Letters to the Editor
HP
Published Letters: 422 Editor's Choice: 4
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The American Dream is For Suckers
[Read the article: Flip this house. Please!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I found the exact same thing.
Not to sound too much like "Fight Club", but the house ends up owning you. Why? Because we all usually buy at the absolute top of the price range we can (maybe) afford if everything goes right and nothing unforeseen happens.
The author had no choice - anyone who knows about Boston real estate can tell you it costs a ton to get in. There was nothing affordable. Hence, sub-prime was a necessity for many. I sold a house by the Providence RI train station for top dollar because people from Boston bought it. That was a 40 minute commute to Boston each way every day!
And yeah, we're bombarded by "quick fixes" on those damn HGTC shows my wife watches 3 hours a night. Like they just get a bolt of cloth at a second hand store for $3.50 and they use it to make the living room look like a W Hotel room. More unrealistic dreams!
I've found that home ownership takes your freedom like no other purchase decision (non-black tar heroin category). You can walk out on a lease easily, but the stigma of foreclosure and the permanent debt that results in keeps you in line. I know of many people who work jobs they hate to pay mortgages in Stamford, Darien, Greenwich CT, Long Island. Why can't Jimmy paint? Why can't Sally write poetry? Because they are all on the floor trading Sudanese oil futures so that they can make the next payment!
I think the college thing is also, in many cases, a fraud. I am a political science / economics major with a degree from a B- school. I know nothing, I eek out a decent living.
Contrast that with the electricians or plumbers I know. Those guys are awash in work and cash, their skills are in demand and they provide a great life for their families. Is it hard work? No doubt. But they seem to have a good deal.
I think the mistake we make is we hold up this "American Dream" myth that - even for those of us who can attain it (a lot of people in this nation have the decked stacked firmly against them) - has no payoff.
I realized that if I lower my mortgage payment by 33% we can go to Europe for a few weeks once a year. My home is now on the market. I'm not playing the game anymore.
Good luck!
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NY
[Read the article: She's in it to spin it]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I am confused, you mention her 'positions' as the source of anger towards her.
That is completely made up on your part. You made it up. The irony of this campaign is that there are very few policy differences between the two at all. Her health care plan is better, but she has no shot to get it passed unless we get huge margins in Congress. And she no longer talks about issues anyway.
The only issues that Hillary has camaigned on in the last 2 months are:
1) Gas Tax Holiday (since it was not 'pandering' maybe you can let me know where that is, maybe her dog ate it)
2) Her Running for The Right To Run (based on a debunked argument of experience, electability, and being a sore loser if she is not treated all repectable-like as she fades away)
These are the only positions anyone has attacked, because they are indefensible. Not sure anyone even contests her running atthis stage, since it is almost over anyway. The issue is she is hurting the party for no attainable goal. At all. She is helping McCain every time she speaks. She handed him a few % points in FL the other day by portraying Obama and the DNC as their enemies. That is LierberMonkey-esque.
But if you don't have the facts, just bang on the table. Call us all sexists for not wanting to be a part of a campaign that has already lost. One that is marketed EXCLUSIVELY to older white women and racist white men. Self-described racists, I might add.
What you and Karen need to do is contact the Clinton campaign and tell then that you need better talking points. They are really letting you down, just like Mark Penn and Hllary let you down by running a joke of a campaign.
Hillary is like a consultant I used to work with. Her MO was to break everything a client had and then make them pay her to fix it. Hillary is like that, making it impossible for a Dem win without her. You nmust be proud.
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Meant to write
[Read the article: She's in it to spin it]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...as NOT the source of anger.
She is being attacked for her underhanded attempts to subvert the process. That IS NOT personal, as you seem to suggest.
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Where are people living?
[Read the article: Flip this house. Please!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]For the negative people who posted - you should realize that there are some markets (NYC, SF, BOS, CA) where there was no reasonable pried housing wihin earshot of the market.
It is eaier to 'live within your means' in places that have more blanced real estate markets. I live in Philadelphia, a major market where we have that luxury. I can live in one of the better parts of downtown for less than home used to cost in Providence at the height of the housing market there. I can mve to a nice Burb for less, although my property taxes will double.
That said, I do not support a bailout of sub-prime borrowers. Sorry, I worked hard to pay mine on time and I do not have a flat screen TV or a PS3. But I did not hear the author say he went that route, so save your ire for those that did.