A friend of mine who lives in the U.S. sent me a comment on my last blog that is worthy of a posting of its own. She is witnessing first-hand the fallout in the housing market and has a few words of her own for George and Ben.

Tom, You couldn't be more bang on. It is really unfathomable to think that people who are supposed to be much smarter than me would think that a 'rebate' is going to solve the problems of the day. Maybe Americans really are as stupid as the rest of the world views them. Do George and Ben really think a trip to the mall will make everything magically better? We live in a city being decimated by foreclosure. Why? There are lots of construction projects here, there are many unfilled jobs and the cost of living is reasonable, actually cheap when you compare to other places in the world. One word. Greed! Everyone wanted the BIG house and the two luxury cars and the Harley and the pool and the, and the....They used their house like an ATM and now they have to pay. Oh! The house isn't worth as much any more and since they didn't put any money down and decided not paying any interest for a few years would be a good idea, all of a sudden they are in a pickle.

As conservative Canadians we thought we should buy a home that was less than what they said we could afford, put down our 20% (which we worked hard to save) so we didn't have to get mortgage insurance and took out a 15 year mortgage (unheard of in the USA) and paid it off in 5 years when we were making lots of money so we are debt free. But the kicker is that I don't know if that was the best move because all these greedy people are driving the market value down and they are going to get bailed out and we won't get a nickle.

The Nevada gov't a few years ago gave a rebate when there was a surplus of funds and sent us all a check for $60. Like I remember what I spent that on but I'm sure it wasn't anything important. Now they are in dire straits and don't have enough to fund the education programs that my children would benefit from. I wish they would have kept that 60 bucks.

It's time to make the public grow up and start living within their means. Until Big Daddy Gov't stops handing out 'free money' this will be an ongoing problem. I love the saying, "it's not how much money you make, it's how much you spend". And I hope the public sees whats going on in the presidential campaigns with their promises to stimulate the economy. Nice talk but who is going to pay for it? Looks like I will have to become a citizen so I can vote.