Life's Funny That Way

Changes

"Don't mistake changing
headlines for changes"
d.a. levy

Changes, in reality, are not brought forth by changing headlines… although I do believe that public opinion is swayed by the doom and gloom headlines of late.  Yes, we are in very serious financial times, but if the headlines weren’t constantly telling us how bad things are, and that they will get worse, we may not have had as big of a public panic as we did.

My favorite headlines are the ones last year that predicted over $4 per gallon of gas… shortly after that, the price started to rise steadily.  Now, did the price really need to go up, or did it just go up because the media had already prepped people for it?  The oil companies still recorded record profits, so… you decide. 

The changes in the headlines didn’t make the change in some people getting foreclosed upon…. I know there are people who are in serious financial hurt that have done nothing wrong, and those are not the people I’m talking about (my heart truly goes out to them!).  I am talking about the people who made investments in several condos and other properties that they never had an intention of living in... and then lost money.  I do not feel sorry for someone who says someone else said it was a good investment … there’s always risk.  I also don’t feel all that bad for people who are in a family of five making a total income of $30,000 a year and bought a $500,000 house because some banker told them they could afford it (until their ARM adjusted).  I know that makes a lot of people mad that I say this, but let’s think about it rationally.  What did they really think was going to happen? 

The headlines didn’t make a lot of these changes.  People’s actions (or inactions, or greed, or what have you) make changes.  I will climb down from my soapbox now, and I’m sorry if I offended anyone.  That was not my intention.  My intention is to say that we are adults and must think for ourselves at times.  We need to look at our own lives and make the changes and decisions that are right for us, regardless of what the newspaper headlines say.


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