A Financial Lesson from Tevevision

I was surfing around this afternoon and found an article about how the foreclosure casualties from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition keep mounting.

It seems to me this show and its foreclosure rate SHOULD teach a lesson to many on why the whole Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac system went south.

If a good-natured reality show couldn't make it work, how could one have ever expected Countrywide to do it?

Below is a list and description of some famous (and infamous) people who have had or are having financial problems.

I think they all have one thing in common: THEY LIVED BEYOND THEIR MEANS. Many of them were thrown into wealth and property and probably have very little education on how to manage their finances.

It may sound cruel, but they probably had little business living, buying, or accepting the houses and/or wealth they received without some solid education and financial planning to back it up.

Hell, if My Lovely Bride and I ever were fortunate enough to be in these people’s shoes, you can bet your bottom dollar we would have done a good bit better than they did.

Sadie Holmes, of Altamonte Springs, Florida had her home made over two years ago on 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,' but now could lose it if she can't pay a $29,000 county lien placed on the property after months of code violations racked up.

The Harper family home in Georgia, which was rebuilt on an episode of ABC's "Extreme Makeover" in 2005, went into foreclosure this summer after the family used the house as collateral for a $450,000 loan and couldn't meet the payments.

Foreclosure proceedings have begun against hip-hop mogul Damon Dash over unpaid mortgages on two Manhattan apartments. Eastern Savings Bank says the Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder and his wife owe more than $7 million on the properties.

Former "Tonight Show" personality Ed McMahon makes "a confidential deal" to sell his Beverly Hills home after falling behind on payments. But one thing is clear. It's not Donald Trump who recently offered to buy the home.

Hip-hop producer Scott Storch went into foreclosure in July on his $10 million Miami mansion, according to The Palm Beach Post. He also had his Ferrari Scaglietti and his prized motorcycle, a Bones Bike, repossessed.

Former NBA player Vin Baker has also been stung by the wave of foreclosures sweeping the U.S. Baker's 9,300-square-foot Georgian brick colonial Durham home, which has six bedrooms, a two-lane bowling alley, basketball court, guest house and pool was auctioned for $2.5 million.

Jazz vocalist Ernestine Anderson may not be singing now as she faces a foreclosure on her Seattle home. Public records show that she is more than $30,000 in arrears in payments and penalties.

The home of Cowboys cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones will was recently put up for auction, attracting a $1.1 million offer --significantly less than the $1.4 million he owned on his home. Jones is one of the latest sports stars to run into issues with money management.

The trust overseeing Mark Twain's House and Museum in Hartford, Conn., still owes $4.9 million on a bank loan and is trying to meet its $2.9 million annual budget. The Twain House's executive director says an ambitious $19 million visitor center which opened in 2003 set the site's finances back.

Former heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield’ mansion in Fayette County, GA, estimated to be worth $10 million, was scheduled to be auctioned July 1, but was taken off the foreclosure list and is still occupied by the boxer.

Former baseball player and turned-tell-all author Jose Canseco told television's Inside Edition last month that rather than catch up on his mortgage, he chose to walk away completely from his $2.5 million Los Angeles home, which was rapidly declining in value.

Aretha Franklin has said an attorney's mistake is the reason she faces the foreclosure of her suburban Motown mansion. According to court documents, Franklin owes $19,192 in back taxes.

Latrell Sprewell, who declined a $21 million contract extension with the Minnesota Timberwolves, now appears he should have accepted said contract following the foreclosure on his home and the repossession of his yacht.

After no one met the imposing actor's high asking price, Michael Madsen's Malibu home was foreclosed on in 2007. The house was put back on the market after foreclosure at a substantially lower price.

Michael Jackson’s notorious Neverland Ranch has faced foreclosure several times in recent years. Jackson's home was scheduled to be auctioned off in mid-May, but was saved by Colony Capital, LLC, which acquired the existing loan on the ranch days before the bidding opened.

Pop singer Whitney Houston has suffered a string of financial woes lately, including the foreclosure of her Atlanta home, which was auctioned off in November 2006. Houston also sold off personal belongings in 2007 to pay off $200,000 in outstanding bills to save her home in New Jersey.

For the hefty sum of $14.5 million, the "Miami Vice" star Don Johnson was able to save his Colorado ranch from a foreclosure sale in 2006. Johnson also had to pay more than half a million in interest and attorneys' fees, among other charges.

A Washington state bungalow that Courtney Love purchased for Kurt Cobain’s family in 1997 was put up for public auction in 2005 after she failed to make payments on the house for several years. There were no bids on the house, and it remains the property of a Los Angeles mortgage company.

Disgraced former track champion Marion Jones has certainly had her share of recent troubles, including the 2006 foreclosure of her North Carolina "dream home." In a court deposition, Jones said she does not know where all of her money went: "Bills, attorney bills, a lot of different things to maintain the lifestyle."

All of this seems too much for them to handle, but I think they should have realized they had a gift, cherished said gift, and planned for their future. After all, isn’t that what many average, normal, everyday citizens of this great county do and are expected to do?

BOO HOO HOO!!! I refuse to feel sorry for these people. They got what they deserved

"Show people tend to treat their finances like their dentistry. They assume the man handling it knows what he is doing." - Dick Cavett