This is an Angry Post
Posted by Lise on 23 Sep 2008 at 04:01 pm | Tagged as: economics
Or at least as angry as I get on this blog.
If I read one more “blame the borrowers for the subprime mortgage crisis/FM bailout” post, I may be forced to scratch someone’s eyes out with a nail file. This line of thinking is so misguided that it’s morally reprehensible.
In the next couple of weeks, I am hoping to write a multi-part review of Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi’s The Two Income Trap. This book, written in 2003, brilliantly predicts the situation the economy is in today. It discusses the effects of unregulated lending on the middle class; it presents the now-popped housing bubble as a bidding war for educational quality; it blows apart the myth of American “affluenza,” it talks about the real causes of bankruptcy; and it even juliennes fries. It should be required reading for every American, or at least every over-privileged frugality/personal finance blogger who has ever naively spouted off that the cause of our economic situation is simply people buying too much dang stuff.
In the meantime, let us take a moment to consider that most of us - yes, even me - are probably a job loss or serious illness away from bankruptcy.
I’m an atheist, but I think that Jesus guy said something about the mote in one’s eye.
Related Posts:
Join In!
- Share your thoughts on this article in the comments.
- Introduce yourself: Make New Friends, But Keep the Old
- Subscribe to the Frugal in the Fruitlands RSS feed to have new articles delivered to you immediately. (What's RSS?)
- Sign up for the Frugal in the Fruitlands email newsletter and receive a free copy of "3 Tips to Shave Over $300 Off Your Monthly Bills (Without Feeling Deprived)."
- Share this article on PFBuzz, del.icio.us, Digg, or StumbleUpon.
I thought the speech covered the credit being thrown around last night. I’m sure it did. It also mentioned the housing thing but the credit caused the housing not vice versa - which is what you’re saying, I think :)