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Comment by cardmagic | Hacker News Reader

"Who is to blame? We are - i.e. you and me"

This guy is so quick to judge, so quick to place blame on such a complicated issue. What a massive over-simplification on such a dynamic and complicated issue.

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No kidding.

And just who exactly is he calling WE? I've worked like crazy to pay off my credit cards/loans and keep them paid off. I bought a house I could afford (<1/3 of income) with a large down payment (> 20%). I've saved on my own as well as in my partially matched 401k. I have a 6 month emergency fund. Sure, this all means that I don't have a car and take public transportation- and my computer/stereo/tv/etc aren't brand new. But have those TINY sacrifices been worth it? Absolutely!

I am not we.

So explain to me why I should bail them out? Whey you've got things you can't afford, or you're a bank leveraged at 30 or 50 to 1, you are risking it all! When you lose it all, it's not exactly a shock to those of us that have been extra conservative with our money.

We as in US citizens. George Soros has done a great job of living within his means and obviously so have you, but WE as in at least 43% of Americans haven't. Also, YOU (i.e. WE) keep electing these freaks in Congress and in the White House. Why do we have a 10 trillion dollar debt? Why do we think we can keep borrowing year after year?

"I am not we" was just my playful way of saying: overgeneralizing gets this article nowhere.

The idea that 57% of us should (or even CAN) bail out the rest of "us" is distasteful, not to mention unfair. Those of you that buy things you can't afford should lose the things. You aren't entitled to a house, you BUY it. You aren't entitled to a wage, you EARN it.

However, I completely agree with you about the deficit, "we" can't keep it up. I am personally exercising my abilities through votes/calls/etc.

Do you guys realize that you are both falling into the same fallacious talk as as the author of the blog post. "Bailing out the rest of us" whether you are for it or against it is such a naive statement. You guys are both overlooking not only the highly complicated ways in which this entire situation is affecting all of us... how the bank failures can and is directly leading to layoffs of people that have never in their lives overextended themselves financially, but also the fact that there is absolutely no straightforward path to bailing out anybody in this situation. Even if someone wanted to, nobody could bail out "the rest of us" so your bickering is moot. The only thing we can do is watch as this tidal wave washes over us all and play it safe until it passes. None of us are out of reach of this event.

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