"The mentality that people think you can borrow money to buy real estate and then expect that real estate, purchased with borrowed money, to generate enough income to both pay for the mortgage and to support their lifestyle is absurd," Fred wrote. "Wouldn't life be sweet and easy if that were the case?"

Real estate values are closely tied to average incomes, Fred went on, and a home should cost about three times a person's annual income. But in the explosive market of a couple of years ago, average home prices were five or six times the state's average household income.

"Get a clue: That's a sure sign of an unsustainable bubble," Fred wrote. "No one can afford to buy a home unless they already have a falsely inflated home they can trade up from. We knew home prices (would) eventually have to drop to realistic levels before we (could) move forward in this economy. …

"We need to take accountability for our choices, or in the case of this couple, for our gambles. They were speculating, not investing. There is a huge difference. They need to learn the difference and act accordingly. Gambling is a fool's game."

As you can see, most readers didn't have a lot of sympathy for Laura and her husband. I understand that emotion. I hate to see people struggling financially, even if their problems are the result of their own decisions, but these readers raise some excellent points.

What do you think? Should we be more sympathetic to Laura and others like her? What will we, as a nation, learn from the mistakes we made during the bubble years? I'd like to hear your opinions.

Send your comments, or financial questions, to gkratz@desnews.com or to the Deseret News, P.O. Box 1257, Salt Lake City, UT 84110.

E-MAIL: gkratz@desnews.com