Stupid People on the News

ABC News has been reporting a lot about the economy and the tough times that have hit middle class American families. And so they have been trying to put faces on the people drowning under mortgage payments or facing foreclosure. Tonight they featured a family in southern Florida, husband who is in human resources, wife that is in pharmaceutical sales and their two kids. They have a nice house too:
But in 2004 they decided to make an investment and because the stock market was not doing so well, and because everybody told them to, they invested in real estate and bought TWO condos with every intention of flipping them. But then the real estate bubble burst and now they're stuck with the two condos on top of their mortgage payments.

I don't feel sorry for these people at all. An investment is a risk and even with "careful planning" you can still face a loss. It's like playing blackjack and knowing when you should statistically hit or stay -- you can still lose even if you play it right. But the family says they don't want people to feel sorry for them, "No we're not looking for sympathy. I think what we're looking for is that, for, um, that we're not uncommon, there are a lot of people in our situation." The wife adds that she doesn't want people to view them as "people out to get a quick buck or who being greedy, because we weren't going out trying to be the next Trumps. We were just trying to, you know, jump a couple of steps to give our family a security, the financial security that we knew that just going to work everyday wasn't going to bring." Right... Did she even listen to the words coming out of her mouth? They weren't greedy when they decided to get TWO condos. And they're not trying to get rich quick, but "jump a couple of steps" -- she should just admit that they were trying to cash in quick and it failed.

What's worse is the news reporter takes a sympathetic approach to them by mentioning their family and how they wanted financial security -- something that everyone can relate to. But when the husband admits that they're still trying to live the way they used to -- even though his salary alone is less than the monthly payments of the condos -- he isn't questioned if that really is a good idea. So you have people in denial that they made a mistake in buying two condos -- they blame it more on the market -- and living beyond their means because not only do they want to admit that they made a mistake, they don't want others to see them as people who made a mistake. What's the problem with this? They won't learn anything from their mistake and are apt to repeat it. And what's sad is she's right -- they aren't alone; There are plenty of other stupid people in the same situation as them, bound to repeat again and again.