Times Econ Reporter Goes Broke
Today in the New York Times Edmund L. Andrews today explains how, despite his training and experience as an economic reporter, he fell disastrously into debt — and also, perhaps inadvertently, how this great country of ours really works.
His reasons: he was in love (“Patty was brainy, regal, sexy, fiery and eclectic”), and wanted to give his inamorata and himself a $460,000 Silver Springs, Maryland home to consecrate the bond. Andrews was still paying child support to a previous love of his life, which put a bite in his $81K salary. But it was the mid-oughties, when everything was groovy, and his broker at American Home Mortgage (“I am here to enable dreams”) was willing to do business at a reasonable, if unfixed, rate, telling him not to worry about the large payments, because “the value of your house will be higher in five years.” (In the movie version, this will be the equivalent of a montage of jazz-age flappers driving jalopies with their feet while drinking bathtub gin.)
To make the complex plan work, Andrews had to cash out his Times stock — so, you see, there is a silver lining.
But while house-rich, the couple became cash-poor, which caused problems: Patty “refused to scrimp on top-quality produce, Starbucks coffee, bottled juices, fresh cheeses and clothing for the children and for me,” though Andrews was running out of money before paydays. He began using his overdraft protection and accumulating outrageous fees (“$5 overdrawn because of school supplies for Patty’s daughter Emily — $100 from the MasterCard”). He tried rotating his credit cards to get a better rate but, like many who have done that, wound up deeper in debt with worse rates. Edmund and Patty were tens of thousands of dollars in debt.
via New York – Runnin’ Scared – Times Econ Reporter Goes Broke, Teaches Valuable Lesson About America.
