How much blame do you & I accept for the nation's economic woes?

[Philosoraptor]

Since the monstrous finger of blame is flying across the land like some angry hurricane, how much blame are you personally willing to accept?

I've heard many the pundit in the last few days say that its really OUR fault that things are tanking.

Have you been living beyond your means, or way below them? Did you charge stuff, did you take out frivolous loans? Were you foolish and do you now deserve punishment?

[fasttense]

1. I'll take the blame for the crash on Wall Street yesterday.

I didn't know I was that powerful.

[Philosoraptor]

2. I KNEW it! May the fickle finger of blame fly up your nose.

[zanne]

I fault Bush for his "Ownership Society" 2006 campaign theme.

Remember that? It's funny; the MSM doesn't.

[El Pinko]

3. A better question, did you vote for the cheap labor repugs & dems?

NT

[polichick]

4. I've used credit wisely - it's a great tool used well. Also taken risks...

...in the market ~ won some, lost some ~ it's to be expected in that game.

DEREGULATION is to blame ~ plain and simple. Free market economics only works when you can control the bad guys.

[Philosoraptor]

7. I actually remember the 'it was you & me who killed Kennedy' meme.

That's where Mick Jagger got the lyrics for 'Sympathy for the devil'

[polichick]

12. Good to remember that right about now! Sociopaths always go for sympathy...

...when they're cornered. (Just finished The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout ~ great read.)

[hobbit709]

5. We owe $13500 on our ORIGINAL mortgage-payments under $500/mo.

and we have less that $1500 and dropping in total credit card debt. We own a 1986 Subaru and a 1992 Toyota truck. We don't have a big screen TV. So I say say "FUCK YOU" to those that say I'm to blame.

[NC_Nurse]

6. I think "deserve punishment" is kinda harsh...I think the problem is our

instant gratification culture here. I am guilty of some of the kind of financial shell games that many Americans use to get more than they can afford. I am lucky because my profession
is in high demand in a growing industry. Therefore, I have always been able to pay off my debts. many people have not been so lucky.

I think the encouragement of materialism and GET WHAT YOU WANT RIGHT NOW has screwed up most Americans. I am also fortunate to have woken up a few years ago and started realizing I didn't NEED all that shit. I stopped the ride and pulled in my spending. I hope to be able to ride this out, but who knows?

[HereSince1628]

8. I feel so bad. I shredded my credit cards years ago, I don't shop enough

Oh God! Oh fellow countrymen! Forgive me! Forgive me!!!




or not.

[mass independent]

9. None

"how much blame are you personally willing to accept?"

When there's a car accident do you blame the passenger in the back seat or the hostage who happens to be hog tied in the truck?

[JHB]

10. I think it's sort of like responsibility for increasingly rancid "partisanship"

In one sense, we're all responsible.

But when you take a look at what has driven it to this state, all the "spikes" rising above the background noise are Republican (or in the economic case, "free marketeers", which is Republicans plus "New Economy" Democrats)

[lamp_shade]

11. NONE. Nada. Zip. Zilch. I'm beholdin' to only ONE creditor.

BOA (my mortgage). I pay cash for everything else.

[1awake]

13. oh, theres enough blame

to go around for everyone, so let's dip our cups and take a big drink.

[riona]

14. No debt here.

Sometimes it's tempting to spend beyond your income. If you don't want go into debt, you can't always have the most up to date electronics, cars, or live the ritziest lifestyle. I feel fortunate that my income permits a roof over my head, food, a pet, a healthy household, and occasional extras. I'm not about to jeopardize this by knowingly going into debt. At the same time, I know that there are those who, through no fault of their own, can't get by at all. I worry about them, not the bigwigs that have run their companies into the ground.

[lostnotforgotten]

15. No Debt But Mortgage - Credit Cards Paid Up In Full Every Month

If I don't have cash, I don't spend very much.

[Inkyfuzzbottom]

16. My mantra is...

there are WANTS and there are NEEDS. Just because you want something doesn't mean you need it. We always ask ourselves is this something we really need...or do we just want it? By sticking with getting only what we need we have successfully paid off our home mortgage, paid off our vehicles and we live debt free. Now we are able to get a few wants from time to time. We have no marble foyer, no granite counter tops, no stainless steel appliances, no open floor concept, no vaulted ceilings, no multiple bathrooms, none of that crap. Our vehicles are nice, modest and American made...and paid for. We dress well and I buy our clothes at thrift shops, consignment shops, ebay and online sales. We eat well because I use coupons and buy what is on sale. My husband and I both come from lower middle class working backgrounds with German ancestry. We were raised to be frugal just like our parents. We never bought into the keeping up with the Joneses mentality. People got caught in the trap of wanting too much and wanting it NOW. Just because you want something doesn't mean you need it!

[Brazenly Liberal]

17. The spouse and I bow our heads and share the blame for this mess

Yes, we have lived beyond our means.

It could have been okay. We had no other debt except for a reasonable mortgage on our (one and only) house. But we looked at that swell health insurance from his employer and we got cocky and went on a wild medical spending spree. Talk about your midlife crisis - he had a heart attack and I had major surgery. We never stopped to think that even with insurance, we'd be end up many thousands of dollars in debt. We just saw that shiny hospital door and had to have it NOW NOW NOW!!! What crazy kids we are!!

It's all our fault. Please don't hate us too much.

[Hubert Flottz]

18. Criminals ALWAYS try to shift the blame away from themselves.

[JonLP24]

19. Well I did have a car repossessed back in June by Wachovia

I was a first time car buyer and the dealer convinced me that a 16% APR was the lowest I could get. I was discharged from the military June 27th and in that period my pay was taken out from April 15th to the time I got out for mysterious reasons. My LES said it was "Indebtness" "debt" and some other shit, my pay was stopped for no reason. I took it up with them and they said they would back pay me but it was so much of a bueracurcy that I needed to personally go down to finance myself. Plus I was double charged for gear, before we deployed to Iraq we turned in our woodline camo for the new urban digitized flak vests and traded in the old style kevlar for the new ACH in which I was charged for the woodline shit I traded in. An error in paperwork I couldn't prove otherwise, I should've inventoried the list before signing off on it.

[DS1]

20. zero

I rent, have no credit debt, no car debt, no college debt.

No debt at all, actually.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

21. Live within my means,

don't use a credit card, only borrow against my own CD, and walk to work. The thing that ticks me off is that these reckless gamblers may have messed up my mom's retirement nest egg--this woman ALWAYS lived within her means, NEVER had a loan except for a mortgage on her first house, and always paid her credit card off completely each month--she lost a credit card because of this, btw. She's really worried, and it's really not fair that she should be.

[madrchsod]

22. no credit cards

house mortgage well within our income level,and a pay here car "loan". all in all we are pretty much off the grid.

[Ganja Ninja]

23. I have no mortgage and make my credit card payment on time.

I also did not vote for Bush or any other Republican so I'm as pure as the driven snow on this one.

[Philosoraptor]

24. ............