These days, there is a lot of noise about debt forgiveness, in the form of mortgage cramdowns and moving up the effective date of changes in federal student loan repayment policies (forgiveness after 20 years, a cap based on income, etc.)<\/p>
Maybe it’s a character flaw on my part, but these stick in my craw. <\/p>
Ignorance and lack of “smarts” have “explained” how some borrowers were supposedly snookered into bad home mortgage deals.<\/p>
Okay, ignorance is a hazard. What, then, caused people smart enough to get in to college to get in over their heads, debt-wise?<\/p>
As far as frequency of foreclosures is concerned, “experts” predict that as many as 1 out of every 5 mortgages could default if Congress doesn’t “do something”.<\/p>
Here’s a conflicting data point: in our son’s neighborhood, which has 164 houses, only one has been put up for auction in the 10 years we’ve owned there.<\/p>
So, let’s cut the bull and call mortgage debt forgiveness for what it is: a gift in a year before a tough Presidential election to some of the most affluent and politically important regions in the United States: California, the Southwest and Florida.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
These days, there is a lot of noise about debt forgiveness, in the form of mortgage cramdowns and moving up the effective date of changes in federal student loan repayment policies (forgiveness after 20 years, a cap based on income, … Continue reading