The Rolling Jubilee

[Hasbinlulz]

$7 million so far, occupying your distressed debt.

http://www.alternet.org/occupys-roll...CItOc.facebook

[Littlegyno 9.0]

For real, this is a crazy awesome program.

[dredge]

I already claimed bankruptcy and lost my house :-(

[Ephirith]

Hate to say it but all the people who went bankrupt aren't 'victims', they weren't preyed upon by some malevolent financial system.

They made poor financial decisions, using the equity on their home to buy ipods, daily $5 starbucks, and massive plasma televisions. The people who weathered the crash were people who invested wisely, lived within their means, and saved money.

I'll give you an example using the case of my sister:

Before the crash, my sister sold her house to buy a more expensive one in a nicer area. My dad, well aware of the housing bubble, told her to sell her house for a large profit and live in an apartment or rental for a while. My sister bought the house, got a mortgage, bought a boat, dumped money into improving the house, went to Hawaii, and saved almost no money. Then the market crashed and they lost everything.

The purchase of the house was an emotional decision driven my affluenza, and a failure to recognize what a serious financial issue it is to take a high interest-rate loan to finance a house. For decades prior it was almost always a sound financial decision given the appreciation of home value, and Americans are fucking obsessed with owning a home, so many didn't give it a second thought.

Instead of taking responsibility for their decisions, like adults, many blamed the financial system. I hardly believe they deserve a bailout.

[pasi]

Instead of taking responsibility for their decisions, like adults, many blamed the financial system. I hardly believe they deserve a bailout.

Curious, do you believe the financial system deserved a bail out?

[Ephirith]

Originally Posted by pasi [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Curious, do you believe the financial system deserved a bail out?

Did they deserve it? Absolutely not.

Was it necessary to protect economic growth? Maybe.

[dredge]

I take most of the responsibility, I made some bad decisions but tried my best.
My family talked me into buying as big of a house as I could because they believed it was a sure way of making money.

I went out and bought a 155k brick ranch with 5k down. The loan guy told me to lie and say I make 60k a year even though I made like 38k.

I racked up some credit card debt like a dummy going out to eat too much, drinking in bars, dating etc...

Got a second mortgage to pay off the cards, my family biz was going under and we sold it. Found myself unemployed, went overseas for work, was supposed to have a nice job waiting for me when I returned, it didn't happen.

Got ill/ hospitalized, racked up 38k in hospital bills, started putting mortgage payments on credit card, etc....

Lost it all.

Now I'm back in college at 40 years old starting over.

[dredge]

btw i owed 138k on the house, after foreclosing the bank sold it for 68k, and I was one of those illegal foreclosures you hear about

[Ephirith]

Sucks for you dredge, any other time in the last 50 years and you probably would have been fine making those decisions. 2007 was the point where economics snapped back to reality, and we'll probably never see that kind of housing appreciation again as we continue to move toward neo-feudalism.

[Hitchens]

Not everyone who lost their homes did as a result of using their equity to purchase iPods and plasma televisions. Some lost their homes due to no fault of their own through predatory lending and a tanking economy.

It isn't a black and white issue. Yes, some people lost their homes because of completely idiotic financial decisions, bot that doesn't apply to everyone.