It's 2005 all over again

It is spring break for the youngens in the Atlanta area. And there is some law I didn't know about that mandates every parent with a child 12 and under shall depart the city with said child and head down I-75 to DisneyWorld. Rush hours have been like Sunday mornings this week. A drive that can take 45 minutes, is now a 20 minute cruise.

Yet it got me thinking, how are all these trips being financed. I hear on the MSM daily about how the price of gas is making people choose between eating and turning on the heat (soon it will be the A/C). Yet here we have tens if not hundreds of thousands of families packing up Griswold Family Truckster and heading out on vacation. And if you've ever been to DisneyWorld you know you can't escape that place without dropping $150 per day per person on top of the hotel room. Something doesn't add up.

And then a commercial from Regions Bank came on the radio. And I thought I had traveled back in time for a second. The ad went something like this;

Guy: I have a 3 car garage and only two cars. That spot is begging for a new car. But I have no money for it.

Announcer: Have you thought of a Regions Bank HELOC. Why not use your equity to fulfill that dream

Guy: Gee wiz that's a neato idea.

Announcer: Indeed, with a $25K HELOC you can add something really nice to your garage collection

Guy: I did just that and now I have a brand new shiny silver convertible ready for summer fun

I'm paraphrasing, but the ad was touting the fact that with a $25K heloc, he could bu himself that new silver convertible and fill up his garage. Buying a rapidly depreciating car with money borrowed from a rapidly depreciating house. Brilliant. But not as brilliant as using heloc money for a DisneyWorld vacation. That's Einsteinian in brilliance.