Well George, I actually disagree with you as Slade did.

There are alot of people in our industry, who as Slade said, are giving their time to put more training and sanity into our industry, and are doing it to help and are volunteers in this endeavor, not getting anything for their time and efforts. These are people who have been working in the title industry for 20 or more years, and I am thankful that they are willing to help us with their knowledge and expertise.

Look at Robert, who started SOT, gave us all an inexpensive way to advertise our services, set up blogging, which is very educational to all of us, and he went to law school to get himself more education and knowledge, and shares that knowledge with all of us!. And how about Kevin in CT who is always offering great legal advice to us at no cost? There are TONS of people who contribute majorly on SOT.

And there are alot of people, who despite the "economy"  are flourishing because they are smart about the way they run their companies and do not listen to all the negativity that is spit out every day by the media. I had my highest ever year last year, despite "the economy." I do not watch television nor read newspapers.

I will give you my viewpoint about "the economy,"  they who control the money on the planet control the economy, and "they" are the world bankers. They own the federal reserve for Gods sake!  And are the ones that the good old USA and God only knows how many other countries are indebted up the gazoo to.

American's who bought homes in an over inflated market and signed mortgages they didn't understand are responsible for the condition they now find themselves in. No one forced them to buy that house and no one forced them to sign the mortgage. I would NEVER sign something I didn't fully understand, would you? Just like I wouldn't buy a house I couldn't afford to make the payments on.

Every individual is ultimately responsible for their own actions, and those actions determine the individuals survival.

Anyone can come onto SOT and whine and moan, but whining and moaning are nonproductive and get no actual product. There are ALOT of people in our industry trying to make changes for the better and in doing so helping the individual abstractor, and the title business in general.

Personally I found your posting to be rather insulting to those who are in fact working to improve the title industry, and who are "not just in it for themselves!" They are doing it because they actually care about this group and want the members of this group to do well.