Re: The fundamentals of our economy ARE strong. McCain was right.

John Schilling wrote:
Reality check: Approximately 92% of the mortgages in the United
States are still being paid, in full, every month. Mostly because
they are prime fixed-rate mortgages, some because they are sub-prime
ARMs to people who, while struggling more than they expected, can
still make the payments and prefer that to eviction.

Of the few that are delinquent, about 75% manage to get caught up
and/or renegotiated in time to avoid foreclosure.

And most are written for more than the value of the house in the
current market; virtually all are written for at least 75% of the
value of the house in the current market.


I, am not assuming that *all* of those mortgages will be paid. I
am,
very explicitly, riduculing the notion that *none* of these
mortgages
will be paid.

You, are confusing the delta with the mean, the news with the status
quo, and neglecting the rather important detail that between "all"
and "none" is bit of middle ground called "some". Which can be
further pinned down with a little thing called "math", and in cases
like this it's actually important to do the math.

What's important here is that the people who did the math fucked it
up, and then leveraged themselves to their eyeteeth based on the
fucked-up result.

And now want us to pay for their stupidity, of course, but it's not as
if their sense of entitlement is exactly news.


.