A story of someone who should have known better

CNN is running an article called "From $70K to food bank, one family's struggle". Yes, it tugs at the hearstrings. Yes, I have sympathy for Patricia Gurrero and her two children's plight. But, it is also likely that the direness of their circumstances could have been mitigated, if not eliminated. How?

"She has had to take extreme measures to pay for her interest-only mortgage of $2,500 a month."

She is obviously paying for a house she couldn't afford in the first place. Yes, I realize they live in Southern California. Yes, I also realize that it's likely that her house has lost value given the depressed real estate market in that area. Still, she really should have known that getting into an interest-only mortgage was a really bad idea since:

"A former loan processor, Gurrero knows all about that [the subprime mortgage crisis]"

So, one who was involved in the whole process of giving large loans out to folks who probably shouldn't have gotten them put themselves in the same boat, and now it's sinking. I'm sure there's some out there who would take some schadenfreude away from this, but I don't.

It does mention in the article that Ms. Gurrero is "estranged" from her husband, but not why. Certainly that is a contributing factor to her situation since it is unlikely (read "estranged", not "divorced") that her husband is providing anything in the way of child support. Of course, perhaps her husband is providing some support; if he wasn't, I'd expect the story to also play up the "deadbeat dad" angle. In either case, one lesson to take away is that stable families are less susceptible to economic upheaval. I am not saying that she should immediately go back to her husband - for all I know he could have been abusive to either her or the children - but I am making the general comment on society that marriages are too often looked upon as simple personal arrangements that can be rearranged at will.

Of course, CNN's real intent by this article is to portray the middle class as under seige by the rich who control banks and are now squeezing the little men because they can't pay the bills they said they could. Unfortunately for CNN, they accidentally tell the truth in their article that - this person at least - probably should have known better.