Dear Editor:
My name is Danny Kofke and I am a special education teacher at Gum Springs Elementary School in Jackson County and an author.
LETTER: Americans living beyond their means
I enjoyed reading Mike Buffington’s column, “Seeing clearly in economic storm.” I believe that we (as a country) lived way above our means and that this current economic situation might be a good thing in the long run.
I think more people are beginning to understand that the “rainy days” our grandparents told us about will come and we need to be prepared. Too many of us thought the good times would last forever — constantly tapping the equity in your house with no concern about it losing value, buying whatever you wanted because you had good credit, etc. For most teenagers, a bad day was when they were not able to send a text or their iPod battery died. Well, the times are changing.
I feel badly for people who are losing their jobs and/or houses, but I hope this is a big wake-up call for many to learn more about financial matters and prepare for those days when things might not be so great. If you make $35,000 a year, you cannot afford a $300,000 house — I don’t care what someone else tells you and how they finance the loan. In addition, you might lose your job or have an emergency so you need to prepare for this and have an emergency fund in place.
I think more and more people are beginning to realize this, although not enough because whenever I go to The Mall of Georgia and can’t find a parking place or a place to sit in the food court I think, “What recession?”
Thanks again for a great column. I hope that Mike is right and our children won’t make the same mistakes again.
Sincerely,
Danny Kofke
Author: How To Survive (and perhaps thrive) On A Teacher’s Salary
I think more people are beginning to understand that the “rainy days” our grandparents told us about will come and we need to be prepared. Too many of us thought the good times would last forever — constantly tapping the equity in your house with no concern about it losing value, buying whatever you wanted because you had good credit, etc. For most teenagers, a bad day was when they were not able to send a text or their iPod battery died. Well, the times are changing.
I feel badly for people who are losing their jobs and/or houses, but I hope this is a big wake-up call for many to learn more about financial matters and prepare for those days when things might not be so great. If you make $35,000 a year, you cannot afford a $300,000 house — I don’t care what someone else tells you and how they finance the loan. In addition, you might lose your job or have an emergency so you need to prepare for this and have an emergency fund in place.
I think more and more people are beginning to realize this, although not enough because whenever I go to The Mall of Georgia and can’t find a parking place or a place to sit in the food court I think, “What recession?”
Thanks again for a great column. I hope that Mike is right and our children won’t make the same mistakes again.
Sincerely,
Danny Kofke
Author: How To Survive (and perhaps thrive) On A Teacher’s Salary
Defined tags for this entry: letter
Teachers should make more money. It's funny that during the Bush years education spending at the federal level doubled but salaries barely increased.
The housing market is corrupt from the homeowners to the realtors to the mortgage brokers to the assessors to the banks to the federal government. If only one segment of this industry was honest this disaster would not be happening to our nation. If homeowners would not borrow more than they can afford, if realtors did not get people mortgages they know people can't afford (with the help of the mortgage brokers and banks) and if the assessors did not inflate the values and if the federal government did not push Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to give mortgages to people who can't afford them then none of this would have happened. None of it!
~Fellow Teacher @ GSES
So it was all a huge conspiracy, huh? And we were ALL in on it!!!
Well, I say, just thank GOD that you are not a homeowner, a realtor, a mortgage broker, a banker, an assessor, or a government employee! Thank GOD that all this time, you were in the food court, not contributing in any way to the poor condition our country is in at the moment. Thank GOD it was everybody else's fault!!
Peace out.