Worried About the Mortgage

Via Joe Klein, here’s a Washington Post poll asking people if they’re concerned about making their rent or mortgage payment:

As Klein says, let’s concede that there might be some exaggeration here. And that at least a bit of this represents people who knowingly took out mortgages they knew they couldn’t afford. It’s still a helluva lot, especially considering that about a quarter of all Americans own their homes outright and, by definition, aren’t worried about making their mortgage payment. A bit of arithmetic tells us that among people who actually have a rent or mortgage commitment in the first place, something like three-quarters are worried about having enough money to pay it. Yikes.