I just read an infuriating letter from the president of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka. In this letter he applauded Obama on his state of the union address last night and specifically called out this part:
Tonight, I am asking my Attorney General to create a special unit of federal prosecutors and leading state attorneys general to expand our investigations into the abusive lending and packaging of risky mortgages that led to the housing crisis. This new unit will hold accountable those who broke the law, speed assistance to homeowners, and help turn the page on an era of recklessness that hurt so many Americans. – Barack Obama
I am not sure about the rest of you but the part about speeding assistance to homeowners is particularly infuriating. This is classic lack of personal responsibility and accountability.
It is absurd everyone must “speed assistance” – in the form of money, mind you – to homeowners who chose, on their own freewill, to take on gigantic mortgages they knew they could not afford. Interest rates they knew would increase to unmanageable levels but for whatever reason they chose to accept those terms.
What about those people? What about the people who participated in “no doc” loans? A no doc loan means the borrower doesn’t have to provide documentation of income or employment. In the most nauseating cases, borrowers simply lied about income and employment to finance unimaginably unaffordable houses.
Ever heard of a NINJA loan? Sounds pretty sexy huh? Something that is probably pretty cool to attach your name to. It stands for NO INCOME, NO JOB, NO ASSETS.
Who in their right mind would believe for one second you could afford a $300,000 house with no job, no income and no assets?
What about these people? Are they just simply victims of the mortgage industry? Or are they people, with brains, and, ostensibly, common sense, who made bad decisions and should be held responsible?
Personal responsibility, my friends, is a dying concept in our country today. It’s always someone else’s fault. My bad decisions are not mine and when I make them I should be bailed out by all the other taxpayers.
The great thing about the United States is it allows people individual freedom to make decisions and do things to improve their overall situation in life. With this freedom comes great responsibility and part of that is taking responsibility for decisions you make. I am not suggesting everyone needs to be perfect and everyone makes mistakes but mistakes have consequences and I am so tired of everyone who makes a bad decision blaming someone else and worse, running to the government for help they feel they are now entitled to.
When Netflix CEO Reed Hastings made a decision to nearly double the price of a subscription, there was a customer revolt. The share price plummeted and customers canceled subscriptions in droves. In my opinion, this was a mistake, a very bad misstep on the part of Mr. Hastings. But to do anything other than let the consequences of his actions play out in the marketplace would be irresponsible and un-American. He has the complete freedom to run his business the way he sees fit but those decisions have consequences (one of which should be his job, in my opinion).
Richard Trumka states in his letter:
That’s why we will continue monitoring the investigation closely. And if criminals aren’t held accountable or underwater homeowners don’t get real relief, we may ask you to take action again. – Barack Obama
Clearly, Mr. Trumka feels the banks are the only ones to blame and individuals bear no responsibility for what happened and should simply be bailed out by the rest of us.
I hope for the sake of our country’s future, for the sake of my kids and future generations, we can all start taking a look in the mirror and realize what part we hold in creating the life we want and dream of. The federal government is not the answer to our problems as our current president would have you believe. The federal government IS THE PROBLEM. We need to remember how this country was built and return to the principles of our founding fathers. Free market capitalism and limited government is the way to prosperity.
