The BIG Debt - USA

The last several years have been tough years for Americans (and beyond). We've seen business's close, banks falling, prices of gas fluctuating, Homes falling into Foreclosure, and last but not least we see a lot of finger pointing.
As I see it no one's willing to take responsibility for their own mistakes, we're all ready to point fingers for our own mishandling of our lives. "Blame it on Bush" - "Blame it on Obama" - "It's the Government fault" - "Its their fault!"
Excuse me... but has anyone looked in the mirror during these tough economic times?
No?
Yes?
*sigh*
I guess its hard for us people to admit mistakes but I've admitted mine so how about you? I admit that my debt is my fault, the credit cards that were handed to me were a privilege that I abused with the thought "I'll pay it back easily." :) yea right! I'm in collection and paid off several debts which I'm quite proud of.
So what about everyone else? Can those who took on too much without sitting down and crunching numbers do the same?
I believe this whole Epidemic started before our time, lets be honest. I would say 90% of this country hasn't been taught to handle their finances properly. We've been raised with rose tinted glasses that allow us to believe we can all afford the 'luxuries' of life such as homes with too much space, adult toys we have to insure such as yachts and luxury cars... now don't get me wrong, there are those out there who can afford such things as if its piddly crap and congrats.
Yet there are those who see all these goodies and believe they deserve such things when they're completely wrong. We've all grown thinking that we don't have to work hard to get what others worked a lifetime to achieve. We work for our needs (food/shelter) and earn our needs over time, it's called Patience something this society lacks with the NOW mentality.
It's the laziness installed in us from parents who worked for it and didn't want their children to struggle the way they did - an honest thought but that's why you see the reality TV shows of teens whining that they didn't get their car on their 16th birthday or allowances of thousands of dollars monthly -annoying little brats aren't they? When they're suddenly cut off they freak out without understanding that the economy tanked the stock market or business went bankrupt.
Even the rich need to be taught the value of a penny. 100 of those make up a dollar, remember that.
For those parents who sat down and taught their child how to manage their finances I applaud you, even if the kids didn't listen (like me) they're grateful in the end.
Here's a solution.... make personal finance a mandatory class in school. Start young, teach the children how to handle their change then balance check books, how to read the fine print on a credit card applications, the good and bad of school loans, and that yes, if you want the luxuries in life you have to first get a life.
Stay in school and get your education, at the very least a high school diploma because lets face it, the only way you'll get some nifty stuff is if you win the lottery (temporary fix), become some drug dealer (can we say prison and a roomy named Bubba who like your smile *hint*?), or invent something that makes you millions... the odds of that are slim but doable.
Being a drop out is simply laziness and your headed down a long slope of misery as you sit on government assistant while watching TV of these stuff you just have to have but your broke even with two crappy jobs smoking the pipe to handle your depression.
While we can point fingers, I like to blame the Mortgage companies to be honest, we have to point fingers at ourselves.
I believe this whole downward spiral might have started far back when but to me it seemed that many Americans believed that renting was just too difficult and decided to get the 'dream' of a home with a picket fence. Nothing wrong with purchasing your own home... but did you do it with a down payment? Did you sit down and crunch numbers and realize that a mortgage payment is compounded with utility bills, taxes, and so forth?
When you decided on a mortgage did you choose one with a variable rate? When you signed the paperwork for a variable rate mortgage did you take in account your payment of one amount could possibly rise to a higher amount on top of everything?
From the get go when I heard that America was having a 'Housing Boom' I went "Oh shit." I knew that something was going to happen when people searched for homes at $400,000.00 when now it's worth $250,000.00 that the bubble would burst and the repercussion of blind less wants would have nationwide repercussion.
It's one of those things that I regret to be right about.
Several months into having something new you tend to forget the mounting debt, the 30 plus years of so called 'good debt' when your bad debt outweighs all other things.
So yes, I blame the mortgage companies who shelled out loans to poor souls with no down payment or with without going over the what ifs AND I blame the people who couldn't wait just a little longer, save a bit more money, go over their finances with a fine tooth comb, pay down their credit card debt and even their student loan debt.
It's a nasty world out there right now and just about every one's struggling yet not. There are those who kept their heads up above the water and tread through life living within their means and I applaud those people and aim to behave such a way. It's a difficult road ahead of us, ahead for myself, one that's pricey and seemingly never ending but there's an end in sight.
Hopefully.