Atlanta is a city where people evaluate each other by their ride. Drive a Lexus or a BMW and you rank highly. Foreign ranks above domestic. SUV's outrank minivans. MARTA passengers are the local equivalent of untouchables and so on.
Because I dislike making car payments, my ride is ten years old. But I see people every day driving prestige (expensive) vehicles that I am certain make less money than I do. And my question has been, how can they afford it? Then I saw this article.
Unlike the reporter, I have no sympathy. If I were making $2500 per month on disability, the very first question I would ask would be: How much are the payments? The second question would be: For how long? I would feel sympathy if there were some kind of teaser payment or if the interest rate were variable, but neither are mentioned.
Instead, a woman bought a car she could not pay for. She lost the car. The only person I feel sorry for in the transaction is the lender. They accepted a credit application, assumed the facts on it were correct, got a clean credit report and loaned the money. Now they are about to own a car they likely do not want.
The just result will be the deadbeat loses her car, the dealership gets blacklisted by the lender and the car sells for the loan amount. I doubt somehow that will happen.
The American Dream has never been about instant gratification or about getting something only because you want it very badly. Frugality, budgeting, planning and hard work have always been key ingredients in our national dream. And they need to remain that way.
No one has a right to a free BMW.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment