Who hates the Current Economy?

[teemu]

f -- k that, let's just go back to a bartering system.

I'll trade you my two best wenches for 6 packs of armor hotdogs, 3 packs of buns, and a reach around every night from the old lady.

I agree...bartering would be a way to go....remember though gold and silver is true money (and constitutional) and has been a monetary for over 5,000 years and cannot go bankrupt like paper money can. The rich will always value and want gold...silver is the working man's metal. Even a couple bullets might buy you a meal in hard times

 

[teemu]

Time for a world wide, bottom up revolution.

a REVOLUTION would be ideal...the problem is too many people (sheople) are asleep in their zombie state (their minds are on material things and selfishness)

 

[jbinny]

Even a couple bullets might buy you a meal in hard times

Hell, bullets have provided our family with more than a few meals and times haven't even gotten that hard.

 

[Kibishii]

I am not sure if I 'hate' the economy as much as I am spooked by it. My wife and I have been seeing it coming for 4-5 years now, so it isn't a surprise and we planned pretty well for it. Other than my laptop and house, we have no debt. The biggest problem for me is that I am having to cut way back on my collectibles and that we are paying for alot of other people's greed and irresponsibility (well, I guess alot of people are).

We didn't buy our house at the peak, we didn't get a subprime loan, and we didn't pull any of the equity out of our house. However, living in California where ALOT of the housing crap happened, we have seen our home drop alot in value and there are tons of foreclosures around us. I am a teacher, so another way the economy sucks is that the state government got drunk on high property taxes and, now that those same taxes are dropping like bricks, the state is going bankrupt and is slashing public jobs. As a public school teacher, this is scary considering that my district just annouced they are cutting 400-700 teaching jobs alone.

What scares me the most is the insane amount of debt our government is building on top of major inflation signs; No country can survive with tons of debt and no way to pay it back. Add the collapse of America's manufacturing sector and it is clear that our government has some fundamental issues to deal with. I think the housing issue will turn around over time after the subprime and forclosures even out.

 

[Kuzeh]

Capitalism is a failed system...
this is the beginning of the end of it...

 

[Lee in MI]

Capitalism is a failed system...
this is the beginning of the end of it...

Friedman Free Market Style Capitalism is a failed system...seems like that is a more accurate statement.

That's the one thing I learned from 8 years of constant Bush!

 

[Kratos]

yep it sucks !.

I updated your sig btw in the art section.

Cheers Dude

 

[Mesa]

Capitalism is a failed system...
this is the beginning of the end of it...

loaning money out to people who can't afford to pay it back, and rewarding failure through bailouts (I'm talking to you George Bush and the Democrats in congress) funded by responsible tax payers isn't capitalism. If we were truly a Capitalistic market, we would have let the weak and stupid fail, to be replaced by those who know how to manage money and businesses. But we're not anymore. Now we have an inefficient government trying to nationalize and control every business and banking industry there is. That's setting the US up for a major failure.

 

[Jiminydog]

"setting the US up for a major failure"

ha ha ha ha ha ha

because things would be going so great if it weren't for those darned bailouts

 

[Mesa]

We didn't buy our house at the peak, we didn't get a subprime loan, and we didn't pull any of the equity out of our house. However, living in California where ALOT of the housing crap happened, we have seen our home drop alot in value and there are tons of foreclosures around us. I am a teacher, so another way the economy sucks is that the state government got drunk on high property taxes and, now that those same taxes are dropping like bricks, the state is going bankrupt and is slashing public jobs. As a public school teacher, this is scary considering that my district just annouced they are cutting 400-700 teaching jobs alone.

What scares me the most is the insane amount of debt our government is building on top of major inflation signs; No country can survive with tons of debt and no way to pay it back. Add the collapse of America's manufacturing sector and it is clear that our government has some fundamental issues to deal with. I think the housing issue will turn around over time after the subprime and forclosures even out.

I heard a good idea on a financial talk show this past weekend.

There are clearly too many houses. They are going into foreclosure, and when they do, they bring down the neighboring properties down in value (yours and mine included). So unless we somehow eliminate that supply that is far exceeding the demand, it will take a long time for the housing crisis to right itself.

So the idea I heard was that any body that served time in the military, there should be a government program that if they want to buy a house, they can qualify for these "unwanted" houses at either a 0% interest rate, or a very low interest rate. The house would still have to be paid off at it's current value. Now since BIG government is getting involved in banking institutions, they should be able to influence something like this. That fills up the empty houses, lessening the supply, and eventually bring back up demand. It would also be a huge help if the government somehow forced banks to abort the "Mark to Market" policy that is killing these property values. As much as I hate government controlling our economy, it seems to be the way of the future, so might as well do it right.

And I'm not proposing ANY low income family can qualify, just those that have served the United States honorably and fought for our freedom. The government trying to put every Harry, D!ck, and Tom into a house who later foreclosed on it is part of what got us into this mess.

 

[Mesa]

"setting the US up for a major failure"

ha ha ha ha ha ha

because things would be going so great if it weren't for those darned bailouts

I'm not following you. I don't support any sort of bailout, and the first one was so poorly mismanaged and hasn't done a damn thing. We're just throwing good money after bad. It's the same people in charge handling the money. Why would they treat money provided as a "gift" any more carefully than what they originally had earned themselves?

 

[BadMoon]

The aliens WILL be landing soon. They will claim they have the cure for cancer. However,

Spoiler

they are only coming to farm us for food and are actually reptiles.

Their leader Diana is smokin hot though.

 

[ChrisCJ99]

It's going to get a LOT worse

Yikes........... Hope this wasn't a bad time to get back into school....

 

[Supergaijin76]

I hate it because it's such an unsettling time for a lot of people I care very much about. For me personally, however, so far it's been a good thing. I get paid in yen and that's riding very high against the dollar, giving me a fantastic exchange rate, and that's despite Japan having announced its recession way before the U.S. finally admitted it was in one as well.

I think... I'd have to go back and Google all this, but that's the way I remember it going down.

Anyway, I know some people here in Japan who are getting lots of unpaid holidays in the next couple of months and they're looking for parttime jobs to pick up the slack. Major companies here are starting to post losses and announce layoffs. Even though I'm relatively flush at the moment, I'm cutting way back on expenses and trying to sock away as much money as I can while sending some home to erase that credit card debt as soon as possible!

 

[Kibishii]

So the idea I heard was that any body that served time in the military, there should be a government program that if they want to buy a house, they can qualify for these "unwanted" houses at either a 0% interest rate, or a very low interest rate. The house would still have to be paid off at it's current value. Now since BIG government is getting involved in banking institutions, they should be able to influence something like this. That fills up the empty houses, lessening the supply, and eventually bring back up demand. It would also be a huge help if the government somehow forced banks to abort the "Mark to Market" policy that is killing these property values. As much as I hate government controlling our economy, it seems to be the way of the future, so might as well do it right.

We used to have something like that in California called the Teacher/Officer/Fire-Fighter Next Door program, but the state got rid of it because the house could be sold for so much more. I think they still have the HUD Home program, but those aren't homes most people would want to live in.

If we were truly a Capitalistic market, we would have let the weak and stupid fail, to be replaced by those who know how to manage money and businesses. But we're not anymore. Now we have an inefficient government trying to nationalize and control every business and banking industry there is.

Most of the time I would agree with that, however, BOTH the Great Depression and the current major recession were caused by a deregulation/free market attitude in the credit/banking system and a hyperinflated stock market. One positive aspect of this, is that both Democrats and Republicans caused this mess so there isn't as much finger pointing.

What the US is doing right now is pumping money into credit systems to avoid the same credit/banking collapse that occurred in the early 30's. Yes, it is quasisocialism, but it is better than letting a complete collapse happen. The US had New Deal jobs and manufacturing to fall back on in the 30's, alot of the US economy is based on service jobs now.

The problem today is that we are cranking up insane amounts of debt ontop of a national deficit and killing the value of the dollar all in one fell swoop; That is scary. On top of that, the first half of the 'bail out' that banks were supposed to use to free up credit, was actually used (by the same greedy ass banks that caused this) to buy OTHER banks. I see taxes skyrocketing in 5-10 years once this works itself out.

 

[Kratos]

I believe the Economy is on the Road to recovery though it will take some time to sort out I predict it should be stable around August-September (don't quote me on that its just a feeling I have)

 

[Mesa]

What the US is doing right now is pumping money into credit systems to avoid the same credit/banking collapse that occurred in the early 30's. Yes, it is quasisocialism, but it is better than letting a complete collapse happen. The US had New Deal jobs and manufacturing to fall back on in the 30's, alot of the US economy is based on service jobs now.

The problem today is that we are cranking up insane amounts of debt ontop of a national deficit and killing the value of the dollar all in one fell swoop; That is scary. On top of that, the first half of the 'bail out' that banks were supposed to use to free up credit, was actually used (by the same greedy ass banks that caused this) to buy OTHER banks. I see taxes skyrocketing in 5-10 years once this works itself out.

But where/when do these bailouts end. You have everyone now standing in line asking for your spare change. Who's going to distinguish what groups really need the money in order for our economy to emerge a survivor? On top of that, the bailout plan gets pork bills loaded into it, decided upon by our crooked congressmen and congresswomen. I would be surprised if even half of the money gets to who needs it the most. It's politics as usual.

 

[Agent47]

In London they're talking about nationalizing the banks. Given how our banks have used their bailout money maybe we should be thinking about the same thing. And the big three should have gone under. Even the new environmentally friendly cars are going to be subpar and more expensive than what's going to available from foreign manufacturers in a couple of years. Regardless, all of these CEOs are going to walk away with millions because the unions don't want to get bought out. We're pumping life support into a failed and sick system. It's the airlines all over again.

 

[teemu]

Its all being done by design to implode the economy and turn the USA into a 3rd world country...you dont think it cant happen here? I am trying to figure out when are people gonna wake up to the illusion of our fraud economic system.Paper respresents debt and when your in debt, your a slave to the lender

 

[Kibishii]

But where/when do these bailouts end...I would be surprised if even half of the money gets to who needs it the most.

I agree 100%, but I have no clue as far as the bailouts go...I would probably say to anything that can fundamentally disable the American economic system and banking is the only thing that I can think off that can do that. Even a stock market 'crash' wouldn't destroy the fundamentals of America, but a bank/credit crash sure as heck would.