Well yes, when the gov’t is completely responsible for what is going on you most certainly can and should blame the damned gov’t.
This is not a matter of bad practices or poor decision making on the part of business owners and landlords, or people taking unnecessary risks.
We had a thriving, growing economy with rising wages and prosperity until “The people” went into panic mode over this virus and the gov’t responded in the only way possible to quell that panic.
Our own media drove the economy off a cliff by stoking those fears and feeding the panic then largely democrats stepped in to take advantage of the crisis to pull off the biggest power grab since FDR.
No. I would never be so foolish as to get into an endeavor like that. What’s the most he’s making, 9%? That’s not even worth it.
My point was people borrow their brains out thinking they’re going to have an easy life owning multiple properties when they don’t understand interest rates or risks associated with borrowing so much money and leveraging the equity of other properties to get additional loans. It’s high risk and low reward.
He does make a good point and is not incorrect. Such investments requires considerable capital and leverage in order to make money from. If the banks are holding the deed then your friend does not have leverage over the banks if he is already under water on his payments. That is not to say that he shouldn’t get a reprieve from something that was not in his control. I sure hope he had presence of mind to negotiate his insurance policies before assuming ownership of such properties because clauses such as “acts of God” will be highly contested.
There is some truth in it but of course in this case Lou’s buddy did everything right, the gov’t created a condition nobody could anticipate even six months ago.
I am not arguing that only from a business standpoint to be prepared for all events in life. What is good business and what is bad business? That is what it comes down to, and I am sure there are many in Lou’s friend situation experiencing similar circumstances facing hard decisions.
You know when people make poor decisions and complain aout the consequences I don’t have a lot of sympathy for them.
This is not what we’re talking about here. The gov’t intentionally shut down 30% of our economy if not more and the repercussions are going to be staggering even with the phased restart.
There may be 30-40% of the businesses that simply never come back from this and that’ll have profound repercussions for years if not a decade or more.
Worse, it’s the giant internationals that will be best positioned to profit from all of this.
I am not arguing or debating any of these points. Obviously the homeowner or landlords if you will should expect some kind of protection from being foreclosed on. My overall point despite what and who is responsible for closing down the economy is not a reliable model to having a plan in place that does not rely on a Government intervention. It’s just good business practice to cover all bases in the event of catastrophic crisis’s. As we already have seen so far Government hasn’t exactly been a reliable partner to the working taxpayer. If one becomes vulnerable due to not being thorough in their business practices then they leave chance to the wind. How many people recovered what they lost in the 2008 financial crisis? I lost my entire retirement savings and there is nothing I can do about it except learn and accept responsibility that I should have diversified my portfolio when I had the chance. It’s life!
How is making a business decision a bad decision when Government trashes your business? Should everyone sit in their basement? Everyone get a job and have an employer?
Some like myself walk a different path. Mine was difficult when they passed the ACA and my employees want more money. I chose a different path. I laid them all off and work the business myself. It’s been far more profitable without employees. I work when I want, I get paid when I work and business pays for my time and knowledge.
As far as my friend, it pisses him off that government would shut down business force people into unemployment not give them adequate resources to pay their bills then demand you not take action when they don’t pay the bills.
This is all a function of capitalism. Someone will buy Lou’s friends homes at distressed prices and perhaps do very well for themselves.
Lou’s friend didn’t want to be overextended, the bank doesn’t really want the houses, the tenants still need a place to live after all this goes through the goose.
Please keep in mind that we the people are the tenants, we are the landlords, we are the banks, and we the prople are the government.
The sadest part of this whole learning experience is that the people in the States with the most debt have the biggest problem and will continue to elect the same people to represent themselves in government. That is the true tragedy of this sordid tale. They will continue to elect liars who are backed up by cheating accountants, actuaries, lawyers, union reps, lobbyists, and activists.
