The propaganda marches on

Yesterday while flipping around the tee-vee I cam across a show on the TLC channel about real estate. Can't remember the name of it. The show was about couples buying the first home and getting ready to (cue sweet lovable music) live the AMERICAN DREAM.
I almost threw up.

Couple #1: They had a set budget for $350K. Yet their ever so helpful Realtor took them to see a house listed at $475K which - surprise surprise - they liked a lot more than the houses listed for $350K. So this is where it gets ridiculous. The guy, to his credit was adamant that, no we can't afford this and let's not even think about it. Even their lender said, you should probably not consider this as it will stretch you to almost the breaking point. The chick who makes money based on how high of a loan she can scam her clients into getting even said, you can't afford this. The wife on the other hand started throwing a fit about how unfair it is that they can't live in the nicer house and that she wants it no matter what. Long story, short, guess who won in that argument? Oh the pain that man will endure for years to come and I don't even mean the financial hell he has embarked upon.

Couple #2: About to get married. AWWWW. Both living with their parents in order to save money on rent to have enough to buy a house upon marriage. Very admirable. Oh and just to have the double AWWWW moment, the bride is a 1st grade teacher....AWWWWW how sweet. Here is where they get stupid. The wedding is 90 days away. And so they need to buy a house that will close within 90 days. Which is so idiotic to shop for a house with a deadline like this. Adds a sense or urgency where there is none and puts the buyer at a big disadvantage. The way it was presented it seemed as if they spent 1 married day without being home "owners" Satan himself would come up to earth and snatch them back down to hell.

They ended up buying some shit hole for $250K that probably needs another $50K in renovations. On a teacher's salary...smart. This, in some small town in the middle of nowhere Washington, where they said the average rent is $700 a month. Which means they could have rented the exact same house for $1000. Instead they will have a mortgage of $1500 a month, plus taxes, plus repairs, plus maintenance, plus insurance. But the option to rent was never presented. They get to be home "owners". WOO HOO!!

It was as if you either buy a house when you get married or you might as well commit suicide because life is simply not worth living. Don't these people read the papers? Have they not noticed that real estate is about the worst investment one can make right now? I often wonder to myself, how can people be so uninformed as to elect Obama. There's my answer. People in general are just clueless. Clueless about economics, about politics, about world affairs. As long as American Idol is on every night and the government welfare check is in the mail (the bride is a unionized government employee "educator" if you recall receiving a monthly welfare check), the masses are content to be fat, lazy and stupid their entire lives.

RIP AMERICA
1776-2009