Extreme Makeover: Foreclosure Edition

In this recent article, we learn about the experience of one of the "lucky" families chosen for ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.  You know, this is the show where they tear down an old home, build a new one, furnish it with high-end gizmos and gadgets, and give it to a needy family.  All this is completed while the host screams into a megaphone and everyone on the show manages to cry a couple of times every episode.  While I'm not a fan of the show, it makes for pretty good TV, I guess.

Back to the story:  A family in Atlanta, GA had their home torn down in 2005.  In it's place was built a home valued at approximately $450,000.  But wait, there's more.  In addition to the materials, time, and labor that was all donated to build this home, there was an additional $250,000 raised by the employees and partners of the home builder to provide for scholarships for the family's 3 children and provide -- get this -- a home maintenance fund.

Well, here we are 3 years later, and it turns out the family borrowed $450,000 against the value of their shiny, new home to fund what turned out to be a failed construction business.  The home will be auctioned off on August 5th.  Here's a quote from the article:

"It's aggravating. It just makes you mad. You do that much work, and they just squander it," Lake City Mayor Willie Oswalt, who helped vault a massive beam into place in the Harper's living room, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Here's what I want to know:  do you think Mayor Oswalt who is quoted above will be just as mad about the Housing Relief just signed into law by President Bush?

I'm none too happy about it myself, because what this so-called "relief" is essentially doing is taking money from you and me and giving it to people who've already demonstrated that they're not financially responsible.

This is the equivalent of the Extreme Makeover crew going back to this Atlanta family between now and their August 5th home auction date and rescuing them from foreclosure by giving them another home that would be funded with our tax dollars.

Lest you think I'm being a little judgemental with this Atlanta family, this is happening elsewhere to other Extreme Makeover "winners".  For more about what's going on with Exteme Makeover: Forelosure Edition, check out this post over at Free Money Finance.