12.04.2007
12:46 p.m.
Update, Politics and Finance
Yeah, so....so much for posting again within a month!
I ended up doing pretty well in my Winter 2007 semester! I earned the following grades:
Organic Chemistry II - 5 credit hours - 3.5
Trigonometry - 3 credit hours - 4.0
Modern Culture & the Arts - 4 credit hours - 4.0
College Physics II - 4 credit hours - 4.0
I kicked ass, yo! :-)
I took one class during the summer (Introduction to Cultural Anthropology - 3 credit hours - 4.0) and spent the rest of the time cleaning up my house and doing slave labor for my husband. :-) We cleared away a bunch of bushes and trees around the perimeter of our yard, built a 240 feet long 6' privacy fence around the yard, and then built a 16' x 30' deck on the back of the house. It was hard work, but it was worth it!
Now I'm taking my final semester of classes before I FINALLY get my Associates degree in Science this December. I'm taking Organismal Biology, Holistic Health and Introduction to Logic. THANK GOD the semester is almost over. I'm ready for a break again. :-)
So, sorry for being lame, but I'm going to copy & paste an entry from my Myspace blog that I posted earlier. It's totally relevant and I want to get it in here. Feel free to share your opinions in the comments section!
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President Bush was on TV this morning to give a press conference on the findings of the NIE (National Intelligence Estimate). The NIE found that Tehran had stopped their nuclear weapons program in 2003. President Bush was very insistent that the fact that Iran was NOT currently developing nuclear weapons made them just as dangerous as they would be if they were currently developing nuclear weapons.
Umm�what?!?!
The situation with Iran is obviously yet another example of the President having made up his mind�he wants to go to war with Iran, no matter what the reality of their threat to us is. He's got it into his mind, dammit!, and nothing is going to make him change his mind�including information being released that essentially proves that Iran is not an immediate threat to us, and these circumstances will make going to war with Iran an even worse idea than going to war with Iraq was.
Hopefully this time no one will be suckered into believing that a threat lies where it actually doesn't. Hopefully this time someone will stop him before he decides that war is what he wants and war is what he will get, no matter what! I guess we'll see�
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The fact that the administration is considering bailing out the idiots who bought houses with subprime and/or adjustable rate mortgages who might otherwise be foreclosed on sincerely pisses me off. So, these people, who bought houses they knew they couldn't afford using the only means they could (subprime mortgages) might lose their houses. So? So what? They knew it was stupid to buy something they couldn't afford in the first place. They knew that any respectable lending company would never give them a mortgage, either because their credit wasn't that great, or they were buying more house than they could actually afford, or whatever. So, they got an adjustable rate mortgage or a mortgage with a super low teaser rate and decided that they'd figure out how they were going to make the higher payments when it came to be that time.
These people were stupid. And yet, they will suffer no repercussions for their actions. They will instead be rewarded, by having the government put a freeze on their interest rates for 3 to 7 years, so they'll never have to figure out how to make those higher monthly payments. They won't go into foreclosure and they won't lose their house.
But then how do they learn that there are consequences for making irresponsible choices? They don't. They won't lose their homes. So they'll definitely be helped out.
And the stupid lending companies that made the loans they knew people wouldn't be able to pay eventually won't lose out on any money, really. So, they'll be helped out.
And supposedly the houses that would have been foreclosed on not being foreclosed on will help the housing market tremendously. The slump will be over. Which I guess, will help out the people who have been trying to sell their homes and not having any success.
My question, though, is what about those of us who made intelligent decisions when buying a house? Those of us who got a relatively good fixed interest rate when we bought our house, because we had extremely good credit at the time? Those of us who actually bought LESS house than we could afford, because we didn't want to end up screwing ourselves at some point in the future? Who is going to help us out?
No one!!
With this plan, the stupid people are being rewarded (lending companies and buyers who both should have known better) and the smart people get squat. It would be nice if the government could somehow convince the companies holding loans of responsible people to lower their rates slightly or refinance the loans at lower rates. I know that my husband and I could definitely use a lower monthly mortgage payment. Even not having to pay PMI would be wonderful, since I'm pretty sure all the updates we've made have given us the 20% equity we need. But, thus far, there have been no stories about anything being done to help the people who CAN afford their mortgages.
So, here's my suggestion: PUT A FREEZE ON FORECLOSURES. Rates for ARMs (adjustable rate mortages) could still go up. If you can make those higher payments, great! If you can't make those higher payments, fine. Pay what you can. Pay what you can, when you can, and just make sure it's at least as much as you've been paying while the teaser rate was in effect. If you get behind on payments, oh well. Both the lender and the buyer knew what they were getting themselves into when they made the deal and signed the paperwork. Both the buyer and the lender are going to have to figure out what to do now, besides letting the lender take away the buyer's house.
Putting a freeze on interest rates will not do a damn thing, besides letting people know that making stupid decisions is okay and that if you do, someone will be there to bail you out. It will end up serving no one in the long run.
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I've got some more updates that I'll share with you probably sometime this weekend. For now, I've got to get my stuff together, find something to eat and go to Holistic Health class! Woo!
Happy Wednesday!
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