It amazes me that some people on this board are unable to understand the concept of fiscal responsibility. The biggest single "catastrophe" here is poor financial planning & judgement, period. When do we stop giving everyone a pass for their poor decision-making and instead insist on a higher level of personal responsibility.
It is a fact that this lady did not have the money to undertake this garage makeover. She explicity stated that she was running up her credit card to fund this project.
It is a fact that, in the midst of this garage makeover, that she was starting down the path of foreclosure. If money were so tight to begin with, and she had no spare money whatsoever, then it was irresponsible to waste money & credit on the garage.
While I wish the best for 2DoubleDs, there is no question that she made some very poor financial decisions. Yet most people here choose to NOT hold her accountable for the situation she finds herself in. Instead, you feel that "she has done no wrong." This notion...do whatever you want, however irresponsible, without any repercussions...is what is hurting this country.
Lets advocate that people spend money they don't have on unneeded things, then have the taxpayers bail them out when they can't pay their mortgage. What a great plan!
I think most folks here understand the concepts of fiscal responsiblity. What we don't understand, is why that would supplant your sense of compassion.
Simply stating that your assumptions are "fact", does not, in fact, make them so. It simply makes you appear foolish. If you speak in absolutes, and are wrong, then you have no credibility. You are ASSUMING that their financial situation was so tenuous that this was a recipe for disaster. You have no actual knowledge whatsoever. I know of very few people, of all walks of life, and of various financial strata, that don't incur debt which they realistically expect to pay off over time. You make it sound as though she engaged in criminal behaviour by having faith in her ability to repay her debts. You say that she "explicitly stated that she was running up her credit card to fund this project." In point of FACT, what she stated was,
"Everything is going fine construction wise so far, but I need to start making some decisions. Most everything I get will have to come from Home Depot, mainly because I have a pretty good amount of credit there and I really don't want to charge anything else up."
So apparently, utilzing the help of relatives and friends, thereby displacing onerous labor costs, she was investing money into their home, and sourcing it from one place. Judging from the information I gathered from her posts, the majority of her outlay was for actual construction materials, and only some "toys". I didn't see in her posts how much of this outlay was directly from her Home Depot card, so it would be an ASSUMPTION to say that she 'ran up her credit card debt'. Nor do you know how much financial investment might have been made by her relatives, if any. It is certain that some items were NOT purchased thru Home Depot, most notably a poker table, and a stripper pole.
She has also gone to great pains to explain that she overreacted to the situation with her mortgage company, not that she needed to explain herself to anyone, least of all you. Maybe you missed this ENTIRE post:
"CLEARLY...I don't know much about mortgage jargon. But all the BIG trouble started in October when the California fires went retarded. I had to close my daycare for a week and evacuate. That was a huge financial set back, being as I had already lost a few kids, I had to refund money for that week and spend money to get me and the baby the hell outta Dodge. Room and board for a week is expensive. When we got back I called the mortgage company and asked for a deferred payment, which they refused. So I fell behind for a payment. The next week they sent me a "You're loan is in default" letter. Scared the **** outta me. Like I said, I don't know much about this stuff so I figured that I was in forclosure after one missed payment. After that they wouldn't talk to me to work something out. And everyone (friends, family, realitor type folks) would suggest all these things and I would say " I tried that, they said no." And they would all go "Well who's your mortgage company?" And I would say "GMAC" and everyone would go "Ooooooooh. Okay, yeah. They're harsh. (no sh*t, you're telling me!) And so it has continued until very recently when they sent a letter saying 'fill all this stuff out and we'll see what we can do about re-working your loan'."
So it would appear that things are not as dire as they seem, but more that she was unnecessarily intimidated by her lender. Certainly no lender would ever engage in such behavior, would they? And reversals of fortune such as she experienced are certainly not isolated to those guilty of "poor financial planning and judgement".
You state that you "wish the best for 2DoubleDs". I doubt that very much. I believe that you are much more concerned with self-aggrandization and trying to prove how clever you are making value judgements where you are clearly unqualified, and don't really give a tinker's damn about anyone else. You then continue on to infer that she (and others like her, no doubt?) are responsible for... what, the decline of the United States of America? How incredibly stupid is that?
You speak of "personal responsiblity". Perhaps a little thoughtful introspection should become YOUR personal responsiblity, and you could thoughfully spare the rest of us your sanctimonious, apoplectic ravings. No, really, we "insist".