May 2009
24
Here's a very interesting NYT article written by an "economics reporter" that they employ. I suppose that this writer assumed that he was probably smarter than the rest of us when dealing with matters financial. And, perhaps he is/was. He gives a lot of reasons for joining the binge of over-buying several years ago, but his statement: Nobody duped or hypnotized me, says it all.
This is a lesson that we would all be smart to learn now and remember forever.
But in 2004, I joined millions of otherwise-sane Americans in what we now know was a catastrophic binge on overpriced real estate and reckless mortgages. Nobody duped or hypnotized me. Like so many others — borrowers, lenders and the Wall Street dealmakers behind them — I just thought I could beat the odds. We all had our reasons. The brokers and dealmakers were scoring huge commissions. Ordinary homebuyers were stretching to get into first houses, or bigger houses, or better neighborhoods. Some were greedy, some were desperate and some were deceived.
As for me, I had two utterly compelling reasons for taking the plunge: the money was there, and I was in love. It was August 2004, just as the mortgage party was getting really good. I was 48 years old and eager to start a new chapter in my life with Patricia Barreiro, who was then my fiancée.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/magazine/17foreclosure-t.html?_
©2009