That's right I said it

I've been stewing about this "Economic Crisis" thing for months. Some of the things I say may be heartless and stinging but I think they are true--and I'm not apologizing.

I'm one of those people that hates to hear people complain about anything. My motto is --do something about it or shut up.

All I'm hearing everywhere is whine whine whine, blame blame blame. No one is stepping up and saying--I had a part in this and I'm going to do what I can to step up.

I want ONE just ONE somebody somewhere to step up and do just that.

Politicians---pointless. They are too busy pointing fingers and talking trash to get anything done. How is that I can work in an environment, like most people, who have differing opinions right and left and still get something accomplished. And they can do nothing--worthless piles.

I come from blue collar. Small town, hard working, do it yourself sort of stock. My dad built our house all on his own without any sort of carpentry know how. He read books. When they moved he hung the front door that day. They lived with milk crates as cupboards for years. They paid as they went. Now my dad is retired, his house is paid for, his cars are paid for his EVERYTHING is paid for. My parents never had credit card debt. If they ever used one, they paid it off at the end of the month. If they didn't have money for something, they didn't do it or they didn't buy it. And they saved their money--yes, savings. Guess what--now they are living well. Not crazy--own a second home in Sand Diego well, but clear conscience we have no debt and enough to live on and buy things we want, well.

I wish everyone was raised with that example. Because guess what--if everyone were like my parents---we wouldn't be in this mess.

I was listening to the radio today and they were talking about helping those with mortgages that are all about to foreclose. REALLY? Oh I'm so sorry for all those people who bought houses they couldn't afford with money they didn't have and a stated income that didn't exist. Oh poor poor them. UM . . NOT.

I do know some people got hoodwinked. Mortgages are hard to understand and there are lying cheats out there who just wanted to make a buck. But I also know that those people who got hoodwinked are people who are probably busting their butts right now to do all they can to make their payment and who, if they could, would just want to refinance at a normal rate like everyone else--not a special rate for the poor taken advantage of souls--just a flat rate on what they owe. I can deal with that.

But on the radio today they were saying how people who are upside down in their mortgages and behind on their payments may get to refinance at rates as low as 2%. The first words out of my mouth were :

BullSh** (A term I learned from my hard working, blue collar, pay as you go parents)

Let me let you in on a little secret. My husband and I bought a house with a mortgage that is more than we can afford right now. That is, more than we can afford with our basic monthly income. And in order to afford it, every year when we get our tax return, we use it to pay the shortage in our mortgage each month. We don't buy fun things with it. Because we CAN'T AFFORD FUN THINGS. And the stimulus money we got last year--it was going to go to a trip to Disneyland, but then instead we paid to fix our 1994 suburban. As for Disneyland--we never told our kids about it. In fact they don't know Disneyland exists, because we never told them about it, so they don't know what they are missing. And guess what--they are happy children--I know--shocker. Ok, I digressed, back to my point.

We, like most of you, are paying our mortgage on time in full. We figure it out. So why is it that the people who made BAD DECISIONS get a 2% interest rate to stay in their home that they purchased that was too much for them and we get nada?

Oh Yeah--I remember--because we keep the economy going. That's right. You, me, my parents, my husband's parents and my next door neighbor. We are the workforce. We are the ones who lay low on the radar, go to work everyday, collect a paycheck, live on a budget, and pay our mortgage. We are the ones that create the steady influx of dollars to the financial institutions that keep their doors open. We're the ones who save our pennies and splurge every once in a while for a big screen TV (well not us, but you guys).

How about this--how about they take all of us who are at our 6% or 7% interest rates and cut us a deal for a year or two. Just bump us down to 4% or 5%. Guess what? We would probably spend that money and stimulate the economy. I might even take my kids to Disneyland and hire someone to paint the exterior of our house, and landscape our yard. That's an idea.

But I realize that would never happen. Because we are the worker bees. We are the dependable ones. We are the ones who are keeping things going.

For that, on behalf of me and all of my cohorts, I'd like to tell the American public this:

YOU'RE WELCOME