DD, I know this is a bit off topic, but I hear you loud and clear about people buying homes they couldn't afford and now getting help from the government. It makes me sick. I don't see the justice. Even though I wouldn't want that life-style, nor mentality, people who made poor financial decisions are being paid for it.

We have a friend who got those awful ;oans/mortgages for people knowing they couldn't afford them. He made a fortune and was raking it in at the time, and now he's struggling big time. I remember wondering how he could sleep with himself at night after a days work of getting people what they wanted (because he could) and reaping the benefits in a major way. So not only were people getting these loans that they couldn't afford to pay, the people setting them up were making money hand over fist by doing so.

I was taught that if you can't afford something, you don't buy it. Period.