Highway To HELOC

"I don't ever want to be rich folk, Hank. They ain't never know what it's like to make that last payment."

I stole this from a cartoon on the wall in a bar near home -- a couple writing their last mortgage check on their three-legged dinette. I didn't think much about this until I got to work the next day and mentally tallied up the mortgages of just my co-workers, what they carry on their houses:

Co-worker A: $235,000
Co-worker B: $215,000
Co-worker C: $280,000
Co-worker D: $175,000
Co-worker E: $0
Co-worker F: $0
Worker G: $18,000
Supervisor: $380,000

Now, E and F are both past retirement age and work because they still enjoy it (as I've oft repeated, I'll likely do the same.) A through D and our supervisor average around 40, and all owe, in my opinion, substantial sums. I am worker G. I am acutely aware that those around me who "succeed" and who are "successful" are all up to their eyeballs in debt; neighbors, co-workers, family members, and friends.

To some extent, sure, this is OK because their income can support such indebtedness, but it's very clear to me that the more people make, the more in debt they are, and not just in sheer volume but also as a percentage.

Is this some kind of disease? Affluenza?

Thirty seven percent of all housal units in the U.S. do not carry a mortgage, which is actually an impressive figure. Indeed, it's roughly the same as my little work group survey. But what's even more interesting is that a larger percentage of people with less education own their homes outright. Read: if you're college educated, expect to be paying on that mortgage for a very, very long time.

Of course as a college grad you get to live amongst the granite counter tops, the oak fireplace mantle, and inside your choice of five bedrooms, with one larger than the home you grew up in. The finest Bordeaux, imported cheeses, Italian pasta, 600 count sheets, and seven hundred channels are at your beck and call every night. Without the sheepskin you only get two buck chuck, top ramen and your choice of one of two bedrooms in your little flat at eye-level with the L. So clearly, there is a material difference...but it comes at a substantial cost in my little opinion -- perpetual debt servitude.

I'll leave it to you, my fellow college educated reader, to mire yourself in as much debt as you desire. I'm not one to presume how anyone should live, only the way we live. While I won't anymore aspire for that Garage Majal and his-and-her SUVs, you are free to, and frankly, you are keeping this debt based economy of ours running, for what that's worth. You are the "rich folk" in that cartoon, a solo occupant driver on the highway to HELOC.

I though about a recent NY Times article on Slumburbia my dad suggested I read. I hold virtually all the same opinions as this writer, and, unfortunately, I also see that the apocalyptic future that I wish for won't likely materialize. I say that because I personally feel that the only way we will collectively decide to build better places to live will come from the consequences of a resource shortage or economic depression. There is nothing else that I think will do it. As I look around, aren't we all just sitting around waiting for the "rebound," waiting for the "recovery," to resume suburbia housal unit starts, 20% housal unit growth per year, and the resumption of growth in the industries needed for the the accessorizing of these units and the transporting of their occupants? Yes, we are.