More bailout fun

Well well well its been a long time since I've added a new blog post. There's been plenty to blog about but its just laziness on my part and things at work are busy as always. I always get good ideas on what to blog about during my work day but then I lose all urge to write something by the time I leave work. Not to mention there's always something going on in the evenings so that adds to my laziness when I get in.

OK on to what I wanted to talk about. There are more bailouts on the way and this time they seem to be taking a step in the right direction kinda sorta but they're still leaving out the people that are following all the rules. So what am I talking about exactly? Why mortgage bailouts of course! It's new and improved and should only cost 75 billion dollars. Here's the deal as I understand it. If you're using over 38% of your gross income to pay for your mortgage and you're also in distress in any way you're eligible to have your mortgage redone. The mortgage service company can use any number of methods to reduce your payment with the ultimate goal of getting your payment to around 31% of your gross monthly income.

I did some quick calculations and I don't fall into this category. There are a good many families that are probably like me. We pay our debts and our taxes and yet when it comes time to helping the public we're kinda left out in the cold because we are doing the responsible thing but have little to show for it. I checked my house net worth and its almost outright disgusting how much its dropped in just 3 years. So here I am, paying a mortgage on a house that is totally under water, I can't sell it and I don't qualify to refinance for a lower rate because my wife and I have been doing the right things all along. I don't know if they're using the 80/20 rule on this but it doesn't seem like it. There is at least 80% of the country that seems to be doing alright, unemployment is hovering at 7%, while thats bad its still not terrible but most of the stimulus is going to corporations and the 20% in distress but its not helping the rest of us.

I'll still be watching the markets and the news to see if there is anything that will help me and my wife out. I would love to have a lower payment on my house or even get a chance to sell the thing at a decent price but eh, we'll see how it goes.