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Consumers Face Challenges in Handling Debt (Higher Consumer Cost Squeezing People.)
Yahoo Finance ^ | 7-3-06 | Eileen Alt Powell

Posted on 07/05/2006 5:39:20 AM PDT by Hydroshock

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To: Hydroshock; ClearCase_guy
No problemo. Just use your house like an ATM machine. Lenders are praising the 50 year mortgage. Best thing since sliced bread. "Borrow more money" radio ads are still running 24/7. Refinance now using 1% option ARM loans. Nobody cares about consequences. Nobody has heard about the housimng bubble or illegal foreclosures. Buy that new SUV today and write it off as a tax deduction. Spend, spend, spend. "Nothing to see here. Lock your doors and windows. Time to move on."

About dry cleaning: In California, there are hundreds of discount dry cleaning shops. Some shops do shirts and blouses for less than $ 1. They have lines of people outside waiting with piles of clothes in their arms. In Oregon, there is no discount dry cleaning. They never heard about doing shirts for less than a dollar. Moreover, pants, dresses and suit cost a small fortune to dry clean. Every dry cleaner seems to lose clothes by the ton every month as well. They must sell half of what they do out the back door at Spanish language discount stores. Unless you speak Korean or Spanish, don't even bother complaining.

61 posted on 07/05/2006 7:09:24 AM PDT by ex-Texan (Matthew 7:1 through 6)
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To: ClearCase_guy

Actually, the economy suffers from over-employment. There are 12 million illegal aliens working here. That is what keeps a damper on overall wages at the lower end of the spectrum.


62 posted on 07/05/2006 7:11:15 AM PDT by Humvee (Beliefs are more powerful than facts - Paulus Atreides)
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To: Humvee
I agree with that. I really am a big Bush fan, but I think his approach to illegal immigration is wrong. It's morally and legally wrong. But just viewed through the lens of politics, the Republicans could have cracked down on illegal immigrants -- and done it 100% for the Little Guy at the low end of the wage spectrum. His wages are depressed, we don't think that's right, we think he deserves a fair shake, and so we're sending the illegals back to Mexico.

But alas, this opportunity was passed up.

63 posted on 07/05/2006 7:15:01 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy ("He hit me, he cries, he runs to the court and sues me.")
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To: ex-Texan

Your story on dry cleaning illustrates a good point.

So much of the economy is regional, and this story uses a broad brush to paint the picture. Where one state prospers another sinks -- Michigan is a good example. There are so many houses on the market right now it's not funny and nobody is buying. Areas that have been depressed for years are starting to recover, but it's only because they're willing to work outside the Big Three. Jackson (MI) is starting to do better since a lot of its local manufacturing base is turning OUTSIDE the US for business. They're actually EXPORTING products to China and Asia.

Things in Detroit are going to need to be much, MUCH worse for a long time before things get better. If DeVos is elected, cutting the city off from massive state subsidies and pandering will bring about the decline quicker and *maybe* let small business do a few things. I don't have much hope for Detroit, but I'd like to be proven wrong.


64 posted on 07/05/2006 7:23:40 AM PDT by Kieri (Dump "Dangerously Incompetent" Debbie, Support Keith Butler for Senate)
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To: All

My take is some folks - like the woman in the article - tend to lump too many "luxuries" in their "necessity" bucket. The $80.00 dry cleaning bill is outrageous. I am a professional trade consultant and have to wear business dress daily. But my dry cleaning each month is about $22.00, primarily because I wash and iron my own shirts.

It is amazing what a lot of people consider NECESSITIES! I know people of relatively modest means who take two full vacations a year (a week each in great locales), have multiple cell phones, excessive spa treatments, eat out 75 of 90 meals each month, the biggest and best entertainment centers (plasma TV, CD systems, etc.), excessive clothes, etc. These are people who are living a porterhouse lifestyle on a pork chop budget.

Then they wonder why their credit cards are maxed out!

Add to THAT the fact a lot of people absolutely have ZERO concept of interest rates. Too many people are content to pay the minimum each month. That is a KILLER on finances; a waste of resources!

I fully recognize there are those who truly had to resort to using credit card withdrawals for basics. My brother and his wife is an example of that. But we were able to trace the spending patterns back to some earlier exorbiant and unnecessary expenditures that helped push them into that trap. They worked their way out of it with a LOT of sacrifice and support from family/friends.

My main point is a lot of this is truly SELF IMPOSED.


65 posted on 07/05/2006 7:26:32 AM PDT by boss man
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To: Psycho_Bunny

Right on the money! "I maxed all my credit cards out, and then things got more expensive (who would have thought?)and now I can't live like all the people I see on TV"
The poor will always be with us, even when a democrat is in office. You just don't hear about it in the media then.


66 posted on 07/05/2006 7:45:35 AM PDT by abovethefray
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To: JackDanielsOldNo7

Cool it.


67 posted on 07/05/2006 7:47:51 AM PDT by Lead Moderator
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To: boss man

Some folks can't wash and iron their own "shirts", they just don't look right...


68 posted on 07/05/2006 8:24:00 AM PDT by dakine
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To: DJ MacWoW

You said:

"...Our kids are a different matter. Jobs aren't plentiful in this area. And to afford housing, both people have to work..."

Well, if "jobs aren't plentiful", why don't they move to where jobs ARE plentiful?

There are certainly lots of good jobs in NYC for the well-educated and/or well-motivated.

A friend's daughter is a 27-year-old MBA, whose annual compensation exceeds $150,000. Funny thing. She seems to have no problem paying the "sky-high" rent on her Manhattan apartment.

Go figure...


69 posted on 07/05/2006 1:47:48 PM PDT by pfony1
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To: pfony1

NYC? No.


70 posted on 07/05/2006 4:16:55 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If you think you know what's coming next....You don't know Jack.)
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