If you haven’t watched Rick Santelli’s Chicago Tea Party rant, you should. He expresses what 90% of Americans, myself included, are feeling right now:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nFVsJ7j_ME]
I thought Maggie Thurber of Thurber’s Thoughts hit the nail on the head with this excerpt from a recent post:
Here’s an idea: I’ll go out and purchase a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren for $457,250. It’s listed as the 7th most expensive car in the world and I picked it because I liked how it looked. I’ll make some of the payments on it and then, when I can no longer afford to do so, I’ll turn to government and politicians and make the case that without my car I won’t be able to work, so I need them to create a program that makes banks renegotiate with me to lower the amount I owe. After all, it’s no longer new and it’s just not worth what I originally agreed to pay for it.
Then, I’ll insist on limits to how much my payments can be – no more than, say, 15% of my monthly gross income. If a house payment is okay at around 30% of monthly gross income, 15% seems like a fair number for a vehicle.
And, to top it all off, once I’ve got the debt reduced and the payments at a manageable level, I’ll demand a prize for actually honoring the obligations I’ve committed to.
That’s the equivalent of President Obama’s Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan applied to a car rather than a house. Doesn’t quite seem right when you remove the emotion of ‘home’ from the equation, does it?
Whether a house or a car, they’re both pieces of property and other options exist if either or both are taken from you because you don’t pay. Perhaps, even, you might find an option you can actually afford in your current circumstances rather than live beyond your means at the expense of taxpayers.
I couldn’t have siad it better than either Rick or Maggie, and apparently Rick’s rant has struck a nerve with the White House. There first reaction was to… are you ready for this? Go on the the attack and insinuate that if Mr. Santelli would just take the time to read the plan he would feel differently.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ7_ZzW1jJ4]
So, go ahead and join Rick Santelli in downloading the Executive Summary, printing and reading it. Then, tell me if you don’t feel like going on a rant yourself.