Bravo, Michael!

I, too, have criticized this. I warned my friends that all of this was coming down the road at us for a few years before it all started crumbling down around us. Most of them laughed at me and told me I didn't understand how things worked. It never made sense to me that 125% mortgages and easy credit could continue without a collapse when the money ran out. Money, like most other things, is not infinite. Someone was paying for it all; now it will be all of us paying it back.

We have a consumer economy. We cannot export higher paying jobs and expect people to be able to spend money to continue such an economy.

I, too, am upset that this bailout money is only going to lead to further pain.

Thank you for reminding everyone that we must live within our means. I can only hope that your rational words will reach people and that - if and when our economy recovers - they will CONTINUE to abide by that wisdom. If not, any recovery will only lead us back to the place we are in now.

Right on! I wish the politicians would learn these lessons. When they are using the taxpayers' "credit cards," the sky is the limit.

Right on!!! I totally agree with you, Michael. I see it over and over again with students at the elementary level. "I want it and because I want it is enough of a reason to have it!!" Things need to change. Thank you for addressing this issue.

The basic axiom is good and true. There are two groups of property buyers who had been caught by the myth of "the property price can only go up." One group wanted the second, third, fourth and more properties. The other group just wanted to own a roof over their head. The first group was driven by greed. I need not say much about them.

The second group was driven out of their need for security. I feel for this group who went for the opportunities to own the piece of dirt they're standing on. Everyone was saying their dream was moving further away from them every day. They took the path of chasing their security over living within their means. At least they can say to thier children, "We did try to chase our dream of owning our own land!" We did try. Hope they are resilient enough to chase their dreams that many blessed souls may have taken for granted.

I disagree with Edmund Chan's assessment of his second group. Most of these people were just as greedy as his first group. They knew they couldn't afford the house they wanted, so instead of buying what they could afford, they accepted the modified mortgages offered by the banks. If they weren't so greedy, they would still own their homes, albeit more modest ones, instead of fighting to remain afloat. There is a difference between wisely chasing your dreams and foolishly chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

I disagree with James. Without being in someone else's shoes, it is impossible for us to conclude that the reason why any individual is in financial difficulties during this financial crisis is due to greed.

Many people who wanted to fulfill the dream of home ownership were already paying sky-high rent in a rental market that became intolerable and unaffordable. Landlords, whose own loan payment increases may have forced them to raise their tenants' rent every year, provided reason enough for people to try to make the jump to home ownership.

Most people are not savvy enough when sitting down with a loan officer to understand the minutia involved in a variable rate loan that twists and turns and readjusts at many intervals during the lifetime of the loan. It is not uncommon for a loan to start off with a very low minimum payment that may increase by several hundred dollars during the lifetime of the loan. Loan officers are very good at assuring clients that their payments will both decrease and increase during the lifetime of the loan, depending on interest fluctuations within the market, but a borrower has no way of knowing what their exact changes in payment will wind up being at each adjustment.

Then take into consideration that circumstances in one's life can change frequently and unexpectedly--sometimes with devastating consequences to your budget.

When the cost of gas increased, along with the cost of everything else: food, utilities, health care, insurance, etc., many people were put into the position of having to decide which bills to pay each payday because while they hadn't had a raise in 5 years, their expenses kept going up dramatically.

These are people who are fighting just to make ends meet and take care of their families every day; they are not the "greedy freeloaders" living on easy credit who the government or media paint them to be.

These are the people who honestly deserve to be rescued in this budget crisis.

So, Debbie, we should all pay for people's mistakes because they don't understand the documents they're signing? If they aren't "savvy enough" to deal with the minutia, then they need to hire someone who is. Stupidity and laziness is no excuse. No one has ever paid me a penny for all the stupid things I have done in life, so why is this situation any different?

If their rents are too high, then they need to move to where they can afford to live. They need to get educated and get better paying jobs. If they want to participate in the American dream of homeownership, they need to FULLY participate. Not just share in the benefits while ignoring the responsibilities.

It is not necessary to be in their shoes to know their motivations for buying over their heads. All you have to do is ask - which is exactly what I did to many of my neighbors who had their homes foreclosed. Most of them knew exactly what the payments would be, but deceived themselves into thinking they would have better paying jobs within 5 years. That would have been a good plan IF they had actually done something to find that better job. Instead they took out home equity loans to remodel and buy new cars, boats, jet skis, plasma TVs and other toys.

No, Debbie, I don't have to burn myself on a stove to know it's hot. Some things are just common sense, which is exactly what most of these people lacked!