God Damnit

I recall making a post about how using negative amortization loans was foolish because your goal should be to pay off your mortgage, not increase the size of it. And based on household debt to GDP, it seemed nobody was paying off their debts, even as they approached retirement.


Then one poster berated me as to how dare I demand his generation pay down their debts. They were just as entitled to bleed the equity out of their houses if they so desired. I hope he enjoys his nice long lonely stay in a nursing home.

Regardless I don't normally curse, but I'm pissed as hell. And not so much because of the lack of fiscal planning resulting in 1 in 10 boomers borrowing for everyday expenses, but more so because 4 in 10 baby boomers just give their children money apparently instead of letting them fend for themselves.

People are going to have to learn, one way or another, if you keep giving people money, be you the government or a parent, the recipients of the money are going to come to expect it. And not only will you kill any work ethic they may have, but you'll impoverish yourself along the way. Furthermore, you can't live off of borrowing money all the time. You need to work to pay for your consumption (though I'm scared to see what the figures would be for Gen X). The fact household debt as a % of GDP is practically 100% only confirms just how much debt spending as a viable option of supporting one's lifestyle has acceptably permeated this country's think. This is just more proof we're going to learn this lesson the hard way.