There is a news story on CNN.com, about a couple that bought into a mortgage they couldn't afford. They saved $5,000, then took out two loans totaling $290,000 to buy a house in Massachusetts. A $58,000 loan fixed at 10.7%. The rest was borrowed at a variable rate, and the payment went from $1300 to $1800.

They both worked, but for a time she had a difficult pregnancy, so couldn't. He worked like a dog to pay the bills. There was credit card debt, of course. The article chides subprime lenders for this and similar situations, as they should be chided. They won't suffer though; they may go under, but it's the stockholders that will suffer, not the people that made the decisions. Anyway, they should be chided for lending such a ludicrous amount to a couple that obviously couldn't afford it.

We are supposed to feel sorry for the couple, not once does the article place any blame for their troubles on them. It is quite possible they were just able to pay the mortgage when they bought the house, but if they are the kind of people to go out on a limb so far for a place to live, they are the kind of people that will not curb their expenditures enough to enable them to make good on the mortgage. (Want I want to say is 'what the fuck are they thinking taking out a loan at 10.7%, on top of a variable rate loan?! And what the fuck are they doing having a kid when they have so many bills?!) They had credit card debt (justified, I'm sure in their minds at least, by 'baby necessities'), and were making babies when they couldn't afford it. THEY signed the papers for the loan that they now cannot afford, why do they bear non of the responsibility? No, they shouldn't have been loaned the money in the first place, but it takes two parties to tango in this situation.

The overall situation is only going to get worse. People are going to stop spending money, the economy will stifle, companies will crumble, putting people out of jobs, who will then spend less because they have less to spend and no resources to help pay for overextension, companies will crumble......

Then, who is going to pay the huge deficit?