Mortgage Meltdown: Why Consumers Need to Learn Some Personal Responsibility

If you've got a portfolio anywhere close to the size of mine, you know that the past couple of weeks have been a real roller coaster.  A stalled housing market and rise in foreclosures have economists talking about a global credit crunch.  All the gloomy news sent stock prices spiraling.  Fortunately, the Federal Reserve's cut in interest rates has stopped the bleeding, at least for now.

Who is to blame for all the turmoil?  Once again, we need look no further than ignorant consumers who have gotten in too far over their heads.  This time, these morons have taken enormous loans that they cannot possibly afford.  What these customers don't understand is that their decisions affect the economy at large.  When some moron customer takes a loan he cannot afford and ends up in foreclosure, he can just walk away from the house scot-free with no ill effects, right?  Wrong.  When thousands upon thousands of these irresponsible borrowers all make the same bad decision, the economy suffers.  

Which means that business suffers.  Which means that we all suffer.  

The biggest victims of these simple-minded consumers are the banks which offered them the loans.  These lenders are American Heros, selflessly providing every citizen the chance to live out the American dream of home-ownership.  That is, until their generosity is taken advantage of, and they're put out of business by irresponsible consumers.  These people are martyrs.

What our society is missing is Personal Responsibility.  As consumers we have the responsibility to make intelligent decisions which will support the growth of our economy.  To not consider the impact of your financial decisions on others would be selfish.