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« Pathetic | Main | Random Lyrics Thursday »

Drunk?

I was reminded of the following section from the debate while reading this review of the debate from Politico, which i agree with (the quote below is from page two):

Brokaw provided the candidates a clear opportunity when he asked about consumers getting drunk on easy credit.

But neither candidate took him up on the invitation. Obama's message was about the need for more regulation to protect investors and McCain gave a paean to the inherent greatness of Americans.

But one big reason for the crisis is that ordinary Americans bought cars, houses and other things they simply could not afford. They entered into mortgages they knew could be too good to be true: no money down, low payments for the first few years.

Like Brokaw's question on the social security "crisis", i would have liked to see Obama challenge the premise here. Consumers didn't get "drunk" on "easy" credit. Faced with declining wages and limited job opportunities, they followed the advice of politicians advocating for an ownership society and fell victim to deceptive loan deals. Surely some, maybe many, people were irresponsible, but they didn't act in a vacuum. It took changes in circumstance and policy for this to become a crisis. Also, lending institutions pay people six digit salaries to assess risk. They obviously weren't earning their pay.

Don't blame the victim. Create jobs to raise wages so people can afford to live without debt.

Update: And let's not forget that declining house prices have resulted in people having mortgages for more than their homes are worth.

By fnord12 | October 8, 2008, 3:24 PM | Liberal Outrage