It'll be taken care of, not your fault

I paid back my entire school loan -- took some time, but every dime was paid back.

I later found out tens of thousands of people didn't pay theirs back and the government agency in charge said there wasn't much they could do because they couldn't track down all of the offenders.

I guess they must have put the U.S. Postal service in charge of finding these people.

I try to keep a close eye on my credit card debt because the interest rate they charge -- that use to be considered loan sharking -- is just way too much to deal with.

Now I hear and see commercials that inform us that if your credit card debt is out of control, not to worry, "It isn't your fault" and their company can eliminate it without harming your credit rating.

I've had a mortgage for the last 16 years and have not missed or been late on one payment.

Now I understand that Congress is working on a bill that will in effect bail out many of the people who apparently didn't understand the terms and conditions of their obligation, or borrowed much more then they needed and found they owed more then the house was worth so they walked away.

It would seem this entire situation wasn't in any way, shape or form the borrowers' fault either.

In all these cases, the credit card companies and the government have ways to make up for these losses and in one way or another, it all comes back to us fools who somehow feel we are obligated to pay our debts or fulfill our obligations.

We will be taxed higher and pay higher interest rates until this is taken care of.

There are millions of middle-income Americans who work hard and pay their bills. This is the way we were brought up, the way we were taught things should be done.

It is the way we will raise our kids to do things and then one day, they will read or see stories about what is going on and they too will wonder if dishonesty and irresponsibility seem much less expensive.

Unless we start attaching consequences to some of these actions and get over the "It's not your fault" mentality, this problem will only get worse.

Then one day middle-income America will say we have had enough; we are done paying for others. Watch how fast these issues become the offenders' fault then.

Marc Thomsen

Elk Grove Village