Bankers are a funny bunch. Investors, too. The latter will coo about how necessary it is to take risks in order to achieve payoffs. The former will often tell the public “we don’t take risks” while they roll the dice in the back room with our cash (and the government’s these days).
It’s quite entertaining to watch, while at the same time momentarily maddening. After being declined today for a simple loan (government backed, mind you) to do some efficiency and comfort upgrades to our home, I got to thinking about it a little more.
Aside from our personal immediate needs and wishes, an interesting dynamic shift in lending has started to have an even more interesting effect on many of us. The lending industry will argue, accurately, that many loans failed in the last 4-5 years as the market crashed as a result of lending money to people who were “high risk”.
Apparently, myself and most other middle class are high risk.
Funny – I don’t feel high risk. I actually feel like I’m a pretty good bet. Heck, I’d even be willing to argue my case in front of some bankers. Never defaulted on a loan, never been late on a payment, always pay loans off early – I’m a damn goldmine.
But depending on how you skew statistics (which I believe are naturally useless for much else than a sprite debate) you can easily argue that damn near everyone is ineligible for a loan. In fact, I suspect that by modern standards, most would be deemed inneligable for just about anything that could inconvenience someone in a position of wealth or power or having something else to loose of importance.
Where’s that spirit of taking a risk that the banking industry failed at in their backrooms? Can’t they just admit to their faults and start taking some chances on their customers for a change?
Perhaps they shouldn’t. Sounds like a failed PR stunt to me.
We are, after all risks. Known quantities.
So, then, I ask – If the US is to get off its ass and re-make that which has failed miserably, where is the money going to come from to finance what’s next?
Sure, it’s going to be lean in comparison to growth patterns of the past. One must negotiate good deals at every turn to be successful and have something truly unique.
The point is – we’re heading back into a time when in order to be successful, you do have to work hard and there will be no guarantees of fair payout. The concept of “fair” is being rewritten.
Wrong? Right?
Depends on who you ask. For those who are negatively impacted, you can guess their response.
To those holding all the cards (or cash in this case), it’s nothing to be terribly concerned about and should in fact be lauded as a necessary part of the economic correction.
Me? I find the whole situation to be maddening on grounds of the complicated nature of it all. Long gone are the days of obtaining credit, buying anything or making decisions without having to invest substantial effort in evaluating the situation. There are simply too many variables to consider now.
Perhaps we have too much information at our fingertips and we’re now expected to make the most of it. Without that information, we would make elementary mistakes of catastrophic consequence. Right?
Perhaps and perhaps not. With being informed comes greater responsibility.
Responsibility to not ask for too much?
Responsibility to consider a wider scope of consequences?
At what point are we allowed to live our lives again as simple human beings enjoying modern convenience? Wasn’t that the selling point of modernism?
It seems to delivered a bit short of expectations.
I simply would like some bankers to stop holding the cards so close and lend me what I need to make some minor upgrades to my home. It doesn’t need to be complicated. It’s quite elementary, wouldn’t you say?
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