There used to be a system in place for attaining goals in life. I learned this system when I was growing up, and it was simple: you started out young and broke, then you got a job, and slowly started building your lifestyle up to the level that you desired. I followed this process when I started out.
I lived in an apartment, had many shitty paying jobs, then once I was done doing the majority of my partying and decided it was time to be a responsible adult, I got a better job and bought my first house in Idaho. Sure, I lost it in my divorce, but then I just knuckled down and within three years got married and purchased a starter home. The home was small, and we did all the upgrades ourselves including spending nine grueling days tiling our kitchen counter tops. All the hard work paid off, because we were able to afford a turnkey house a few years later.
Right now our country is in a sad trend. People are losing their homes, jobs are hard to come by, and the Fed is printing money like crazy due to rising inflation. A lot of this budding crisis is due to mismanagement by the corporations that control this country and a government that feeds from that corporate trough. However, they aren't completely to blame. Most of the houses coming into foreclosure are owned by people who, 15 years ago, would have never had a chance in hell at getting the kind of loans they have. Young people in their early 20s who didn't want to pay their dues in a starter home went out and bought these upscale 3,000+ square feet houses on these criminal 5-1 arm loans. Now they are faced with a shitload of debt, and have to turn their opulent houses over to the bank, or sell them at a loss just to get out from under the loan.
Perhaps this crisis needs to serve as a turning point for the "keeping up with the Jonses" attitude that has defined our culture since the 1980s. If you want a certain lifestyle, that's okay; but when you expect a certain lifestyle without being willing to do what it takes to achieve it, then you are lazy and spoiled.
I often joke and grump about living in the 'burbs, but I've earned it. I was the kid who came from nothing, and by all sociological calculations should have wound up on the losing end of the deal, but I didn't. I put myself through school, worked a job from the time I was 16 years old, and never expected anything from anyone. It has served me well in life, and I think about now, many people in our country could benefit from that same attitude.
I'm not completely myopic and I realize there are exceptions to the foreclosure situation. A lot of folks were sold a bill of goods by greedy mortgage brokers and unscrupulous real estate agents, when all they wanted to do was own a piece of the American dream. This message is not for them. My words are aimed at those folks who expect the big home without doing time in the starter house. Greed is good when it inspires you to work hard to achieve your goals, not when it makes you live in hock just to prove to the bitch in your social club that your designer handbag is just as good as hers.
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