I guess this thread is more about subprime loans and the government bail out.
But, I have a problem with the fact that there are many hard working people out here who have been displaced from jobs due to no fault of their own and are now facing foreclosures also.
There is no bail out or help for the prudent people who did all the right things and had their savings depleted while trying to become gainfully employed again.
I know, I am one of them. I have a fantastic interest rate, fixed for 30 years at 5.125% which is not subprime - I had a fantastic job, in the same field for over 28 years.
We had our home paid for in total until the time Jerry became disabled (on a job) and the battle with the worker's comp system started the ball rolling down hill for us. It lasted for years. In the meantime, we were down one complete income for our household, relying on the disability policy that we had prudently purchased in the event there was a major illness or injury. Those run out after a few years.
Fortunately due to my higher income we were able to bounce back fairly well and life went on (in a slightly different fashion), but still doing ok nevertheless.
Then came the day I was laid off with a 24 hour notice due to the current real estate "Market". Unfortunately that doesn't give one alot of time to restructure their life and make a new plan .... in the meantime (a year later) the housing market worsens, the job market worsens, and there is no bail out for the hard working people who did make good choices.
I'm not whining or looking for sympathy, but I have been told several times this last week on job interviews that I am overqualified and would not be happy with the salary the company pays or I am underqualified and don't have the degrees needed for the job being offered, plenty of experience, just no degree (while those jobs still only pay 1/2 or so of what I was making) before the housing market fell on it's face -
Needless to say, I am frustrated. We have worked very hard the 29 years we have been together, saved, planned and did the best we could with the means we had, and all for NOT

??????.
I feel used by the decision makers of our Country who obviously are no better at economics than the so called "idiot" who signed a sub prime loan paper with the legitimate excuse of being uneducated in the loan product that his lender and real estate advisor failed to properly explain to him, because you can bet they did not care if he understood it or not, they made their money ...... well, you get it
What excuse do the federal reserve, the politicians and the lenders/bankers and policy makers who allowed those sub prime loans to be made in the first place have for their bad decisions? They should be held criminally liable for offering the product to the consumer in the first place and causing this wonderful housing fiasco that we will ALL suffer from in one fashion or another. if not directly, probably a family member will be affected and what chance do our children even have for ever owning a home or getting ahead ???
Mimimum wage in CA is around $7.50 or so per hour - who out there can live on that??? I don't care if you have three jobs, you cannot meet your needs and possibly have a penny to spare for savings. Something is very wrong.
As the saying goes the rich get richer on the backs of the working man.
There are only about 20% of the American people who fall in the so called Upper Class .... then there is the middle class while unfortunately most fall in the poverty level.
Thank you for listening everyone, I needed to rant
I won't even go into the unemployment statistics, they are so innacurate it isn't even funny ......................