ybc, I read the article and what comes to my mind is that those under-paid individuals need to get better jobs. I know it is easier said than done, but if a person just accepts their circumstances, then they aren’t going to improve. Back in the late 70’s, early 80’s I was working in HVAC, running service calls for a small company. I went to night school and changed my career to computers. Ended up working repairing PCs, then programming. It took a lot of hard work to make the switch. Actually took a cut in pay to get into the computer field. But now my salary is at least double, maybe triple of what I would have been making if I had stayed doing what I was doing. Nobody handed me anything. I had to work my ass off for it.
I just read an article on MSNBC about credit card use is up and refi’s are down. I’m sure that people are now using the CC’s to pay for gas to get to work and really juggling things. The local news has been reporting that pawn shops are doing more business. They interviewed someone in the shop that stated they were pawning stuff to buy gas. The state of affairs does make me nervous.
Finally, I agree with the poster that talked about the ‘want it now’ syndrome. In the past you did save for things. Now, it is extremely rare to see people saving for an item, when they can give themselves a loan right on the spot. It is so crazy. The question isn’t “how much does it cost?’, it is “how much is the payment?”.
Thanks for the replies. So I’m not the only one that thinks something crazy is going on. I am lucky enough (hopefully) to be able to watch and wonder as this housing market deflates. My wife and I own our home outright. No mortgage, no HEL (L). We are saving and if the housing market does crash we’d like to buy some realestate at a sane price.
We haven’t been without fault. We were stupid in our very young years and did the credit card thing. But we got a handle on that and these days we don’t have credit cards and pay cash for everything we want. If we don’t have the cash, we can’t afford it and so we SAVE for it. We have friends that act like we are a bit odd. Whatever. It is sure a nice feeling not having a mortgage. Actually, it is nice not having any payments except for utilities. It was hard getting to this point, but has been worth it. I’ve had friends ask about the tax write off of our home being gone. I tell them I’d much rather give the government three thousand dollars than give a bank ten thousand dollars in interest. Heck, if you want a ten thousand dollar write off, donate that money to a charity. You don’t hear banks suggest that. I don’t wish bad on anyone. It’s just that to me something bad has been happening regarding housing and borrowing. It just got my attention and I just can’t help wondering how this will play out.
