Brother’s Keeper: How Far?
Does being your brother’s keeper mean you have to pay his mortgage?
In the new era of billion dollar bailouts, Americans across the country are re-examining long-held views about personal responsibility with a question that’s hitting close to home: Is it fair to make people who faithfully paid their mortgages bail out those who didn’t?
“I don’t appreciate paying for someone else’s mortgage,” said a 38 year-old Massachusetts mother. “I almost feel it’s bailing out someone who overspent on their credit card.”
“Maybe I’m too old school,” said a 52 year-old mortgage holder who’s never missed a payment. “But you sign on the bottom line, and you’re responsible for it.”
Another solvent homeowner said, “I rescued myself by buying a house I could afford and paying it off. What kind of reward do I get?”
Of all the bailouts—banks, auto makers, and people who can’t afford their homes—analysts say the housing handout has struck a particular nerve. “The average family doesn’t have a huge stock portfolio,” one bailout expert explained. “But you have 100 million families that own homes.”
Not all families in danger of foreclosure irresponsibly bit off more real estate than they could chew; some have been victims of job cutbacks in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Like it or not, some analysts say, we are linked by our lousy economy as a band of economic brothers’ keepers. “ Sometimes you have to shower money upon those who have been foolish or self-indulgent,” wrote a columnist. “The greedy idiots may be greedy idiots, but they are our countrymen. And at some level, we’re all in this together. If their lives don’t stabilize, then our lives don’t stabilize.”
Tell us what you think: Should responsible people bail out the irresponsible? By doing so, are we sending a message that irresponsibility has no consequences? How far should you go in being your brother’s keeper?
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Keeper or Friend?
Bailing people out fuels irresponsibility. If they don’t make the connection between cause and effect, they will not learn from their mistakes, and will need bailing out again and again.
We can offer tools, teaching, and encouragement. Respect and the dignity of choice are vital to personal growth. We are all responsible for the consequences of our choices.
Christine G. | 8 months ago
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Their own two feet
In this country we’ve spent decades deliberately eliminating the apparent consequences of folly. What we’ve created in its place, and what is finally becoming apparent, is that this only delays those consequences, and makes them worse. Now we’re being hit by them all at once rather than having it spread out over time. So No — as foreclosures go through, other people will buy those houses, and the market will find its own natural level. Bailing out the people who can’t handle their mortgages just extends the same problem further — it makes the consequences of the bubble WORSE, not better.
Stephen R | 7 months, 4 weeks ago
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I want to help folks who are truly in need of help because of circumstances beyond their control, but the foreclosures I know of personally appear to be because of folks refinancing over and over to take out equity for ‘stuff’ instead of building equity and paying off debt. They must live with the consequences of their actions. They are certainly not going without a roof over their head or food in their stomach. They are just going to have to rent and start over. Yes, it hurts the value of my property when their property goes under, but I’d rather that than having to pay over and over for everyone’s mistakes.
Ann C. | 7 months, 4 weeks ago
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Stephen said it very well, we are only prolonging the inevitable by bailing anyone out and it will be at a higher cost.
It’s very hard for me to have sympathy when my family has paid off our mortgage and become debt-free in less than 15 yrs on less than $40,000 a year. We had to choose where our money went just like everyone else does. So those who made bad choices should get help to keep what they can’t afford? I don’t think even the few who’ve lost because of circumstances beyond their control should be bailed out. Yes, the community should support and help them but life happens to all of us and sometimes not the way we want it to. My family has dealt with cancer, medical bills, aging parents, raising a family, saving for kid’s college, accidents, ect. We couldn’t control all the bad things either but our community and families stuck together to help each other. Of course we would have bigger and nicer home, car, ect. if things had gone smoothly, but I don’t expect my neighbors to pay for things beyond my control just so I can own a home. No one should.
Jen | 7 months, 4 weeks ago
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Truths that won't go away
Tough love is ‘tough’. When life or death isn’t involved, the compassionate answer is not to bail people out but to allow them to suffer the consequences of getting in over their head and then help them back on their feet, not to allow them to benefit from irresponsibility.
A timeless truth: you get more of what you reward. The sure way to cause more irresponsibility is to reward the current irresponsibility.
Wayne Abbott | 7 months, 3 weeks ago
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Get real people
It seems as if everyone on this blog is a libertarian Ayn Rand disciple. No one has addressed the fact that we need to bail out these “home owners” to stem the further tide of mass foreclosures that we’ve already seen throughout the country.
Everyone seems to focus on the fact that individuals are being bailed out and no one is talking about the fact that all of these bad loans are tied up, still, in mortgage backed securities that are worthless and that are bringing down our financial system. Yes the evil Wall Street banks hold a lot of these securities, but guess what, that means each one of you do as well. At least if any of you have 401ks or mutual funds.
Want to see you 401ks return to “normal” then bail out the poor saps who were suckered into getting the bad loans. Sure it sucks to see someone who couldn’t afford a home get bailed out, but bailing them out is going to save your butt. Don’t believe me? Take a macro economics class, look up the phrase “circular flow of money,” or just try thinking about the welfare of your community and stop being so selfish.
Joe Queue | 7 months, 3 weeks ago
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Agree (Get Real People)
Truth is we as people are selfish. We think because we did it other can too. Truth is we all have the choice of what we want. Some make good choices some don’t. But what about the people who do there job “right” and still get fired, the ones who get laid off, the ones who get replaced by more qualified people, and the ones who have been injured and can’t work, and the ones who’s company goes under and close the doors, ect.
All I hear is how people taking on too much. What about these people I just mentioned. The only way to get money flowing again so that banks will loan money to people is to bailout the homeowners. People, think about this for a moment, what if the shoe was on your feet, you and/or you and your better half lost your job due to cutbacks. Now throw in you have children, no where to go, no one to call on for help, and the fact you’ve paid on the house for 15-20 years. Think of all that money you just threw out the door from being selfish.
Surely as Americans we are not that selfish not to help out our fellow Americans. To fix this we have to stand together as a nation to get back on top or divided we fall like we are doing right now.
Adam Carpenter | 7 months, 3 weeks ago
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Reality and Truth and Consequences
Apparently poor lending practices (some perhaps bordering on fraud??) by some Realtors, mortgage brokers and banks led to some of the sub prime mortgage problems…but borrowers were involved in the process, too, and any borrower who knew he/she was getting a mortgage that he/she could not afford acted irresponsibly and foolishly. The truth is all actions have consequences, and in this case, the irresponsible and foolish borrowers and lenders are now faced with the consequences of their actions.
Should lenders try extending reasonable “loan workout” programs to strapped borrowers? Yes, on a loan-by-loan basis, if the circumstances warrant it. Will some homeowners lose their homes to foreclosure? The sad fact is that yes, some will. But reality and truth and consequences should—must—be allowed to play out to their natural resolve in the housing market now, or we only delay the inevitable, place an incomprehensible—-Billions?? Trillions?? Quadrillions?? Who really knows??—-financial burden on our nation through bailout after bailout and create an even worse situation somewhere down the road. Better to take our medicine now, and hope that it is so distasteful and our recovery so painful that we vow never again to catch anything like the “sub prime mortgage flu”.
Janet Parr | 7 months, 3 weeks ago
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Reality and Truth and Consequences
Apparently poor lending practices (some perhaps bordering on fraud??) by some realtors, mortgage brokers and banks led to some of the subprime mortgage problems…but borrowers were involved in the process, too, and any borrower who knew he/she was getting a mortgage that he/she could not afford acted irresponsibly and foolishly. The truth is all actions have consequences, and in this case, the irresponsible and foolish borrowers and lenders are now faced with the consequences of their actions. Should lenders try extending reasonable “loan workout” programs to strapped borrowers? Yes, on a loan-by-loan basis, if the circumstances warrant it. Will some homeowners lose their homes to foreclosure? The sad fact is that yes, some will. But reality and truth and consequences should—must—be allowed to play out to their natural resolve in the housing market now, or we only delay the inevitable, place an incomprehensible—-Billions?? Trillions?? Quadrillions?? Who really knows??—-financial burden on our nation through bailout after bailout and create an even worse situation somewhere down the road. Better to take our medicine now, and hope that it is so distasteful and our recovery so painful that we vow never again to catch anything like the “subprime mortgage flu”.
Janet Parr | 7 months, 3 weeks ago
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Our brothers keeper and the bailout r/t mortgages
Where is this righteous indignation when we hear about Wall Street and the banks getting bailout money? The very people who CAUSED our economic downfall because they got greedy and made poor judgment with investments — they were the first to get taxpayer money and although anger was expressed about that, the bulk of the whining and finger pointing is directed towards homeowners who through no fault of their own, ran into problems paying their mortgages. Does anyone really believe that thousands of people DELIBERATELY went and bought a home that they couldn’t afford? If you do, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. The biggest amount of bailout money has been handed to Wall Street, investors and banks – they in turn gave themselves bonuses, fancy vacations and refused to open up credit lines for small business and taxpayers.
Stop the whining, grow up and learn to look past your nose – then maybe you will see where the government is throwing away “your” money – banks come first in our government’s opinion – not the homeowners.
Elna Hughes | 7 months, 3 weeks ago
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