We are certainly living in interesting times. Every time I talk to you and other club members I am challenged by the topics that I never expected to discuss. Especially, given the normal real estate market of a few years ago and the easy money available at the time for investments in income property.
I am just amazed why we, as Americans, are so in conflict with the government over the best solutions to solve our financial problems. Because many of these problem solvers and life changers (We Can) and (Change We Can Believe In) are flush with college degrees, I summarize that many of them just went nutty by degrees not by illness.
So, I decided to step back and look at the situation and use some old fashion common sense. That has always been my solution to problems that are not being solved by “intellectual giants,” especially those in political positions, who use government validation of their “extraordinary skills.”
So, let’s examine the mess we are in and apply common sense to understand the problem and possible solutions.
Let’s take the recent economic meltdown that created the problem in the first place and understand what went wrong. Did we (you and I) do something wrong? Did we demand too much from the government and create this problem?
As I understand, there was a passionate movement to ensure that home ownership be afforded to every breathing person in America regardless of FICO score, Social Security or residency status. Thinking back, it was never MY dream. I didn’t demand it. I always thought the reason millions of people migrated to America, legally or illegally, over the last 200-plus years was to participate in the American Dream. That dream included home ownership and a better life for our children. That dream has been working for all this time, so why change it?
When I was a kid in Peoria, Illinois, I remember going to the annual Christmas Party at my church, Arcadia Avenue Presbyterian Church. 
I’d receive a small box of goodies that included candy, nuts, and fruit. It wasn’t much, but it was given with love by Santa (the pastor in a Santa outfit). It was a very big treat!
The decorated box didn’t cost much, but it was a gift nonetheless, and a valuable one because it was wartime and fruit, nuts and candies were a treat.
After the war, things loosened up and so did the standard of living. Before long, I had a paper route and had enough money to afford my own candy, ice cream, and gifts. The church’s Christmas box gift was no longer a treat. The church soon broke tradition, and had a Christmas pageant instead. What was once a special treat became a memory.
I remember my feeling when I bought my first home. I felt like it was a treat… something special for my family and I. It was a gift of sorts because the banks made it possible for me to buy it with good financing. Nobody gave me the home. I earned the right to buy it by having a job and good credit. When I closed escrow on my first home I felt like I did at my church’s Christmas party as I opened my box to savor the goodies inside. I earned the gift because I was a kid and I attended that church, but as I grew older I outgrew the gift and accepted responsibility to earn what I wanted and needed.
It never occurred to me that I was “entitled” to a home. I had to earn it and because I lived in a free-enterprise system, I was able to “earn” the right to own a home. Others were willing to deposit money in the bank and the bank in turn was able to make loans to finance the purchase.
So, what happens when the American Dream becomes the American Entitlement? People don’t have to earn it, they just demand it. But who encouraged that misguided form of thinking? Not you or I! Not even the majority of the American citizens! No, it was government who thought up all these “entitlement” programs.
First, it was Franklin D. Roosevelt, then Jimmy Carter, and then Bill Clinton. In their hearts they believed that everyone should enjoy many of the benefits formerly known as the American Dream. As a result, the dream became a right and now we see the results.
This administration is responding to millions of people who demand their “rights,” which far exceed the freedom to earn your own way and reach for the stars by working hard and taking chances.
My common sense tells me that the government has made a huge mistake. What do you think?
Please send comments to info@tenpercentdown.com.
Thank you,
Chuck Salisbury
TenPercentDown.com
