Posted on 05/21/2009 2:33:13 PM PDT by Lorianne
If there was anybody who should have avoided the mortgage catastrophe, it was I. As an economics reporter for The New York Times, I have been the paper’s chief eyes and ears on the Federal Reserve for the past six years. I watched Alan Greenspan and his successor, Ben S. Bernanke, at close range. I wrote several early-warning articles in 2004 about the spike in go-go mortgages. Before that, I had a hand in covering the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the Russia meltdown in 1998 and the dot-com collapse in 2000. I know a lot about the curveballs that the economy can throw at us.
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
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Idiot can’t even do simple math. $2,777 a month is $2,777 a month. No more, no less. He’s trying to let himself off easy, but he was just as stupid as everyone else who felt entitled to a mortgage that was beyond their means.
“As an economics reporter for The New York Times, I have been the paper’s chief eyes and ears on the Federal Reserve for the past six years.”
Why does being an economics reporter make one feel they know so much. Does being a medical reporter make one a doctor? lol
This NYT dummy, who could have afforded a small condo or a modest house in a middle class neighborhood, chose to buy a big house in a tony neighborhood, and got absurdly in debt.
I have ZERO sympathy for this irresponsible, whiny turd. and yet, I will probably be forced to bail his loser butt out.
“...Patty discovered a small but stately brick home in a leafy, kid-filled neighborhood in Silver Spring, Md. We sent in an offer of $460,000 and one day later got our answer: the sellers accepted...”
“...The only problem was money. Having separated from my wife of 21 years, who had physical custody of our sons, I was handing over $4,000 a month in alimony and child-support payments. That left me with take-home pay of $2,777, barely enough to make ends meet in a one-bedroom rental apartment. Patty had yet to even look for a job. At any other time in history, the idea of someone like me borrowing more than $400,000 would have seemed insane...”
Stands to reason that one would end up with a personal credit crisis. No money and $460k house. Oh, but money grows on trees, right?
Wow, NYT reporters are grossly overpaid. Especially this one.
LOL, his ole lady took him to the cleaners!
“I had two utterly compelling reasons for taking the plunge:
the money was there, and I was in love...
The only problem was money...
with take-home pay of $2,777...
Patty had yet to even look for a job...
How big a mortgage do you think you’ll need?
...you can qualify for a mortgage of about $500,000.
- - - -
color me stupid
Is anyone surprised that the NT Slimes’s economic editor can’t do simple math, and is a thief (”liars mortgage”) to boot?
Mistake #2 was working for the Slimes because soon he won’t have a job.
TTIUWP.
Dumb as a box of rocks. You’d almost think he was a salesman, er, retail broker.
It’s idiots like this who give economic advice (usually bad) to ignorant people who stay in the market (1999 tech - 2008 stock) because of this advice. He’s probably advising them now that the green shoots are growing and you’d better be invested long all the way (while the insiders are selling like crazy and Goldman Sacs is supporting the market for the Treasury for them to GTFO!)
$2777 take home pay - $2500 mortgage. That leaves $277 to live on every month. Not to bad if he doesn't need to eat, buy a car, pay for gas for the car, wear clothes or pay for taxes or insurance on his new house.
It’s a public school math kind of thing I guess.
Another liberal who deluded himself into the mess he’s in. Because I live in the real world I took out a 15 year mortgage and put about 23 percent down. I did buy more house than I wanted, because that’s what the wife wanted, but it was still very manageable. Our area has the highest growth rate in the state, but even so, my assessment went down 15 thousand dollars this year. But I’m still ahead equity-wise by over 100 thousand dollars. My truck is 8.5 years old and my car is 5.5 years old. Both were paid off within two years of purchase. My credit cards are paid off in full every month. The house will be paid off early because of accelerated payments and I’ll retire debt free. Right now my assets exceed my liabilities by about 150 thousand dollars, and that doesn’t include retirement accounts. That’s my solution to avoiding personal debt and insolvency. The liberals can live in their fantasy world, but I’ll be stuck paying for the mess they leave behind. That’s what really sucks.
Here are a bunch of them. Take your “pic.” :-)
Unfortunately, it isn’t just liberals who were taken in by fantasy finances.
But Patty also spent like a drunken sailor on her kids, where was she getting the money before she moved to east coast to join Ed?
Patty was fired after less than a year, at a time (late 2006), when the economy was still very strong.
My conclusion from this? Ed is a doormat who marries losers.
RE: “I was handing over $4,000 a month in alimony and child-support payments. That left me with take-home pay of $2,777, barely enough to make ends meet in a one-bedroom rental apartment. Patty had yet to even look for a job. At any other time in history, the idea of someone like me borrowing more than $400,000 would have seemed insane.”
That should have ended the plan of buying that house. What a bleepin’ idiot. Well, after all, we know the sorts of high quality individuals the Slimes employs.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.