Den:

I saw that in the Sat AJC and thought the exact same thing! How does one *do* that trick?

House bought & paid for, taxes paid-off, scholarships for the kids. I understand too that some of the furnishings and surfaces within the home were also donated.

Maybe it's just a promo for a new ABC show:
"Extreme Foreclosure: Bozo Edition"

Denny......

Your comment that stupid people would just lose their money is not quite true in all instances....
As an example Bill Clinton got $12,000,000 & Hillary $8,000,000 for their memoirs. The problem is they have spent the last 16 years testifying they did not know , understand , recollect or remember anything.
In this case we have two self proclaimed dumb people collecting a shitload of money from Book publishers obviously dumber then they were who also made a ton of money selling the Clinton memories which they could not recall or remember to a whole bunch of people even dumber then the Clintons or the Publishers that actually bought the apparently ficticious stories.

Wait a minute ....Maybe the Clintons were lying as their ability to remember........Geez, I am shocked to even think they would lie.. Maybe TDHO or DanS will be just as shocked ...do you think?

Hell, I`ll bet they both have signed copies from Billy & Hilly. BWAHAHAHAHA!

dudley1:

Look @ the comments under AOTW 7-25-2008 for your answer. :)

What a pair of asshats. If I had volunteered on that project I'd be really pissed at the waste of time and generosity.

DanS.......

Where exactly at AOTW 7/25/08 will there be any referance to Hilly or Billy ? Have you posted it yet?

On a similiar subject, does anyone know how one winds up with a habitat for humanity home? I'm asking this seriously because I'm trying to figure out how and why these folks are "given" homes as charitable gifts. Seems to me if you are unable to financially save up for a down payment on said home and then pay the monthly mortgage, how can you be capable of financially maintaining the home when it needs work. I've thought about writing to Clark Howard and asking him this, but know he has some of his underlings doing the writing for him, and would rather hear it straight from the horses mouth.

dudley1:

Nah ... I just wanted you to see my note to you there.
I gotta go to work. See you later.

Also, look at the note to the post just beneath this one.

Let's be serious about this for one moment. I don't think I would have done much better. It's so simple. People all rushed and gave everything to that family. What for? Had they done anything special to deserve it? What is left for them to do than to squander it, trying to prove that they have a business acumen?

Only if you work hard to obtain something, do you take care of it and fully appreciate it. House ownership is great if you pay the mortgage with your earned money. A schorlaship must be won with top marks. Otherwise you're not ready for higher learning.

What happened to those people, also happens to rich folks who inherit money and live on the capital, instead of boosting the interest.

I blame benefactors, parents and governments for killing the incentive of people by doing more than giving the little push necessary for climbing the next step on one's own.

I never regretted having to work hard for the little I have. It's mine. I'm proud of it. I want nothing less. I want nothing more. Except maybe a Delamain Vesper Cognac! Please, Denny?

I never buy a lottery ticket. I wouldn't know what to do with the extra money.

My granddaddy, the sheriff, used to say, "Poor people have poor ways."
He was a wise man.

About the lottery ticket, I should have said : I never buy one because I wouldn't know what to do with money I haven't earned the hard way.

After Bush and Congress bail 'em out they'll have yet another chance to squander it.
*rolling eyes*

Two to three years on settlements is way too generous. The average is 18 months.

Amen to your Amen, and one addition, you can't teach appreciation of value, you have to earn it to understand and appreciate.

Claudia: I think you would know what to do with it: pay off existing debt, put most of what's left away for a rainy day, and splurge just a little on cognac to celebrate.

Can't buy common sense, but I know there are some lottery winners and heirs who do ok with their windfall. This is a news story because it is outrageous.

I live in a socialist paradise...the more money the govt pumps into the 'needy' the poorer and more feckless they get...I'm leaving.

But this would never have happened to the Harpers if only the Obamessiah was already in the Oval Office.

Ray - Habitat does not give away homes. the folks that get them have sweat equity and they pay a 0% mortgage until it is paid off. They have skin in the game. these folks had none.

Lets also back up and understand that this was a business decision for ABC and Beazer. ABC got ratings, Beazer got national exposure, and this family played the role of receptacles of people's goodwill and ABC/Beazers desire for ratings/exposure. A big risk that they took is that if the fvck up and lose it all then they turn into pariahs. mission accomplished.

to paraphrase boortz, poor people will continue to do the things that made them poor.

the saddest part of this story to me is that in extreme makeover, the family usually has some depilitating medical problem in the family. i don't see it here in the article, but i'm curious which kid had what disease and since there is no mention, has the child passed on?

Last line in the article:
It's aggravating," Oswalt said. "It just makes you mad. You do that much work, and they just squander it."

And on Habitat for Humanity, the new owners are required to help out in the building of the home as well. A hundred hours or more if I remember right. Given how they work, I would encourage others to volunteer to help them out. I've only been able to do it once or twice and it is hard work.

True story: I provided tax advice to a previously poor couple who won the lottery and elected to take it over time, which netted them about $500,000 the first year. After nine months, they ran out of money. In addition to having to come up with more money for taxes, they asked, "How are we going to make our car payments?"

I'm working hard to wipe out the food stamp programs nationwide. I worked retail (and other lowly jobs) to pay my way through college, and I'd see these lard-assed motherfuckers with WADS of money pulling out their EBT cards to pay for groceries. I cannot believe that my tax money is being spent on some fat ass white trash to them even fatter!

Look, if you're 200 pounds overweight, spend your excess food money (of which there's A LOT) on bills, college tuition for the white trashlings, and start a savings account. You'll rise out of poverty AND lose weight! What the fuck? These pigs could live off body fat for months, and I'M FEEDING THEM??? ARRRGHHHH!

And I'm so tired of hearing about poor hungry children. Look, if you can't afford to feed the little cocksuckers, DON'T HAVE THEM! I think we should give their parents a 30-day grace period and then JERK their EBT cards permanently. No better impetus to start working 80 hours a week than a child starving to death. Don't you agree?

You said it brother. "A generation ago, the livelihood of Gloria Nunez's family was built on cars." Now they are built like cars. But with oil prices driving up food now they can't afford their ice cream. Look at them, wasting away...

Dudley, The Clintoons are having to come up with money to pay off their debts from her failed run for POTUS. She loaned her campaign massive ammounts of cash. A fool and her money are soon partied out.

I'd be willing to bet they are Dimocrats. Only a Bliss Ninnie or a Rainbow Warrior could fuck something this good up so fast.

You can't cure stupid and you can't fix it by throwing money at it. I've said that all my life and I've seen so many idiots like this that it makes me want to slap the dogshit out of them.

Joe

they built a Habitat house next to my firehall in Knoxville Tenn. It was A hoot to watch a nice family got the house and kept it up real nice but during the build, The rich folks were nuts they would show up with thier dollar store hammers. The real contracters would come over they would chat with us they would Say when these "Idiots leave we can get some work done" one evening one lady pulled her Cadilac in front of the fire truck bay got out gave her keys to our Captain and told him to park her car we were laughing our asses off (He was Black) He was going to kill her we had to hold him back I think he parked her car at the end of the block

Spanky

You can't fix stupid..

Most of the time, people who are poor don't need money thrown at them. They need an education. I don't mean just schooling. I mean: budget and lifestyle. Denny wrote an excellent post about this a while back. How to stop poverty. I printed it for my grandchildren.

I don't think that the people in this story got a good deal. They were thrown in the water, didn't know how to swim and drowned. The so-called benefactors of that family should question their own behaviour.

PeggyU - I'm just comfortably off. I can't afford to have debts. The interest would kill me. I'm used to a simple budget. My rule is: Don't spend what you don't have.I'm on my own. It's easy to follow.

Honestly, I wouldn't know how to handle a huge sum of money. It takes special skills. At my age now, I would be wise enough to go to my bank manager. Younger, I might have lost a lottery win. It would have been stupid but I would have found it hard not to give money to people who truly needed it. They're all around you, if you have money.

It happened to some friends who retired, both teachers, bright people. They sold their home for five hundred thousand dollars. They thought the money would last forever. It was gone in 5 years...1 million, 2 millions...It's nothing if you don't have a strict budget, and follow it.

The only money you have really is the interest of your capital. If newly rich people don't learn that in a hurry, they sink fast. I wonder who was there to advise the recipients of that so-called generous donation.

Stupidity is its own reward.

Good points, Claudia. Maybe they should throw an accountant in with the deal. :) Still gotta wonder though - if you own a house free and clear, why in the hell would you leverage it like that? Or gamble with your kids' savings?

Pip: I believe I read that they had lost a two-year-old son who choked to death on something he ate. Then, the house they bought with their own hard-earned money had serious sewage troubles that made the home unliveable ... although I'm surprised that wouldn't have been discovered during a home inspection at time of purchase.

I didn't even know this show existed. But then, I don't like reality shows. Does it sound like anyone involved with this production has a hard grasp on reality?

Ray, my sis-in-law got in the Habitat for Humanity program. I know she had to prove need (three children, putting herself through school, no other support) before HH even considers anyone for the program. She had to put in 500 hrs of sweat equity working on other HH homes to show intent - that took her about 18 mos. - before they'd grant her a house. HH assigns a project mgr. who oversees other HH applicants and some contractors. Much of the material and labor is donated (I had to re-hang several doors, straighten support posts, patch drywall, and other minor repairs - their QC ain't all that). Then she got a zero percent mortgage over 20 years, ended up around $300/month. To see the satisfaction on her face during the closing ceremony was worth all the money in the world, because she worked her ass off, provided for her kids, and got an education during the time it took to build her house. Unfortunately, she's among the minority - many of the recipients have the "Gimme" mentality, feeling they're owed this and everything else in their lives. Oh, and the local vomitous mass, er, politicians show up for their photo-op and plant a tree. At least Peanut Boy actually picked up a hammer for his 15 minutes.

Thanks to those that have educated me on the Habitat houses. I have a new found perspective on these homeowners knowing they weren't some nasty trailer park trash just given the keys to the house with "nothing to lose". It sounds like the program is a true charity group and not some enablement program that enables slackers to become more slack.

This fucking pisses me off. I had to work my ass off from a wheelchair for over 30 years and these fuckers piss away a home I could never afford. I hope the parents end up on the street.

Mike, you should learn to let it out, speak your mind, get it off your chest, release that stress, you will feel better man, let us know how you feel

Spanky

How does this surprise anyone?

Give anyone who lives off the system something for free, look what happens.

This show is a joke anyway. I don't watch it, and this proves why I don't.