On mortgage debt, and the movie Harakiri...

Human drama (if you could even associate the word drama with human tragedy) is almost, always sad. Such as it is, with the 90-year-old lady who shot herself, in the face of foreclosure to the home that she and her late husband owned for almost 40 years.

The report says, "In 2004, Polk took out a 30-year, 6.375 percent mortgage for $45,620 with a Countrywide Home Loan office in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. The same day, she also took out an $11,380 line of credit." That was when she's alone, at 84, and Countrywide would lend her. It's obviously clear that this very senior lady won't be able to afford the loan. But she has a house, and it's a business decision for Countrywide, given the lending rules have been relaxed over the years in mortgage lending. One could argue against the almost predatory lending practice by Countrywide, or the extreme naviete/stupidity/gullibility of this woman. As it is, she should become homeless by the time she gets to 85, IF she's still alive.

Well, she got lucky. She didn't die. Public outpour goes to her, and Fannie Mae who took over her loan prior to foreclosure, forgives all outstanding balance of her loan.

Do you think it's a happy ending? I cannot say, for certain. If this frail woman falls for predatory lending once, she could (actually, it's almost certain she would) fall for same or different tricks again next time. And next time she might not be this lucky, since it could be just another con man round the street corner.

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All these reminds me of the classic Japanese movie Harakiri from the 1960s. If you haven't seen this movie yet, go do it. It's one of the best movies I've ever seen. The movie sets the stage during the turbulent warlord era, when an upright samurai tried to rear his daughter and the orphaned son of his comrade who committed harakiri, upon the collapse of their warlord clan. Lots of ronins were roaming the country, trying to find a new master. Hard times hit, beyond their control, after the young daughter and young samurai married and had a new baby.

At the time, there was story of a ronin asking a warlord the honor to let him commit harakiri. The warlord returns the ronin the honor, not in the form of harakiri ritual, but took him in under his wing and become a samurai.

Odds pushing him up against the wall, the young samurai tried a copycat act of that ronin. He wasn't so lucky, since he was just but one of the thousands who asked the same thing, only to be turned away by the samurai guards of this warlord. But instead of turning this young samurai away, they granted him the "wish" to let him have harakiri ritual on their field. Naturally, the young samurai had not wanted to kill himself, since all he had wanted was just some money and he'll be on his way. Now that they granted him the wish, he has nowhere to turn but to go ahead with the harakiri.

Little did the warlord's samurai know that the young samurai had already sold his sword for money to feed his family. On the day of harakiri, these samurai sniggled when the young guy drew his sword, and it turned out to be bamboo stick. His honor would have him killed himself repeatedly with the bamboo stick, hoping but obviously failing to kill himself. So, in the end, this young samurai who copycat the suicide to beg for sympathy and money, died.

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There's much more to the movie.

But the point I want to note is, I wonder how human nature would have it, in the modern-day world, compared to the ronin times, of how suicide, copycats, and social injustice is going to be dealt with.

I have no doubt these fools (like this 90-year-old lady who borrowed without even thinking, assuming she can still think straight) suffer immensely. The warlord's samurai sniggled when they would become master-of-the-world, and decide who gets an ounce of sympathy (and be dispatched away with some money) and who gets the harakiri.

Admittedly, my first reflection is one of those like the warlord's samurai. That is to say, no sympathy, no help. Those fallen on hard times brought it on themselves by borrowing from banks when they knew they could ill-afford it.

But when I sit back and ponder on the subject, I can't be so sure. How many homeowners (not property speculators, not Wall Street bankers) have not been able to make it like this young samurai? Who am I to cast the first stone?

Oftentimes, there are questions that have answers with so many shades and layers that it's impossible to give a definitive conclusion on.