The Observation Deck

sharon kinsella wrote:Todd and Stephen -

Your little "atta boys" are getting annoying.

Stephen - I don't care about your political affiliation - I do care about the positions that you take that come off as superior and elitist and I don't like them. I have told you this in private and am now taking it to the board. I gave you the opportunity to meet with me one on one and you refused. You'd rather just snipe and think your clever.

I look at the facts and put personal responsibility on the individual making the decision. Demonizing people who disagree with you seems to be your style. You seem to resort to name calling and labeling an awful lot. As a superior elitist, I never mingle with the small people.

You are a very sad and a very little man.

If your reading comprehension is up to par you will see that I told you how you sound. I did not call you names.

And if I demonize the devil it just means I recognize the meaning behind the words and will call it as I see it.

If you don't like that - tough.

Justine Cooper wrote:Some how I doubt that he doesn't see a cent of that!! So he took on VP as a charity? Wow we are blessed to have a social service volunteer! Bush does charity too! I heard his heart urges him to pardon people now because jail is such an ugly place. oh wrong thread.

No person in government office should EVER be tied to a company making a profit off of a war!!! (and didn't they take the money and not do the work?)

LOL.. Cheney gave about $7 million dollars to charities in 2005. His Salary at Halliburton was well over a million as VP he makes about $200k a year..

sharon kinsella wrote:You are a very sad and a very little man.

If your reading comprehension is up to par you will see that I told you how you sound. I did not call you names.

And if I demonize the devil it just means I recognize the meaning behind the words and will call it as I see it.

If you don't like that - tough.

lol... I will meet you at the lemonade stand at Detroit and Lauderdale.

Justine if your correct ( and I have absolutely no reason to doubt you) that 35-50% of subprime borrowers could have qualified for a conventional mortgage that really begs the questions whose fault is it that they are in the position they are in.
People will drive across town to save a dime on a gallon of gas; is it then to much to ask that they should investigate all of their options before making the biggest investment of their lives

sharon kinsella wrote:You are a very sad and a very little man.

If your reading comprehension is up to par you will see that I told you how you sound. I did not call you names.
And if I demonize the devil it just means I recognize the meaning behind the words and will call it as I see it.

If you don't like that - tough.

I'm also tired of your racist and classist attitudes

Todd,
I can only tell you that the snake oil salesmen know how to sell. We should all be educated on mortgages and such at the high school level. Many people were really fooled by the sales tactics of these salesmen. Unless you saw it firsthand I can't explain it, but they fooled mostly minorities and elderly (which even phone companies do that when they can) and also educated people. People are more educated now than they ever have been on mortgages but before all this, they were not. That is why there are hearings and legislation, although some states did it before all the damage was done.

I can tell you real estate agents found mortgage companies to get deals done. The bottom line was selling houses and for awhile we could all boast high sales on houses and then BAM, down came the house of cards and yes we all suffer from it, as home owners and consumers.

Have I also seen the greedy side? Hell yes I have. I knew a couple that lived high off the hog and while my husband was working two jobs and doing all the home remodeling himself (if you come over don't look at the crooked lines) this couple hired people for everything! This included a thousand dollars to spotlight their house! They bought big beautiful cars, flat screen tv's, you name it! I am talking a fifty thousand dollar car! So after they were all mortgaged up keeping up with the Jones, they claimed bankruptcy before those laws changed! Hell yes it makes me mad to see stuff like that.
But if you read all the facts of predatory lending, there are thousands of cases where that is not the case. You will see they targeted people they could swindle. And yes, we should have laws against companies like that. Just like we should have laws against lead in our paint and lead in the toys coming in from China! They may not seem connected to you, but the ultimate goal should be to protect the consumer, not the politicians from the lobbyists.

Sharon,
Are you quoting Shrek now? We should all be in church today saving our souls instead of trying to save each others!

a thousand dollars to spotlight their house!

They should have done solar. It would have been chepaer!

Justine -

Shrek aint got nothing on me kiddo!

I don't understand why people can't have conversations without resorting to personal insults?

Why can't we all accept that people have different opinions and try to better understand where we come from rather than trying to belittle others or their opinions?

Of course if I knew the answer to that, I could also bring world peace.

I'm dying over here! My four year old son would say that line from Shrek "You are a strange a little man" and that became his nickname every time he did something weird!!!

So you admit you hghlite with solar Stephen? OK no angry letters from those who highlight! This had to do with the context of spending money you actually have!

Jim O'Bryan wrote:http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag ... 41664.html

See for yourself. Some items we lack other items that many would view as important we are much better than the average for the top 100 cities.

Especially crime, we are better!

Back to the original point of this thread...

Jim, thanks for sharing the link. I spent some time today looking at the stats and comparing Lakewood to other cities. It really is amazing how great we compare and the things I didn't even realize. For example, that Lakewood is within 30 miles of about 35 colleges or technical schools or the sheer number of museums. And of course our crime stats are better than the average and right in line with our suburban neighbors.

Actually it was Jim who took the discussion to foreclosures! But we all know that Lakewood is the best place to live around here! And houses at least are still affordable!

Crap, looks like we don't compare very well. Looks like we've got some work to do to reach the levels that the top cities are at.

Kind of hard to be rated a top city linked to Cleveland that has been going down the tubes for awhile. But as a suburb we rock. The coolest people live here and you know it Shawn!