Personal responsibility used to pay

OK, let’s talk about personal responsibility (or a noticeable lack thereof) and the rewards (or consequences) of such. I was brought up being told that I was responsible for my actions. If my actions were proper, then I could expect a reward (mostly just the satisfaction of having done the right thing, which Dad said was a reward in and of itself). Likewise, if I made bad decisions, acted improperly or irresponsibly, I could justifiably expect penalties.

It was this type of upbringing, one not unfamiliar to most of us, that has shaped the way I make most of the important decisions in life. One noteworthy example is the house that I live in. We have a very modest house, purchased on my income alone while the lovely and talented Mrs. S.B. was going to school. Prior to buying the house, we rented. And saved. And finally found a house that we liked. We bought (gasp) a house whose payments we could afford. And when she graduated we stayed in that house. We spent some money and time remodeling, but our address has remained unchanged for over 13 years now. We resisted the temptation to buy a “McMansion” that would have been barely within, or perhaps a bit beyond, our means. As a result, we have never, not once, missed a payment on our mortgage.

Sad to say, not everyone does that. Now I am not holding myself up as an example of personal responsibility, but in this, at least, I feel that I did what Dad would have advised. Many folks bought well above their means. The blame for this falls in a few places. First, the federal government made it ridiculously easy to buy more house than some folks could legitimately afford. They did this to ensure that everyone could experience the joy of home ownership (as if there is some sort of stigma attached to renting for a few years until you have the wherewithal to buy a house). Unscrupulous lenders also bear some of the blame – these guys are supposed to be in the business of lending money to people that might actually pay it back – that didn’t seem to be a requirement, though, in the past few years. Finally, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, in my mind, blame lies on people that took these loans, moved into these houses and knew deep down inside that the balloon payment was going to crush them. Let’s face it – most people aren’t getting enough of a pay raise to double what they spend on housing – but that’s what happened on a lot of these mortgages.

But now we are in a place where all of Dad’s wisdom gets thrown out the door. Because those people are NOT being penalized for bad decisions. They are, instead, being REWARDED. President Obama has a plan that will help them fix their loans, resume their payments and (extra icing on this cake) give them $5,000 to pay down the principal on their mortgage if they make all their payments for the next few years. Makes me want to skip a few payments so that I, too, can get a bailout. Dad is spinning in his grave as we speak.