I don't entirely disagree, but I think the bulk of the blame has to go to the professional "experts" -
I tend to ascribe more to personal responsibility than getting duped by a pro.
including the guy who sold him the mortgage - that told him, over and over again, that he could afford it, that home prices would continue to increase, and who profited greatly because that homeowner did exactly what they told him to do.
Well that right there, that the guy is
selling me something, tells me that I can't fully trust him.
The whole point of having a mortgage broker is that he's not supposed to be your adversary. You're supposed to be able to trust, somewhat, that he's not trying to screw you. A broker is a middleman who tries to negotiate between competing interests. The mortgage broker who has his own agenda - in opposition to yours - is a direct betrayal of what mortgage brokers are supposed to do. And a lot of those brokers did have their own agenda - pushing homeowners into higher interest rate loans than they deserved, larger loans than they could afford, and so on.
It was different for me. I didn't consult a morgage borker to determine how much I could afford. I went to a lender and they approved me for a certain maximum amount and then we determined how much different amounts would cost me per month, and then it was up to me to determine how much I was capable/willing to spend each month and that determined how much I was going to borrow. Then I went and found a house within that amount. I didn't talk to the morgage broker until the very end when it came to determining what the exact rate on the loan amount I picked would be.
Sure, but what if he thought he was preparing himself for a job? What about all the colleges who tell you that a BA comes with a significant wage premium, regardless of your major? What about all the professors who said that it doesn't matter what you study, because the point of a liberal arts education is to make you a better citizen and not a better employee?
It became apparent to me when I was looking at different colleges, that they were trying to sell their schooling to me. Every place had a similiar pitch of how great they were and how awesome I'd be if I went there. Again, if someone's trying to sell you something, you can't just take their word for everything.
I guess you could blame the seller for selling to people, but I just don't have a lot of sympathy for the position: "I got sold on this and they tricked me into buying it" I'm sorry the ShamWow wasn't as absorbant as you were lead to believe, but that's just sales. Sure, you can't outright lie and there should be some accountability to the sellers, but there's personal resposibility of the buyer too. And I realize you said you don't totally disagree with that, but you do seem to want to blame the seller more than I do.
What about all the parents who told him that working at a McDonalds (or even being a plumber) is demeaning and unworthy of him, and are now telling him what an irresponsible douchebag he is because he won't take a job at McDonalds? Doesn't a culture that demeans trade and vocational school as being for... those people... share any of the blame?
I suppose, but again it was different for me. One of my best friends knew right away that he wasn't gonna make it through college so he went to welding school and now has a good job. Nobody disrespects him at all for that. In fact, I respect him more for that. Definately more than other friends who just partied instead of educating themselves and now have children on welfare and cry about how bad they have it. They reaped what they sowed.
I don't see how we can blame kids these days for doing exactly what we told all of them to do if they wanted a good job and security. It's our fault, not theirs, that we live in a world where it's just not enough, now, to have a good education.
I consider myself more on the victim side than the side with the fault, but I get what you're saying.
Why do you think it was a shock? Because all the adults you grew up with were telling you that if you got with the program, followed the rules, you would get handed something - the chance to work, to do something that mattered, and to get some kind of security as a result so that you could raise kids and own a home without every day being a fight for mere survival. Weren't all those adults living in the "real world"? Isn't that exactly how it worked for them; they got the grades, got the degrees, got the job and the house and the yard? The question isn't whether or not "kids today" are going to wake up and see how that isn't true, anymore. I think pretty much everybody knows that isn't true anymore. The question is how we, and our parents, let it stop being true.
And I don't know the answer to that question... Its a good one tho and the right one to be asking.
I think that the conservative parents think they're being reactive to the liberals who are trying to spread their hard-won earnings to all 'those other people' who took the easy route or didn't have enough personal responsibility. Them tightening up only fuels the flames and causes more pressure from the other side and I think its all just snowballed into this mess.
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