This Country Needs a Suze Smackdown!!!!!!

*****WARNING! This is a rant! It's all my opinion, but I need to vent a little, and since this is my blog, I'm doing it here!!**********

Since I have been out of work since last month, I don't watch the news like I used to. Before DH and I would go to bed, we'd watch the 10 o'clock news, and in the morning, we have the news on while we get up and get ready. That way we were up to speed so when people at work would bring up a topic, we would be informed of what was going on. Now that I'm not working, I'm going to bed later, and our DVR and TV schedule is full, so we don't watch it at night, and I'm asleep while DH gets ready for work. That being said, I wasn't really up to speed with this whole 'Occupy Wall Street' thing. I'm still not 100% sure what the hey is going on, but all I know is a bunch of people across the country are very upset with corporate greed. I guess these people think that this 'corporate greed' is a new thing, but in reality it's been going on for quite awhile, it's just coming to the surface now. Many of these people are upset for jobs lost or what not for corporate greed. So they are outside for weeks now protesting. Do they think they are getting their points across? Probably not. I figure those on wall street, you know, the big wigs with tons of money are sitting there pointing and laughing at all of them. What's sad is that some of these people are so 'for the purpose' they are getting arrested for getting out of line. Many of these people are unemployed I figure since they can sit outside all day and night protesting. And then get arrested...which will probably go on their records. Then good luck getting a job when the 'arrest' question comes on the job applications. Good job.

What I don't understand is this. I will assume once again that many, if not the majority of the people outside protesting are unemployed. I highly doubt that they have jobs that will allow them to go out and protest and still get paid. That being said, I will guess that many are collecting unemployment benefits. Okay, so let me get this straight. they are out protesting, no jobs, no money coming in. How do they support themselves? How do they support their families, pay the bills, etc? I know some good-hearted people donated items to these people, but really people? In NJ to certify for unemployment each week, you need to answer a few questions, one of which 'Were you actively seeking work?" Of course you answer yes, b/c most people are trying to get interviews, networking, etc. FACE TIME. Not email time. Not talking via emails/text via smartphone. Hmmmmm, smart phone huh? How do these people pay those bills with no job? But I bet they all say 'Yes' when asked the 'actively seeking employment' question. My suggestion is to give a few people jobs and go around, asking for PHOTO id for everyone protesting. Can't supply it? You're gone. You can't stay. So, these people go out checking ID's and SSN's, etc. They then go back to the office and pull up these people. If they have been collecting unemployment, it stops then and there, and they will be required to pay back ALL six weeks or so that they collected. If Bloomberg or Ray Kelly or whoever gives out this information people may take them seriously. Stop living off other people's money. So, they go to the people that people will be collecting info from ID's and if you are found to be falsely collecting unemployment, you will be required to pay back the 6 weeks and no more unemployment. Bet a lot of people will not be protesting! I probably wouldn't mind as much, but people are getting hurt, arrested, etc. It just went way to far in my opinion.

I've also come across some news about Student Loans and how the government is stepping in to help. Wait, what???? I was upset about the whole saving the big financial institutions, but if the government didn't, well, this country would be a lot more in trouble then we are now. The whole issue I cannot STAND and I hear it all the time is the mortgage industry. That these big banks loaned out money for people to buy homes that they couldn't afford. Wait. The banks didn't just go knocking on random people's doors saying 'Here's 500k, want it????' NO, people would go online or call the banks or go in and ASK for the money. The bank says 'Ok, here you go' and then the people SIGN on the dotted line for their line. And in ALL that mortgage paperwork is ALL the info. But do people read it? Nope. They took out mortgages they couldn't afford. They either financed 100%(like my DH and I did) or did an ARM, where they pay just the interest, then after 3, 5 7, etc years the numbers will reset. But nobody foreshadowed the housing market crash. Really people? What did you expect, paying $3k a month in interest on a house you can't afford, then when it resets you can't afford the mortgage? Did you do your homework? NO. Were the banks greedy trying to get more interest money from you? Absolutely. But YOU signed saying you will make the payments, etc. Then you cried for the government to help you. And cried and cried until some fairy godmother came to bail you out, helping you refinance to make your payments more affordable.

Want to know what this girl did? When DH and I got engaged, we bought a house. We moved in together a year before our wedding. We went from no payments (both lived with parents) to having a mortgage payment, utilities, house insurance, grocery bills, etc. It was a SHOCK. I cried myself to sleep when we first moved in, trying to figure out how would could afford our lifestyle. Oh, and we were planning a wedding too. I did a LOT of research and started watching Suze Orman. I needed a way to afford all of our stuff. We put no money down on our house as we wanted to have money to buy furniture, etc. We got the cheapest carpets we could (previous owners had a dog and two cats, and my father in law is allergic), got very cheap living room furniture (between 300-400 dollars for a new couch, sofa AND recliner!). We made a dining room table out of a poker table. We put plywood above the table and voila, dining room table. We used our old bedroom furniture in the bedrooms. Watching Suze and researching ways to decrease spending really opened my eyes. This is when I took on couponing...started out slow and now and one of those 'Extreme Couponers' I get asked in the store if I've ever been on the show. No I reply, it's not real...but that's for another blog post. DH and I sat down, and decided after the wedding, we would pay down ALL our debt, and started ASAP we'd set up a budget. We wanted to save for our future as well. It was hard work, but we got through it. 5 years later, I'm not working currently, we have our EF plus some. We fully fund our Roths, no debt other then 8k in student loan debt at 2% and our house. I've followed a budget since then, and I watch Suze Orman every Saturday night. DH and I don't go out. Yet, our friends that claim they are broke, can't save, can't pay bills go out EVERY weekend to bars. Ones where it's $6 for a beer and $9 for a cocktail. They go out Friday and Saturday nights, then Sunday afternoon for football time...yet they can't pay their bills? Disgusting. It really irritates me.

Getting back to student loans, now President Obama is helping out those that took out too large student loans. Really? Here we go again. Nobody told these people to go to an expensive school. Nobody said going to college is a necessity...it's a LUXURY people! If you can't afford it, then don't go. Save up money and pay CASH (Suze's advice). I have student loans, from my undergrad and grad years. And I've managed to get them from over $50k to $8k in a few years. These are loans you don't mess with as they will not be forgiven in bankruptcy, they will stick with you forever. But yet people are crying it's too much money, they can't pay them back. Well, I say that if you need the government to help you, you have to help them too. You don't want to pay back your student loans? You want them forgiven b/c you can't afford them? Well, then your degree goes back too. You no longer will have a prestigious degree from a prestigious university. Bet then too people will pay back their student loans!

I just think people need to put on their big girl panties and man up and make up for their own mistakes. Stop putting your hand out asking for money or help. You want help, you have to do it on your own. Looking at corporate greed, they aren't looking at for YOUR best interests. The only person to help YOU and YOUR best interests is youself! Step up! we need to hold these people to the fire. It wasn't all the banks fault....they say the banks were greedy, well so were you, applying and taking mortgages that were WAY above your head. How can we teach our kids responsibility when adults just point the blame at everyone else for their own problems?