This story is sad, in more ways than one. Yes, it is sad that so many people have been evicted from their homes. Yes, it is sad that jobs are moving elsewhere. Yes, it is sad that the housing market has gone south. But to me, the saddest part of this story is the belief that “someone else is to blame.”
“Folks could not afford their payments. They were asked to pay loans which doubled. They could not afford it, some lost their job. Lenders were greedy. They threw them out of their homes,” she told AFP.
It’s the greedy bankers’ fault, those mean and nasty mortgage companies who are only in it to make a dollar. It is definitely NOT the fault of the people who signed mortgages they couldn’t afford, who lied about their employment.
For county treasurer Jim Rokakis, the greed of the banks is to blame for this man-made disaster.
“All you needed was a pulse to buy a house. Some loans were written with no money down, no proof of buyer’s incomes. They did not even check what people were saying. Most of those folks were jobless,” he said in an interview.
“Shaker Heights was the perfect storm: poor folks, unemployed and a desire to get a piece of the American Dream.”
Sorry, Jim, the American Dream is not being handed something that you haven’t earned, something that you can’t afford. The American Dream is simple- that anyone, no matter their background, can, if they are willing to work, and work hard, make a respectable living.
Let’s stop blaming everyone else for our own foolishness.
