Deadbeats

So a common theme throughout the TV shows I saw yesterday were people in all sorts of crazy debt. You hear about it a lot on the news lately with so many people who bought houses with adjustable rate mortgages that now can't afford their mortgage and may now lose their houses.

Many people are blaming the mortgage companies for giving out loans to people that really can't afford them. Well where is personal responsibility?

On one show there was a couple who only the husband worked. He mad 100k a year, yet they lived in a 650k house, had three brand new cars and were paying their current bills by taking cash advances from credit cards.

Another woman who was pregnant had baby furniture on layaway, but had recently bought a $900 pair of shoes and drove a brand new Lexus.

I would bet most people would like to have a giant expensive house and to be able to spend a lot of money on things they like, but the reality is these things are luxuries, not rights for you to have.

I have know many deadbeats who don't put paying their debts at the top of their list. Paying bills sucks, there is always something much more fun to spend money on, but everything can't always be fun.

I'm not saying that someone can't fall on hard times and struggle with bills. That can happen to anyone. The difference is when you are struggling do you cut back and do everything you can to make it through hard times, or do you stick your head in the sand and act as if it's not your problem.

If you aren't smart enough to do simple arithmetic and figure out I need to make $X to pay my bills which are $X. Then you aren't due any sympathy. My advice would be work harder or cut expenses.