A Bleak Picture

I read the headlines each day via my rss feed to the Christian Science Monitor. Presented below are snippets from three different articles about the economic woes that continue to grip this nation. Each paints a bleak picture of the present and doesn't give one reason to believe things will get better anytime soon. The articles also underscore the differing perceptions of the wealthy and the rest of us!

Mortgage Rates Drop to Lowest Point in 50 years
Mortgage rates have hovered near record lows for some time, so most people who can afford to buy homes or qualify to refinance their loans have already done so in the past 18 months. Doing so again wouldn't be worth the cost for most.

Meanwhile, millions of Americans are unable to take advantage of the low rates. Many have seen the value of their homes plummet and have little or no equity. Or they lack good credit or steady income to get or refinance a mortgage.

Overall mortgage applications increased last week from a week earlier, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday. But they still remain 35 percent below last year's levels.

Rates could go lower and still not budge the housing market, analysts say. That's because a person without a job can't afford a home and a person worried about losing their job is unlikely to purchase, too, said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst with Bankrate.com...

Foreclosure Double Standard: Why the Rich Get Away with Defaulting
Although the data compiled may simply be revealing the fact that larger debt instruments have a higher propensity to fail during hard economic times than loans of more modest size, the results may highlight an important difference between the treatment of the wealthy versus the typical.

In general, “homeowners” of modest means who walk away from their housing debt are viewed as dead beats while the wealthy that do the same are presumed to be making a good financial decision.

In this way, a person’s prior economic status appears to influence the way others judge their actions and ultimately likely contributes to shaping the defaulters sense of their decision.

The wealthy likely, rationally, believe that walking away from a debt laden deflated home is the best financial choice that they could make while individuals of more modest means face more scrutiny and pressure to make good on their debts...

LeBron James: Where's the Outrage About His Salary?
by Jonathan Zimmerman
But almost nobody complained that James – like Wade and Bosh – will make sinful piles of money, at our worst economic moment since the Great Depression itself. On the contrary, they actually praised these guys for taking less than they could have earned playing elsewhere.

See, on the open market, each of them could get about $20 million dollars per year. But to comply with the Heat’s salary cap, they’re probably going to make about $15 million. That’s right: $15 million. We’re not talking about a vow of poverty here.

Indeed, we’re not talking about poverty – or wealth – at all. And that tells us something truly depressing about our current economic moment: We’ve lost our sense of moral outrage about inequality. Vast riches, amid rising levels of unemployment and destitution: Who cares?

Even President Obama, when he weighed in on the James sweepstakes, said simply that he hoped the hoopster would sign with Obama’s hometown Chicago Bulls. No mention about how much these players earn, and how much the rest of us need those earnings.

And make no mistake: We do need them. While James was dithering about which team would give him millions of dollars, Obama was crisscrossing the country pleading for Congress to extend unemployment assistance to the nation’s 15 million jobless adults. Republicans – and some Democrats – balked at the proposal, complaining that any such aid would swell the federal deficit...