The end of an era?
I'm not usually one to make commentary regarding the nation's problems and such, but I have this inkling that just keeps bothering me, and I don't think it's going to go away.
You see, I read and re-read all of this commentary about the foreclosure crunch, but every day I meet more and more people at work who are buying homes that aren't even built yet. The builders, instead of being concerned with the market, create more and more communities and sell them to young people who want to be able to customize their houses all the way down to the color on the walls in each room. It's quite ridiculous. All the while people our age (24-34) are the prime members of the nation who are having the economic problems. We're the ones in debt over our heads, going into bankruptcy and foreclosure, and generally ruining our own lives. Why?! Why do we feel so obligated to buy everything that comes our way because it's new and there? I for one will wait and probably pay more for my house than the guys that are buying now. But when I buy, I'll buy with the knowledge that the house is one that I can not only fully afford, but one that I will live in for a long time to come.
But no. Instead, people buy houses with money they have begged, borrowed, and stolen. Huge credit card debt runs up because financial situations change and people bought houses on the promise of a raise in a year or two, or that big promotion at work that suddenly got handed off to the guy you didn't know applied for it. Instead of paying off the debt from college and credit cards, we feel the need to buy the brand new 120 Gig IPod with all of the accessories for a Grand, plus the new ITouch and that shiny new laptop. The economy is quickly spiraling downwards folks and if we don't stop for a minute and consider what would happen if we didn't have a job next year, we may find ourselves on the bad side of the statistic.
So what's going to happen? Hate to be a doom-bringer, but it looks more and more like all of this recession mumbo-jumbo is for real. Unless people start really weighing out the "needs" and "wants" of today's society and start seeing that not everything has to be bought immediately, it'll continue. How bad it gets, no one can tell. All I know is, it's going to happen sooner than any of us expect.
You see, I read and re-read all of this commentary about the foreclosure crunch, but every day I meet more and more people at work who are buying homes that aren't even built yet. The builders, instead of being concerned with the market, create more and more communities and sell them to young people who want to be able to customize their houses all the way down to the color on the walls in each room. It's quite ridiculous. All the while people our age (24-34) are the prime members of the nation who are having the economic problems. We're the ones in debt over our heads, going into bankruptcy and foreclosure, and generally ruining our own lives. Why?! Why do we feel so obligated to buy everything that comes our way because it's new and there? I for one will wait and probably pay more for my house than the guys that are buying now. But when I buy, I'll buy with the knowledge that the house is one that I can not only fully afford, but one that I will live in for a long time to come.
But no. Instead, people buy houses with money they have begged, borrowed, and stolen. Huge credit card debt runs up because financial situations change and people bought houses on the promise of a raise in a year or two, or that big promotion at work that suddenly got handed off to the guy you didn't know applied for it. Instead of paying off the debt from college and credit cards, we feel the need to buy the brand new 120 Gig IPod with all of the accessories for a Grand, plus the new ITouch and that shiny new laptop. The economy is quickly spiraling downwards folks and if we don't stop for a minute and consider what would happen if we didn't have a job next year, we may find ourselves on the bad side of the statistic.
So what's going to happen? Hate to be a doom-bringer, but it looks more and more like all of this recession mumbo-jumbo is for real. Unless people start really weighing out the "needs" and "wants" of today's society and start seeing that not everything has to be bought immediately, it'll continue. How bad it gets, no one can tell. All I know is, it's going to happen sooner than any of us expect.