When is it enough?

An open letter...

Dear freeloader who bought a house you can't afford:

Fuck you.

Sincerely,
Jana

Today, our Dear Leader rolled out his plan to "bail out" homeowners who are underwater. Translation? They're going to give a bunch of taxpayer money to people who couldn't afford a house, but got one anyway, aided and abetted by Barack Obama and his merry band of thugs.

10% of mortgages in the US face foreclosure. That means 90% of homeowners have been doing what they signed on to do. They're paying their own bills, and doing it without the assistance of the Federal Government.

How is that fair? Where's our fucking bailout? What reward do Stu and I get for grinding away at our jobs every day and paying our mortgage? What about all of the other people who paid their mortgages? Where's the benefit? When have they taken enough from us to give to someone else?

I came across the blog of a woman who read one of my posts about the Porky McThiefpants Ripoff Plan™ recently and called me (and others) out about it in a post of her own. She just couldn't understand our anger about that massive income redistribution plan, dressed up like a Trojan Pig and pretending to be a stimulus plan. She wails plaintively, "Why are you against helping poor people? Why are you angry about people who don't have health insurance getting help? Why are you angry about people who've lost their jobs getting government assistance? Why don't you care about the money being sent overseas?"

Fine. She asked, I'll tell. (I won't address her foreign aid red herring, because the post being castigated was one in which I specifically discussed the "stimulus plan" and the lies being told about it.)

In theory, I'm not against helping anyone in the situations described. But, there's a limit. You see, there are already programs in place for all of those people. Food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid, Unemployment Insurance, Section 8 housing vouchers, etc. All of those programs have been in place for many years. The problem is that they have created a permanent underclass who have a very misplaced sense of entitlement. A hand up has become a permanent hand out. The government now wants to expand those programs to the point of bankrupting the country, and that expansion will be paid for by those of us who actually work. It will be paid for by those of us didn't make stupid decisions. That monstrosity of a bill completely guts the welfare reform of 1996. It takes all of the work requirements and time restrictions out of the current welfare system.

And now, the government is going to prop up freeloaders who can't afford their mortgages, too?

So, here's a few questions for you, Ms. Holier-than-thou... When is it enough? What's fair? What percentage proves our compassion? 40%? 50%? 90%? How much of *my* money do you think *someone else* is entitled to?

And, before anyone starts whining about how I don't understaaaaand about financial troubles, or tries to accuse me of being a rich, evil Republican who was born with a silver spoon and hates poor people, you can keep that bullshit to yourself. I didn't have a lot of money growing up. I've never been "well-off" as an adult. I've always had to have a job to pay my bills. I didn't have parents who bailed me out of bad decisions.

I didn't finish college because I couldn't afford it. So, instead of crying about it, I got a fucking job. I learned some skills and got jobs that were progressively better and better. (Pay-wise at least. A lot of those jobs REALLY sucked...) When Stu and I got married, I was fortunate enough to be able to quit my full-time job and only work part-time. But, that "break" came after 20 years of busting my chops to support myself. And we still weren't rolling in dough, we just decided what kind of lifestyle we wanted to lead, and that lifestyle included me being a part-time waitress and a part-time housewife. (Win/Win for me...)

Since 9/11, Stu has been laid off twice. You know what we did when those lay-offs happened? We did WHAT WE HAD TO DO to pay our mortgage. We paid our bills and kept our cars and our home. As a result, we have a lot of extra consumer debt to show for it.

Thank God, Stu has a job now. But, since he does have a job, we don't qualify for any of the free money being handed out by the government to the people who "need" it. As a matter of fact, if the numbers I'm reading are correct, we won't even qualify for the $13 bucks a week they'll be giving out as middle class "tax relief". Our combined income qualifies us as rich in the Golden Age of Obama.

So, I've slogged along in the job market for 20 years to pay my bills, yet I'm supposed to feel sorry for people who can't (or won't) pay theirs?

Didn't understand the mortgage you signed, but were too stupid to ask questions? Tough titty, kitty.

Applied for and signed a mortgage you couldn't afford? Suck. it. up.

The world is a vampire.

Or, at least it used to be. Now the government will step in and protect you from yourself. If they feel you are worthy of protection. The all-knowing government will decide who gets assistance and who doesn't.

The only problem is that eventually the productive people will stop being productive. After all, there's really no incentive to work if the fruits of your labor go to someone who's not doing their part.

That will be a sticky wicket, now won't it? Who'll be paying the bills then?

Soon, Atlas will shrug.


© Jana Ogletree 2009