The Mortgage Debacle Is More Proof That Social Security Should Never Go Private

[eleny]

People don't always know what happens with their mortgages after they sign their papers. And they shouldn't have to be a stock market guru to understand the risks.

I can imagine what would happen if Wall Street vultures got a hold of people's invested savings for old age. We'd have poor houses before that scene was over.

[aquart]

1. Ya think?

[eleny]

4. Okay, okay!

:rofl:

[Hydra]

2. Why do you think they want it that way?

Bushco wants to suck it dry. 2 or so trillion dollars they would like to move to their Swiss accounts.

Too many people in this country don't ask "Why do you want that?" when Bush asks for something.

[TwilightGardener]

3. Yep.

[On the Road]

5. Absolutely

The idea of abandoing a fixed payment system is like saying "let them eat cake." However seriously individuals take their lump sum, millions are assured of becoming absolutely destitute simply due to variability. I cannot see how anyone can propose that.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. As Chile and the UK are finding out, now that the first "beneficiaries" of their "reforms"

are retiring.

[Lance_Boyle]

7. If people want to know what's going on with their mortgages

after they sign, all they need to do is READ THE FUCKING CONTRACT THEY SIGNED. No matter whether the debt is held by a bank or by investors, the terms of the mortgage are in black and white on the contract signed by the borrower. It is misleading to suggest that someone needs to be a "stock market guru" to understand a mortgage contract.

Of course, a lot of people probably would have been better off had they read their mortgage contracts *before* they signed them.

[eleny]

9. But the mortgages are bundled and sold as an investment

What's come out in the news is that people don't necessarily know who owns their mortgage in those cases. So it's not the contract but what happens afterwards.

If it was all so easy to understand, I don't think there would be such a mess.

[Lance_Boyle]

10. it doesn't matter at all who owns the mortgages

the contract terms do not change if, for instance, Countrywide sells a mortgage to another institution. Principal is the same, interest rate is the same, monthlies are the same - nothing changes for the borrower.

[TahitiNut]

8. Yes, and we're CERTAIN to see another 'bump' in health insurance costs ...

... as THEIR portfolios take a hit not only in real estate and mortgages but in the scondary impact of the housing meltdown.