Homeowners Angry Over Stimulus

NORMAN, Oklahoma -- Millions of your tax dollars will soon be bailing out Americans who can't afford their mortgages, mostly in California, Nevada, Arizona, Florida and Michigan.

But the solution--a costly one--could affect every taxpayer and homeowner in Oklahoma, and that has many Oklahomans upset.

In Norman, the mortgage crisis seems far away. Real estate prices are still appreciating, homes are still selling, and foreclosures are still few.

"I think the last stat we saw was one in 1,688 homes in Oklahoma was in foreclosure, which ranked us 31st in the nation," Andy Newman with Centennial Real Estate said.

In Norman many people have struggled to pay off their mortgages with nary a thought of defaulting.

"I had hope in the American dream and I thought that things would work out, you know, never give up hope," Norman homeowner Bill Rouse said.

"Just dogmatic German, that's it, I mean, I just work hard and just keep on working," Norman homeowner Richard Hille said.

But it appears the mortgage crisis may soon be affecting Norman, indeed all of Oklahoma. Under the administration's plan, prudent homeowners will have to help pay the bill for the imprudent.

The Wall Street Journal reports the $75 billion bailout will help only one homeowner out of nine. That means that Bill Rouse and Richard Hille, as taxpayers, will have to pay for that.

"My question is, what are we doing to do, you know?" Rouse said. "What's Congress going to do? Is Congress going to pass this? Are they going to allow this to take place? I don't know, you know? I don't like the idea of paying for somebody else's mistakes."

"For the ones that went in for the dreams of, you know, like I'm going to be a millionaire and all this other stuff," Hille said. "No, I have no sympathy for them at all."

But it looks like the bill for the real estate bubble will soon hit home.

At the end of 2008 it was estimated that over 13 million borrowers in the U.S. owed more on their homes they were worth.