Boo hoo hoo...

I love the upper-middle-class sob stories; he's making about $50,000 a year in pension money alone, owns two houses, and now we're supposed to feel bad because he's chosen to live beyond his means? He's going to have to suck it up for a couple years until he can sell one.

Mortgages eating up incomes
Detroit Free Press

When Chris Gowman's employer was sold in 2001, he was offered a $4,000-a-month pension.

The former ANR Pipeline worker took it, but ever since, he's had to spend half of it to cover the mortgages on his homes in Roseville and Harbor Springs.

"I'm not living the high life by any stretch," said Gowman, 58, who drives a 1991 Oldsmobile 88. "I have to live a very frugal life to survive."

Gowman is among the 26.4% of Michiganders who spent 35% or more of their income on a mortgage in 2006, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released today.

Experts say they think many in Michigan are like Gowman -- homeowners whose mortgages consumed larger portions of their income as their wages shrink.