Mortgage Meltdown: "We got housed"

Circa 1985 there was a term "getting housed" which loosely translated was akin to getting "roughed up" while perhaps at the same time getting the "wool pulled over" one's eyes. Some of my friends made magnificent deals buying houses in recent years. One person I know pays less than $400 a month for the mortgage on a home in a really nice upper-middle class neighborhood in Albany. That individual was able to buy a comfy place with the help of city grant money, and there was none of this "crative financing" involved.

Down the street where I live there is a house up for sale that belonged to a young family for a very short time. "Bob" (not his real name) and family took posession of their modest little brick house in late 2006. They made improvements. Settled in. By late 2007 there was a "For Sale" sign on the lawn and they were gone. What happened? Creative financing gone awry. A mortgage payment that balooned from $950 a month to $1550! An American dream shattered.Like so many others. Although some rich folks made out quite well, the rich are now squealing: Michelle Malkin has just posted an interesting article you simply must read, HERE.

Meanwhile, in DC: President Bush is putting together his first public call for an emergency fiscal stimulus bill while negotiations on Capitol Hill focus on rebates for taxpayers and other steps to jump-start the sagging economy.

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