“Many of those hurting today did everything right”
No, they did not. They did the least amount possible as always and in most cases they did nothing.
They did not manage their money. They simply threw it into a 401K and let someone else handle it. They refused to participate and manage their money. My investments have grown over the past 3 years. I participate. In no way did BoA or any bank getting taxpayer money prevent me from managing my own finances.
They did not ensure their work every day was productive. They simply did the least required to go home at the end of the day. Very few people know how their efforts make the company money, if any. They sit on their collective fat asses at work thinking someone else in the company will take care of making a profit.
They did not manage their skills. Extremely few people strive to have more skills for tomorrow than they have today. Computer programmers, nurses, and doctors are some of the few career fields I see that actually strive for more skills.
They did not save. I see the federal reports. People have nothing in savings and massive credit card debt. They have limited amounts in 401k or IRA accounts. They live paycheck to paycheck. Even now the amount of savings is limited and credit card spending, while headed down, is now going up. It only went down because banks were pulling back credit and canceling credit card. People still want to spend more on credit. Idiots.
They do not get involved with politics and voting. They can tell you the names of five pop stars and the last member to get voted off the island but they cannot name their kid’s teacher, their Senators’ names, their Representative, or even a single County Commissioner name. In fact, some cannot even name the President!
They overspent. They over paid for mortgages, having gotten greedy in wanting more, more, more. They did so every bit as much as any corporation. They bought cars costing half a year’s wage. They eat out more than ever. They treated their homes as piggy banks and took out second mortgages and HELOCs for expensive vacations and big screen TVs.
They refuse to work. I know a number of people on unemployment refusing to take an $8/hour job because UI pays $10/hour, all the while failing to grasp the simple concept of getting their foot in the door to perhaps a higher paying job later.
So, no way did they “do everything right”. Not even close, sucker.