Sunday, July 19, 2009

Take a Look in the Mirror

As I am just catching up on reading the news from the last few weeks (I was traveling abroad), I saw this quote over on the Ben Jones blog:
If society just followed the advice of its grandparents, there wouldn't be an ongoing crisis with foreclosures that helped trigger the nation’s economic woes, according to the author of a new book. Shari Olefson, a Tampa, Fla., attorney…says simply blaming Wall Street, government regulations or predatory lenders — all who share culpability — is just shifting responsibility away from those who bought the homes.
I don't know how many times I got creamed by readers when I expressed that very same opinion on this blog.

If you want to know who is most to blame for this housing (and the ensuing economic) mess, just look in the mirror. You know who you are. You ignored that little cautionary voice in the back of your head, didn't stop to think for yourself, you let your friends/relatives/neighbors do the thinking for you when you said to yourself "everyone else is doing it, so..." and agreed to pay that stupid/ridiculous price for your house. Blame the enablers all you want, but at the end of the day the final responsibility rests on the shoulders of those who decided to "pull the trigger".