Many of you have probably seen this political commercial:

It combines an interview with a lady who lost her house to foreclosure with some shots of John McCain’s multimillion dollar properties of which he has several. For a good measure they also throw in some of his quotes where he says that people in this predicament acted irresponsibly and it’s not up to the responsible ones to bail them out.

I carefully listened to the lady who stated that her interest rate went up to 15.75% and her mortgage payment was $2,400 while her take-home pay was $2,200, so obviously she couldn’t keep up with the payments and lost her house. The viewer is prompted to compare and contrast her not being able to make ends meet with McCain’s lavish lifestyle complete with personal jet which his wife picked up so he can fly around in comfort. Instead I’d like to attract the viewer’s attention to why the homeless lady ended up without a house.
I purchased my new townhouse about the same time. My interest rate is 5.125% and will stay that way for 30 years. I did not have any down payment. My mortgage payment is $780/month which I should be able to afford even on unemployment (in KS it’s over $400/week). The most important part is that I still have the house, despite McCain family efforts to buy up all the available real estate.

So what’s the difference between me and the lady who “feels that she didn’t act irresponsibly”? It’s simple: when I was looking for a house I picked a smaller, cheaper townhouse in a not-so-fancy suburb and paid for it with the 30 year fixed mortgage. My house appreciated moderately and I am paying less than it costs to rent similar space. On the other hand, the lady who wants me to feel sorry for her, bought a house she knew she couldn’t afford, so she had to go with one of the “creative mortgage products” and gambled that in five years her house will appreciate enough to refinance it and keep the payments in line. I am pretty sure that’s what mortgage brokers were telling everyone at that time. I am also sure that she knew about upcoming interest and payment resets but ignored it because everyone was doing it. Now, when her gamble didn’t pay off and her house was taken back by the bank she wants everyone to share her pain. I personally don’t feel sorry for her. She lived in a nice house for 5 years paying less than she would have paid for rent. The foreclosure will eventually be erased and she will be ready to do something stupid and irresponsible again. It’s not McCain’s fault and the way to fix it is not to vote in a candidate who will confiscate money from the people who didn’t bite on attractive scam or from people who made it, like McCain’s wife. It’s not my responsibility to help stupid people. There are exceptions in life when something happens, like sickness or death in the family, where some relief may be warranted. Otherwise, I don’t have any spare change.
Disclaimer: I personally think that both candidates will be bad for the country so I don’t support either. The advertisement ends with the words “pssst… Do something”, so I thought I’d do something and point out the bullshit in it.