I stand by what I said yesterday, but in the event that I sounded uncaring, I want to clarify a couple of things:
1. Yes, I know that our system encourages, extols, and even enables people to spend money they don't have. Where does the money for tax relief come from? Some savings account somewhere? Maybe the system should share a little of the blame.
2. My dad noted one part of the news story I had missed - a spendy pool table in the background. We (as a nation) have really forgotten what it means to live within our means, or why it is even an important value. (With foreclosures rising exponentially, maybe this is a value worth revisiting. Ya think?) When we were raising three young kids on a tight budget, we adhered to the "envelope" system. We had three envelopes - one for food, one for gas, and one for discretionary spending. Every payday, we divided the predetermined cash into the three categories and until the next payday, that's all she wrote. While I'm glad we don't have to live that way anymore, I value the lesson we lived by every pay period - when the money's gone, it's gone. Spend it wisely, because that's all there is. Again, the system has contributed to our skewed view, blurring the difference between conservative spending habits and mortgaging the future for the pleasures of the present.
3. I do realize that in places like California, it has grown harder and harder for the average person to become a homeowner, and easier and easier to fall prey to the sub-prime solution. We are so convinced that real estate is our best possible investment hope but I'm not so sure. With the "R" word looming large, maybe the first-time home buyer is better off renting and investing all that money they'd be spending in fixing up that first home until they can afford the size downpayment needed for a fixed rate mortgage. Again, back to that idea of preparing for the future rather than borrowing from it.
Call me old-fashioned...
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