NYTimes economic reporter's big credit crisis

[Zoocat]

Here's an essay by a NY Times economics reporter who should, by his own admission, have known better. But he was "in love" having just divorced his wife of 20+ years and getting married again. After you read this article, ask yourself "Was this guy cooking on all four burners when he made those decisions?" Some psychologists advise to wait a year after divorce or separation to make major decisions. This guy made all the amateur mistakes that plunged people into subprime hell. I doubt he was thinking with his brain, but rather some other organ.

In any case, it's pretty amazing reading. He actually wrote a book about it too.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/magazine/17foreclosure-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

 

[walkinwood]

Holy sh*t! It is scary how this happens in such an incremental way - each step into debt is not too scary by itself... I hope he makes enough on the book to get out of the hole he's in.

 

[WhoDaresWins]

big credit crisis

I got clammy just reading this article! I hope this fellow and his wife work through this and, yes, make a lot of money on the book. I hold the loan officer culpable for the cover up...he could have put the skids on this fiasco. He should have had the cooler head.

 

[dex]

From my experience with people in the TV news business he is about average.

 

[tuixiu]

I agree, that's freakin terrifying. I wouldn't sleep a wink in that situation.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

I got out of it. Feel sorry for me. I made really bad choices now that I look back at it. Lets me write an article about it.

 

[bbbamI]

Bob cut me off. “I specialize in challenges,” he said confidently.

If Bob said that to me, I'd groan big time....

 

[W2R]

This guy didn't have a suspicious thought in his mind. Most of us would have had alarm bells going full blast inside our heads before the initial papers were signed.

I don't think one can blame this level of gullibility on love though he is trying pretty hard to do so. He is an educated, bright person. Many people manage to make judicious house-buying decisions while in love. His extreme gullibility and the consequent bad decisions actually took that relationship away from him.

I wonder if he has some sort of psychological reason to want to shoot himself in the foot when it comes to love. Inner feelings of not being worth anyone's love? Something like that. Maybe I am over-analyzing but I cannot believe his explanations. Also I would advise any female friends not to get involved with someone like that.

 

[LOL!]

This guy was in love. It's right there in the 2nd paragraph. Everybody knows you lose your mind when you are in love. It doesn't matter what age you are or what your background is. You get pretty stupid fast and you stay that way for quite a while.

Please go read "Predictably Irrational".

 

[Walt34]

That's the direction my first marriage was headed. When I refused to take out a loan for a trip when we were already flat broke she bailed. Never mind the curling shingles on the roof, 20-year-old appliances or the "iffy septic system.

I wouldn't appreciate DW as much as I do if it hadn't been for the ex.

 

[Lusitan]

Read this story yesterday and it made me sick. This is the type of greedy fool my tax dollars are bailing out. I find the entitlement-mentality of people like him jaw-dropping.

Gee, I guess all those years as a worldly New York Times reporter didn't open his eyes enough to the fact that maybe, just maybe, it'd be possible to live somewhere other than Silver Spring MD, and that most of humanity gets by just fine without Starbucks, "top quality produce, bottled juices, fresh cheeses, and clothing" (JCrew and GAP Kids), and rented beach houses.

Cry me a friggin' river with his liar loan -- he knew exactly what he was doing. He's not the only guy who ever fell in love and wanted nice things for his family. He's just a highly educated guy with a sense of entitlement about how he and his should be entitled to enjoy the finer things in life.

Effing disgusting.

 

[haha]

Read this story yesterday and it made me sick. This is the type of greedy fool my tax dollars are bailing out. I find the entitlement-mentality of people like him jaw-dropping.

Gee, I guess all those years as a worldly New York Times reporter didn't open his eyes enough to the fact that maybe, just maybe, it'd be possible to live somewhere other than Silver Spring MD, and that most of humanity gets by just fine without Starbucks, "top quality produce, bottled juices, fresh cheeses, and clothing" (JCrew and GAP Kids), and rented beach houses.

Cry me a friggin' river with his liar loan -- he knew exactly what he was doing. He's not the only guy who ever fell in love and wanted nice things for his family. He's just a highly educated guy with a sense of entitlement about how he and his should be entitled to enjoy the finer things in life.

Effing disgusting.

Agree. In a way I will mourn the passing of this nuttiness. If we had a real laissez faire system and like Vegas you could bet all you want but the game would end when the wheel stopped I'd say let 'er rip.

But we don't!

 

[FUEGO]

Hey, the guy got to live in a sweet house for five years now, and live the high life. Way beyond what his means would allow him. Of course now that the music has stopped it isn't all peachy any more. But he's still living free in his totally sweet house! And saving on rent in the meantime.

Perhaps now his wife has realigned her goals with his goals and they have "their" goals that they are both working towards. But clearly the first few years of the relationship she didn't give a crap about his concerns or the fact that they were blowing through money waaay faster than they were making it. My guess is they would have been much happier (in hindsight) renting a modest 3 br apartment somewhere until they got on their feet financially.

Methinks this poor money management is just a continuation of decades of poor money management. You always have to ask where did all their savings go from their first 20+ years of their careers/lives?

 

[freebird5825]

I know someone who spent 2 decades living like this, albeit on a somewhat smaller scale. Parallel situation with the too expensive house and 2 incomes became 1 and the kids gotta have the best no matter what and take out a HE loan to cover cc bills and...

This NY Times guy sounds like he knew exactly what he was doing and had a willing partner until the fan got cranked up.
Then all of a sudden, oops, did we get in over our heads? Doh!
Gimme a break...

 

[Texas Proud]

Just on page ONE and am starting to think this guy does not have it going for him...

He pays $4,000 in child support and alimony... and is left with $2,777... heck, he needs a new lawyer IMO....

Second, who thinks even if his wife gets a job he could afford a $500,000 mortgage? I don't know what she does, but it would seem that she would need a pretty good income based on his less than $3K contribution toward the marriage...

Now to page two...

 

[Texas Proud]

OK... this guy does not have a clue... and he is supposed to be writing in a top notch paper about financial matters!!!

I am sure that his stupidity is costing me (and you) money... but what can we do... nothing....

 

[Independent]

One obvious question is "Why isn't the wife getting child support from her children's father?" Or, "How did she think she was going to live without a husband?".

The reporter is clearly a doofus, and I'd have to be skeptical about anything he wrote.

I think that he's getting a great financial deal on the first mortgage. It looks like he will live in the house for more than a year after he made his last payment. If the point of the article was to generate more sympathy for ordinary people who got caught in this mess, it didn't succeed with me. We can't afford to protect people who are this stupid. I come away thinking that the bank should have foreclosed by now.

 

[DAYDREAMER]

I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today! Oh the American way. Gotta love it

 

[bbbamI]

I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today! Oh the American way. Gotta love it

yummmm.... (btw...the person in the pic is not me...he's a boy, i'm a girl)

 

[Cattusbabe]

Lets see. Screw up royally to save face and keep up appearances then.....ta da...write a tell all and solve all your problems with the royalties. Sweet.

 

[unclemick]

Wow - twenty posts so far on this thread and nobody's mentioned:

Pace Picante Sauce yet.



heh heh heh -

 

[treypar]

It is shocking that an economic reporter did not know better. When you sign the loan documents, you should know that you can repay the loan. He knew from the start that this was not possible. The mortgage broker was just looking for his fees so he did not care. The lender was counting on home prices continuing to increase in value. This is why the system broke.

 

[clifp]

Another fine example of why the newspaper of record has such a crappy record recently. Many NY Times reporters suffer from delusions that they deserve to live in the same lifestyle as the rich and famous people they cover.

It is easy to find the dream house if you ignore the price tag. Now admittedly the loan broker was a border line crook and the lenders were remarkably stupid, but the end of the time he is responsible for living well beyond his means. I don't feel to sorry for the guy because he did get to live for 5 years in a great house and I am guessing ultimately will be living rent free for a year, at taxpayer expense.

I fortunately have no first hand knowledge of divorce, but doesn't a $4,000 alimony payment seem very excessive based on his salary?

 

[FUEGO]

I fortunately have no first hand knowledge of divorce, but doesn't a $4,000 alimony payment seem very excessive based on his salary?

Not necessarily. A big chunk is probably child support. The remainder would be alimony. In my local jurisdiction, they base alimony on "the manner in which one is accustomed to living". So assuming him and his first wife were spending 2-3x their disposable income before and living on debt (which seems to be a good bet), then he would presumably be on the hook for that in the form of alimony, subject to judicial discretion of course. Not sure about the laws of his jurisdiction, whichever that might be.

 

[lhamo]

Read this story yesterday and it made me sick. This is the type of greedy fool my tax dollars are bailing out. I find the entitlement-mentality of people like him jaw-dropping.

Gee, I guess all those years as a worldly New York Times reporter didn't open his eyes enough to the fact that maybe, just maybe, it'd be possible to live somewhere other than Silver Spring MD, and that most of humanity gets by just fine without Starbucks, "top quality produce, bottled juices, fresh cheeses, and clothing" (JCrew and GAP Kids), and rented beach houses.

Cry me a friggin' river with his liar loan -- he knew exactly what he was doing. He's not the only guy who ever fell in love and wanted nice things for his family. He's just a highly educated guy with a sense of entitlement about how he and his should be entitled to enjoy the finer things in life.

Effing disgusting.

I agree 100%. I hope for his kids that the book deal gets them out of this financial mess. And that the NYT provides him with a good life insurance policy, cuz I have a sneaking suspicion somebody might target him for a drive-by shooting. The article and the book are going to give a lot of people who are in bad financial straits due to no fault of their own an obvious target for their legitimate anger. Arrogance, entitlement and just plain stupidity like this and who ends up holding the bill? Disgusting indeed.

I bet his first wife is glad to be rid of him. Wonder if she's still collecting alimony.

lhamo