straight, and fast. Happiness cannot be bought. You have the right to pursue happiness, you do not have the right to demand that others “give” it to you.
And that is why I blame this giant mess mostly on those who got loans they knew they could not afford. Seriously, if you don’t have a job or it’s minimum wage or barely above that, you can’t afford that loan. Period.
If you want a $250,000 home and the payments each month are $1100 yet you make only $2000 a month gross pay, YOU CAN NOT AFFORD THE LOAN! So for all of those whiners out there, for all those who felt they were entitled to a home purchase, to all those who use the race card, I do not feel sorry for you. I do not have any sympathy for you whatsoever. I do not want to hear another bleating heart story on the news about how tragic the whole thing is for you. Tragic my ass. It is not tragic. It’s irresponsible, it’s disgraceful and it should shame you. You did this to yourselves. No one else did it to you.
Start acting like adults and accepting your role in this. And then go punch yourself in the face for being so gottdamned stupid.
