Polls Polls and More Polls!

So, I came across this article and felt the need to express an opinion (surprise surprise).

The title is "81 percent of Americans think country on 'wrong track'." I just so happen to agree, but little did I know that there had been a study done. Apparently four out of five people in America think that the country is heading the wrong direction. My first question is How come I was never interviewed? I never am. You would think that people do enough polls nowadays that I would be included in some one's "random sampling" of pollees (pollee's? Is that the right term? Hmm...).

If you read the article, you will see on the first page that "Only 4 percent of survey respondents said the country was better off than it was five years ago, while 78 percent said it was worse," which begs the question: Who are these 4%, and do they live in a hole? The same thing goes for the "21 percent of respondents said the overall economy was in good condition." Five years ago we had just invaded Iraq, the economy was on an upswing, gold was about $325 per oz, the Dollar was worth 0.930 Euros, and oil was around $30 to $40 per barrel. If you compare these things with today's figures (4,000 dead in Iraq, economy is in a recession, gold is about $1,000 per oz, the Dollar is at 0.5017 Euros and oil is over $100 per barrel), I think that it is safe to say that we are much worse off than we were 5 years ago.

Third. While I don't know enough about the banking industry to have an informed opinion as to what caused the mortgage crisis, I do know enough to disagree with this statement: "Americans blamed government officials more than banks or home buyers and other borrowers for the turmoil." I think that the banks are mostly to blame for the collapse. Banks that were making risky loans are mostly just reaping what was sown. Granted, the government should have better oversight policies in place to prevent this type of thing from happening, but we (are supposed to) live in a capitalistic society. The concept of capitalism applies to banks too, no? Banks were making these bad loans because it allowed them to do more business, aka take in more money. And in a capitalistic society it's all about the Benjamen's.

Also, there has got to be some degree of personal responsibility when it comes to the mortgage aspect of buying a house. Perhaps it's just me, but it aught to be common sense to fully understand what you're getting into when you take a loan out for hundreds of thousands of dollars. I realize that the banks and their banking language can be deceiving (to the point that it even sounds inviting), but you should READ THE FINE PRINT. Believe me. I know from experience that the fine print is where all the important things are, and as long as it's there you won't get any lenience for saying that you didn't know.

Apparently the majority of people interviewed (the article does not give an exact percentage) think that the Government should be helping out individuals rather than the banking institutions. I've already expressed my views on the Government giving out money. And, honestly, I'm all for the Govt giving banks money if it saves people from being laid off. But, I do think that the whole Bear Stearns thing was manufactured. That's another day's discussion, though.