Thread: Credit crisis

Originally Posted by p379

.They go there average income makers and become millionaires.So we can agree?yes?

actually, it seems that most politicians are pretty well off beforehand... running a successful campaign isn't cheap.

sorry to my straight razor friends,I keep screwing up my title thing

Originally Posted by denmason

What incredible absurdity that the government seems ready to spend $700 billion to bail out countless crooked, mismanaged and greedy companies (and similar money on the Iraq war) and not ever seriously propose to spend that kind of money on rebuilding the nation’s crumbling physical infrastructure that would immediately create millions of new good paying jobs desperately needed by the middle class. We are all witnessing a far worse situation than the taxation without representation that spurred the American Revolution. But most Americans will continue to vote for Democrats and Republicans without ever looking to the other parties. I have a strong feeling that some Americans will regret not voting for Ron Paul during the primaries. But, that time has past. If we had just one shred of the conviction that the founders of this country had, we would overwhelmingly vote for third party presidential candidates. We need to wake up and vote for new leaders, and we need to make sure these leaders have our interests in mind at all times. I look at McCain and Obama.... this is the best WE could come up with? It's time to get our poop in a group and change the way we allow our country to be run. But first, we all need to be awake, aware of how we got to where we are. It's going to be a damned hard time for most. The Republicans and Democrats need to be voted out, they are in the pockets of the big money boys and will do as they are told. It's time for us to send them a message, while we can. This is the first necessary step for we the people to take back OUR country. Are we ready for a revolution???

Me thinks I'll duck and cover.

I don't care who the "canned idiots" are this cycle, I'm still writing R.P. in for president, the same as I did with Alan Keyes the last two elections. Honestly, I'd LOVE to wake up to civic responsibility but Rachel Ray is about to tell me how to feed a multitude of thousands using only a box of triscuts, three olives, and a chive, so....

Originally Posted by sidneykidney

This is plainly just NOT TRUE.

Instinctive- its not yours, it belongs to the bank. You can do stuff with it, decorate it, improve it etc but at the end of the day if you dont keep up repayments you'll lose it.

As long as I keep up the payments, it's mine. It's not the bank's until I default.
And even then, the bank will first seek other ways to get its money like a court order to claim my pay before I get it....

It is legally mine and I can do with it as I please.

Originally Posted by sidneykidney

Logical- When you have paid off your house it IS your own and you HAVE spent alot of money. But there is absolutely no guarantee that the amount you spent is the current market value of your house. Granted you can use it as collatoral on your retirement but there is no way of telling if its gonna be enough to keep you going. Lived for free? Hmm.... you did PAY that mortgage didnt you?

In an uninflated house market like ours, there is a better than fair chance that the price of my house keeps up with inflation. If I sell it then, I get back what I paid, minus the interest, and that sum will make up for all my payments. I will have lived in my house for free.

Even if my house is worth zip at that moment, I am off no worse than is I had rented my house, because my monthly payments are only slightly higher than what I would have paid for a similar house in rent.

As long as my house is not worthless when I can shrug off the mortgage, I come out ahead.

Originally Posted by Bruno

It is legally mine and I can do with it as I please.

No-- there is a lien on it. It is yours, I suppose, but your rights to do with it as you please are curtailed until the lien is resolved.

I cannot sell it without paying off the mortgage. That is the limitation.
But other than that there is nothing I cannot do with it.
I could legally rent it out, finish it, neglect it or raze it to the ground.
That doesn't free me from my obligation to the bank of course.

Originally Posted by Bruno

As long as my house is not worthless when I can shrug off the mortgage, I come out ahead.

Welcome to the reason for this thread being here in the first place Bruno.

Out of GENUINE interest, how is the economic climate affecting Belgium in particular?

Since many of you think this is due to the individual being greedy and buying what they can't afford then it should follow that there should be no bailout and those individuals should suffer the consequences of their folly. Economics is a very cold and hard discipline. The market will correct itself eventually. Those that suffer deserve what they get eh? And the innocents? Bad Karma.

Bigspendur,

The treasury department was not set up to be the nation's federally enforced charity.

Nobody says you can't send Congress some money on your own. Let charities do what they are supposed to do, and let people help each other as they see fit. Are we so degenerate that we won't help our fellow man unless the government forces us to?

Some separation of charity and state would be really nice, especially when our earned incomes are at risk. The government is supposed to be protecting our ability and option to live, work, and operate freely in society so that we have the opportunity to help each other as we see fit. I don't think I want to pay for and give the federal government a $700 billion credit card just to make sure you, me, or anyone else don't get left with cold, hard, economic karma.

When I got home, I reviewed the Gingrich video that was posted last night. Here's what I found.

Ol' Newt said that the first thing the government should do is -- wait for it -- repeal Sarbanes-Oxley. Yes, that's right! And why? Because it "failed to warn us" about this crisis.

Now, let me think. What is Sarbanes-Oxley? It's an act passed in the wake of the Enron scandal that mainly requires boards of directors of publicly-held corporations to be responsible for accuracy of the financial reports of the corporation. It specifically makes them responsible for fraud.

It has nothing to do with banking, nothing to do with loans, nothing to do with whether loans are good or bad. Yet Ol' Newt says that this is the most important thing to do to solve the current crisis?

Puh-leeze!

In other news, a Republican congressional panel has met this week to make recommendations to solve the current economic crisis. Their number one recommendation? Eliminate taxation of capital gains.

No, really! I'm serious.

So, what does this all mean? Simple. It means that, faced with the greatest economic crisis of our times, the Republicans are using it to game the situation. That's right -- they're ignoring the crisis and simply trying to use it to garner even more benefits for their wealthy base. In the process, they're trying to eliminate one of the last remaining curbs on corporate greed and corruption, and further reduce the tax base, while shifting revenue from the middle class to the wealthy.

Is this unbelievable or what?

j