Tuesday, March 10, 2009

The WAM effect

I had a patient recentlybring me in an article from the New Year Times in regards to the "WAM" effect, aka, What About Me effect. The article reflected on comments that were being sent into the paper in regards to the economic crisis, the bailout of bad mortgages and changes in the tax credit to first time homebuyers.

Now I have to say...I have every right to rant about this stuff. I was taught from an early age to be responsible with EVERYTHING...money, your life, your car, your friends, your family. Yes, the money thing again as usual! But over the course of the last 5 years, people bought houses they could not afford. Period. The end. There adjustable rate mortgage kicked in and they were crying that they couldn't make the payments. Cry me a river. Didn't you have all these details laid out to you? Didn't you get that piece of paper at your closing that broke down your monthly payments? Ok maybe you did, but maybe you didn't understand the paperwork. Or maybe you just decided not to have a lawyer at your closing to explain the details because you thought you could save yourself some cash. BAD IDEA! I know some of this stuff is out there but its been in articles that I've read and it really gets to me!

To go off this rant a little bit...I am a responsible person. I bought a house that Matt and I could afford, even if one of use lost our jobs. I pay my taxes every year. I pay my student loans, credit card bills, utilities and mortgage payments on time. I don't have a huge amount od credit card debt. I put a decent amount of money to the side to save. And if you do all these things, what do you get from the government? NOTHING! Why aren't good citizens rewarded for doing things the responsible way? To me, its like always doing something for the bad kid or not rewarding good work in school.

So Mr. President, if you want to make some other changes in policies, think about the people who are making positive contributions to society and give us a reward for doing something good!

1 comment:

SissyKristin said...

Amen, sister. That's why I *FREAKED* out when everyone and their brother got stimulus checks, and those of us who are on the outside of the bracket got nothing. I know why the reasoning went on there, but I also pay my taxes (more than most I'll say very clearly thanks to ny city and my company's lovely pay schedule) and I am also a citizen and CONSUMER in this country. While it's excellent to hand out those checks and give people a break and I fully support that, I feel slighted and bitter that what I do to regularly support the economy goes without reward. I'm being punnished for being a hard-working and law abiding citizen? AND those checks (for the most part) did not go to make fun purchases. They went to pay off bills or save or buy groceries. No stimulus checks, no 'new home buyer' breaks, no nothing. Thanks a lot government. I'll be sure to keep investing and buy domestic.