“If there’s a better way to worship a bank than borrowing $800K on a 30-year mortgage at 6.5% for a 900-square-foot home, I have yet to hear it . . .

Photo above – 1480 E 85th street, NYC. Currently off market. This is apparently an example of the 900 square foot, $1 million dollar home which The Washington Examiner says is absurd . . .

The post title is a direct quote from The Washington Examiner (link at bottom). The reporter is trying to reconcile Americans’ opposing urges: living the dream as singles in an ultra-expensive coastal city, or to indebt themselves for their entire lives for a decrepit pile of bricks.

I suspect the article was penned before Trump started to thump his chest about 50-year mortgages. Sorry, Mr. "Tariffs will fix everything" - I’m not buying THAT one either. Nobody should have to sign up for a loan that only their kids can pay off. Wait . . . my bad . . . that’s what congress is already doing to us with the $38 trillion national debt.

Economists who make WAAAAY more than you and I do tell us: don't worry, be happy. That we can NEVER pay off the national debt ($140,000 per man woman child in America). We will just keep refinancing it. Or do something to make the dollar crash and hope nobody notices.

Back to the “worship your bank” thing. The article suggests that people should just move to where real estate is reasonably priced. And rents aren’t $5,000 a month for a cubby sized walkup. But that would require all the SINKs (single income, no kids) to wave goodbye to friends, relatives, and subsidized government amenities in those insanely expensive cities.

Those amenities are, in course, a large part of the reason our national debt is $38 trillion . . .

This is the point where some urban-dwelling “progressive” begins foaming at the mouth: “red states get more federal aid than blue states!! Grrr !!!”

Um yes, and people in red states earn less taxable income, have smaller mortgages, and don’t require free bus rides, free daycare, rent stabilized apartments, $100 million per mile subway systems to shorten their commutes, or a police force the size of Haiti’s army to prevent mayhem on their rural red state streets.

What’s my point? 50-year mortgages are a terrible idea. Borrowing $800,000 at 6.5% for 30 years is also a terrible idea. Signing up at age 18 for $100,000 in student loans - before you can even legally drink - is a terrible idea. A national debt the size of Mount Everest is a terrible idea.

Trying to solve all our problems by borrowing money is a terrible idea. Just ask any corporation – or citizen – who has filed for bankruptcy.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

If your city is too expensive, move. It’s the American way