Charmingly, it includes a quote from Moodys without mentioning that credit rating agencies (including, specifically, Moodys) were complicit in creating the sub-prime mortgage problem in the first place.
Journalism should give insight, and a necessary part of this story is that major corporations were badly regulated and did what they will always tend to do: increase their profits without regard of external costs.
Hell, you literally see this in management "automating" something. They go and create some registration service, for, say, sending out packages between offices. After that is created, now everyone OUTSIDE of the shipping department has to fill out forms, instead of the shipping department itself having to fill that out. Same thing, much smaller change.
Same for "self-service" account stuff for electricity.
> In retrospect, refinancing their home was a bad idea.
> It was easy money, the Santillans were told. Borrow against your house, it’s sure to gain value.
> In retrospect, they didn’t look closely enough at the terms of the paperwork they were signing, they say now. They didn’t realize how much the amount they owed each month could change suddenly, depending on interest rates.
You've summarized only the first four paragraphs of the Santillan's story (which starts in paragraph 7) and covers up to 2009.
The meat of the story covers their recovery, 2009-2017, and is contained within the 20+ paragraphs after your summary ends. It is a story about how, without stable living conditions, life is difficult. It's difficult for workers, parents, children, students, and everyone in-between. It's a story about how broad economic recovery sometimes still leaves people 'behind' their peers in wealth, education, and personal security.
Easy to dismiss, but the only difference between my experience and their ARM fiasco, is that I had an 18 month period to realize my payments were only going up, AND I had the additional income to refinance into a fixed rate loan.
It's very easy to blow this off as a 'caveat emptor' thing. Doing so GREATLY misses the point.
It's now virtually impossible for a young couple in Denver to afford anything OTHER than renting. The market is pricing homeownership completely out of reach to a VAST majority of the population.
[+] [-] dsr_|8 years ago|reply
Journalism should give insight, and a necessary part of this story is that major corporations were badly regulated and did what they will always tend to do: increase their profits without regard of external costs.
[+] [-] candiodari|8 years ago|reply
Hell, you literally see this in management "automating" something. They go and create some registration service, for, say, sending out packages between offices. After that is created, now everyone OUTSIDE of the shipping department has to fill out forms, instead of the shipping department itself having to fill that out. Same thing, much smaller change.
Same for "self-service" account stuff for electricity.
[+] [-] ggambetta|8 years ago|reply
> In retrospect, refinancing their home was a bad idea.
> It was easy money, the Santillans were told. Borrow against your house, it’s sure to gain value.
> In retrospect, they didn’t look closely enough at the terms of the paperwork they were signing, they say now. They didn’t realize how much the amount they owed each month could change suddenly, depending on interest rates.
[+] [-] sarcher|8 years ago|reply
The meat of the story covers their recovery, 2009-2017, and is contained within the 20+ paragraphs after your summary ends. It is a story about how, without stable living conditions, life is difficult. It's difficult for workers, parents, children, students, and everyone in-between. It's a story about how broad economic recovery sometimes still leaves people 'behind' their peers in wealth, education, and personal security.
[+] [-] Damogran6|8 years ago|reply
It's very easy to blow this off as a 'caveat emptor' thing. Doing so GREATLY misses the point.
It's now virtually impossible for a young couple in Denver to afford anything OTHER than renting. The market is pricing homeownership completely out of reach to a VAST majority of the population.