Geting pole-d

From the Wall Street Journal, we have How the Mortgage Bar
Keeps Moving Higher.

Frankie Van Cleave says she has paid all her bills on time for more than three decades, save one car payment that got delayed in Christmas mail. But neither solid credit nor her track record running a number of businesses is sparing the 70-year-old from the turmoil in the home-mortgage market.

Several mortgage brokers had courted her to refinance a $1 million adjustable-rate mortgage she currently carries on her home, on two acres of prime riverfront property in Marietta, Ga.

Her bank of three decades won't help her after her monthly mortgage payments recently ballooned to nearly $8,200, so Ms. Van Cleave is working 80 hours a week as a technical writer to make ends meet.

In Marietta, Ga., Ms. Van Cleave doesn't have cash for a refinancing down payment, and she faces a problem hitting more consumers: Appraisers say her home is worth less than her current $1 million mortgage. Ms. Van Cleave concedes she took a risk, borrowing close to the appraised value of her home two years ago -- at the market's peak -- to help fund a start-up company that sells a patented fishing-rod holder. She opted for a two-year ARM, with a piggyback mortgage at nearly 12%, and planned to refinance.

Who, in their right mind, would loan a 70-year old woman a million dollars?

Who, in their right mind, would work 80 hours a week to "make ends meet" at age 70?

Who, in their right mind, would help fund a company that makes "fishing-rod holders"?

I fucking shit you not -- patented fishing-rod holders! Most people would just cut out a length of PVC, and two circular tins on each end, and a few loops of metal to hold it which costs, what, $5?

I guess we could argue that she's getting hosed!