So yesterday, I drive the short 45 minutes in heavy traffic, to 'Dreamworks' in Burbank and had lunch with my oldest Son, who works there. As usual it was Great!

He sold his condo in Orange County at the very top of the market more than a year ago (and I mean at the EXACT top of the market -- he/we planned it day by day hour by hour when to list it etc.) and has been renting since, waiting for the right time to buy a bigger place ... he follows the market very closely; we talk about lending stuff and property values etc. frequently. He thinks today, he'll sit tight for more than another full year, or possibly rent even longer, with values plunging like they are in Orange County (last time they did that was in the early 1990's).

So yesterday we're discussing what a mess the residential real estate mortgage lending industry is in, who caused it, and what to do about it, and so on. The conversation naturally turned to all those 'poor people' who got stuffed into homes they should never have qualified for in the first place, and the coming foreclosure explosion. Coming I said? It's here right now! ... I explained it was a period where lenders and loan officers discovered it was easy to GIVE AWAY money, instead of lending it with actual loan standards! I mean how hard can that be, right?

Anyhow, I asked him the next time he has "poor/unfortunate consumer" feelings, and is talking with his mother about that, I said "ask her how many years in the beginning of our marraige did 'I' have a second job" -- because that's my solution for those "poor consumers" ... go out and get a second job and pay your dam bills - LIKE I DID!