Gov't wants to bail out the big three.

[AlphaDog]

Seacrest wrote: I am particularly calling out the older generation -- those who had already paid off their first mortgages decades ago and decided (I'll concede a few were 'coerced') to double-down at the home equity craps table.

I think I resent that. This house was purchased 17 years ago on a 30 year mortgage that also happened to be an ARM. It was refinanced once, back in the mid 90s, when we could get a good fixed rate and a 15 year loan for less than we'd been paying. It's now paid off and actually has been for a while, because virtually every penny of each of my paychecks went to the mortgage payment. No, we did not take out equity when we refinanced, and there never was a second on it.

I really wish that somewhere we could find solid statistics that provide a profile of the people who are now in this mess. I've seen some reports that many of the foreclosures, especially the first of the wave starting mid 2007, were investors who purchased homes and then got stuck with them. Those people aren't even entitled to a bailout. I've also seen the sad tales of people who did "over buy", but they did that because the rapidly increasing price of houses made them fear the situation would only get worse, and, if they were ever going to buy a house, they had to take the plunge. There are also people who had good, solid credit and made reasonable buying decisions, but they had an unanticipated disaster strike - such as catastrophic illness or the loss of a job that should have been secure. Those things happen to people all the time, yet now they're getting tarred with the same brush as the irresponsible ones. And, I have no doubt there are many who simply over bought, taking the calculated risk that their income would continue to rise. Furthermore, I do think others were duped, but they're probably the same ones who answer e-mails and help that poor guy from Russia get his family's fortune out of the country. There are a lot of people out there who just ain't real smart, unlike those of us who hang out here.

I keep hearing people want to place blame in just one spot, and I don't think it's that simple.