Or: Foreclosures are trashing the environment
Or: The treasures left behind when a family flees
Or: Why is that guy painting the lawn?
Or: "You know you're in trouble when the lawn is brown and the pool is green."
It's hard to pick just one title for this clip. It's long (12 minutes), but worth watching, in a sickeningly fascinating way. Lisa Ling comes in at 1:00.
I was uncomfortable watching it.
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There are some well thought out replies to my questions on my last post. Go on over and read them, and feel free to contribute your own answers.
Two active giveaways over at All Thumbs. One has a deadline of tomorrow and the other you must enter by next Friday.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
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11 comments:
The whole situation is sad. Its sad that the banks preyed on the consumer. Its sad that people overextended themselves. Its sad that this is a repeat of the whole S&L crisis. Its sad and damned near criminal that all that stuff gets thrown away.
I just don't understand why people don't start packing the minute they know this is coming. They could pack and move stuff in the months leading up to the actual eviction.
I agree with Kristin, the whole thing is just so sad!!!
They need to come up with something better then just throwing that stuff away.
Definitely sad, but I tend to fault the greedy - or at the very least, uninformed - home buyers just as much as the predatory banks. (And I'm sorry, but ignorance is not an excuse.)
That whole entitlement, won't happen to me, living beyond your means attitude. It's scary that it's happening to so many people, but in reality, 90% of them need to take some responsibility for it themselves. (The other 10% being health crises, and other situations that are truly out of their control).
And no, I don't think that makes the situation any less sad. I'm just tired of hearing that it's "all the bank's fault" or "all the government's fault". Where is the personal responsibility?
What a complete waste of resources. They couldn't think of something better than throwing everything into a landfill?
Beth -- I agree. Such a mess wasn't something imposed on people without their permission and agreement.
Michelle and Mrs Spock -- you'd think a trip to Goodwill would be less expensive than the entry fee to the landfill.
I don't live in the US, so I have to admit to complete ignorance as to how this whole mess got started....
J
stunningly real isn't it. i agree with beth--people need be responsible for overextending themselves. i mean--how can one sleep at nigh with these ARM mortgages like $4-5k per month.
all of this is downright scary. it makes my little house seem so much more wonderful in these times!
The dude throwing all those valuable things in the landfill is missing a huge business opportunity. Get two dumpsters, one for trash, one for things you can salvage. Sell all the salvageable stuff on eBay. Heck, you can even sell it as a lot, like the people who own rental units do when the rental unit owner doesn't pay up. The fact that he's throwing all this stuff away while he could make money on it (and not fill a landfill) just blows my mind.
American dream turns into a nightmare.
Buy now, pay later. The price is always more then what you thought.
And, inappropriately, a line from the band Crowded House enters my head " ...and the excess of fat on your American bones, will cushion the impact as you sink like a stone".
America does not have a patent on greed or consumerism, or denial for that matter, and the rest of the rich world who have been pursuing the same dream are also caught in the same wake of destruction.
But it is another generation who will ultimately pay the price for consumerism that has spiralled so out of control. And while no-one wants to point fingers or shoulder responsibilty, there seems to be a moral bankruptcy to that unbelievable waste as well as a financial one. Or is it a void of meaning? We have bought the lie "to be is to have".
Sorry for getting all righteous - but something about it is so, so, so wrong.
MB: I wonder what people were thinking when they signed on for an ARM that would balloon so. Did they think they'd have more income by then? Did they just not worry about something a few years in the future? I would like to understand.
B: You don't seem righteous. You seem insightful.
Elizabeth: Exactly! There's a niche someone surely will soon fill.
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