I'm getting sick of these pundits blaming me (taxpayer) for the economic mess

[stray cat]

I didn't take loans I couldn't afford, I still rent because I didn't have the 20% down for a secure home loan. I haven't made millions in the stock market. I may have to pay to bail these guys out but I won't take blame that they deserve.

(rant after listening to Erin Burnett saying the American People have to take responsibility for their involvment in creating this mess.

[patrice]

1. And even if some DID take loans they couldn't afford, how is that different from

what Fannie and Freddie et al did? How is that different from what out deficit is as a nation?

[stray cat]

3. If I lend money I take the risk. The blame belongs largely to lenders

Also the 700 billion needs borrowed as well - how is that any more responsible that the deficit?

[nc4bo]

5. Hack on CNBC said main st and wall st. should take both take equal responsibility..

All I could think of was gee, that's nice of you to want to share the burden.

Of course it's true *but* it's also like comparing the weight of a feather to that of an elephant. They both weigh something but which one weighs more?

My thinking may be "off" though heh.

[stray cat]

7. Its like who to blame for the Iraq war - me as an American or Bush as president

[Expedition924]

2. Gotta' agree here.

We played by the rules, didn't outspend our income and we're the ones going to have to bail 'em out? Not unless I see some jail time come out of this mess for these people.

[mohc]

4. The share of the blame that individual consumers have...

extends only to their own personal situation if they are in foreclosure. But this is not a situation where one person took out a bunch of bad loans, or one person took out a single large loan that is causing the problem. This is a systemic problem, and individual consumers can not causes a systemic problem. And these individuals certainly were not colluding to cause this problem either. The blame for the systemic problem lies mainly with the financial institutions making these loans and even more so with the financial institutions that packaged and resold these loans in various "creative" securities. To simplify it so the common guy can understand, they basically created a game where they would bet that their loans would not go bad, and as the housing market was bubbling up they just kept letting things ride. Now that the market is in a down turn, all those bets have to be paid off and there simply is not enough money to do so. The House Republican plan is basically the equivalent of the market doubling down on all those bets.

One caveat. When a lone gunman is loose and kills someone, we tend to put almost all the blame on the gunman, although we do ask of our police to be vigilant in such occurrences. When gangs of people are out on the streets killing people, we still blame the gangs, but the police shoulder much more blame as they have a responsibility to keep the streets safe from such a pervasive problem. The same thing goes for the financial situation. If this was caused by a single financial institution, we would blame just that one company and not be too harsh on the government. But this was gangs of financial institutions causing the problem. The government should have been preventing this, and in this case was actually encouraging it. So, since the government bares some responsibility for this problem, I do in fact blame a lot of individuals for this problem. I call those individuals Republican voters.

[stray cat]

6. You are right that there is a cultural mindset of living on credit that has spread

Nice write up!

[DoctorMyEyes]

10. Good Post!

Makes sense - especially your last two sentences that sum it all up.

[shaniqua6392]

8. They should give $350 Billion to bail out Wall Street

and split the other $350 Billion to us in the form of a rebate. Then we can all pay off our bad debts and move forward.

[DoctorMyEyes]

9. She was saying that yesterday too

Said that Americans had behaved "greedily". I can't fucking stand her.

It's bad enough that we're having our pockets picked - but we have to be insulted too? I know a lot of people who don't even use credit. I'm not one of them - but, I admire their discipline. Now they're stuck with this bill???

And even more people like you - who prudently resisted the housing bubble and are now getting slammed for it anyway. WTF!?!?

But beyond those fiscally responsible types - the majority of Americans who are part of this credit meltdown... After 911 what did the president ask of us? TO FUCKING SHOP! Where has our leadership been? Greenspan publicly touted the benefits of adjustable mortgages. The bankers are the ones who made up all these crazy terms. I don't know anyone who's ever gone into a bank and designed their own goddamn mortgage terms! You get to pick from what they're offering, often just taking their advice (since they're the experts!) on which product is the best fit for you.

What the hell is so wrong or "greedy" about wanting a home for your family? It's a large part of the "American Dream"! If the "experts" are convincing you that the dream nearest and dearest to your heart is within your grasp and means when it's actually not who is the goddamn "bad guy"?

[gopbuster]

11. I heard that too- fortunately one of the pundits on Joe immediatly

brought a little sanity in saying it is wall street, congress and the peoples fault.

I still don't buy that either.

If they truly wanted every American to have a home they would have come up with a loan structure
that lower income folks could afford a home and not hyped and pushed the predatory loan structures.

[JerseygirlCT]

12. Yup

I didn't gamble other people's money.

I put 20% on a 20 year fixed mortgage. After saving carefully for 10 years. At a community bank, no less.

I'm invested in stocks to the extent that my weeny little 401k is. But I haven't been able to add to that in many years, either.

You know how Clinton used to talk about people playing by the rules? Well it looks like all the rules-players are going to pay for all the big players who played *them* like chumps.

[electron_blue]

13. Yeah, me, too. Part of Bush's speech was aimed at *us*!

What in particular have I done to contribute to this?