Posted on 12/16/2008 8:31:25 AM PST by EternalVigilance
Could you fix the punctuation in the headline? FR’s software doesn’t seem to take kindly to cut and pasted punctuation these days...
So what does the average, informed American citizen do with this information? It is so frustrating to read articles like this and the only response I have available is a spike in blood pressure! Does it do any good to contact your representative? Isn’t it time for a revolt???
If you can’t trust you banker who can you trust?
The Bank dick with WC Fields.
I understand the feelings of helplessness. Many share them. It’s like watching the trade towers fall. What are you gonna do once the dirty deed is done?
IMO, all you can do is try and help the survivors, clean up the mess, and begin to work to try and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
What does any of that have to do with my post?
It is easy for the speculators to blame demand in China as a “reason” for high oil prices. But what exactly did China do differently over the past 2 years that wasn’t being done prior when gasoline was $2.00 a gallon?
How do we explain a more than doubling of oil prices over a 2 year period? I think a lot of it was commodity speculators using borrowed money (margins) to run up prices to make a quick buck. When easy credit was no longer extended speculators could no longer bid up prices to cover their margins. When the margin calls were made it took billions of dollars out of all market and commodity trading. Many speculators couldn’t cover their margins because their wealth was paper and not tangible.
Same went for the housing market where investors were flipping property to make a fast buck. The market was saturated with excess capacity and fewer buyers who qualified for credit. Somewhere the top prices had to be reached and consumers couldn’t sustain the growth. Their pockets were picked by record oil prices and the inflation ripple that went through all consumer products, food, transportation etc.
I still see high oil prices as one of the main reasons for the bust. The Democrats out to be very proud of themselves for selling out Ameica to a bunch of rich Arab oil monopolies. They broke us. Now they are putting in the fix.
God help us all.
It’s the fraud, stupid!
"And they wonder why they get shot!"
“It is easy for the speculators to blame demand in China as a “reason” for high oil prices. But what exactly did China do differently over the past 2 years that wasn’t being done prior when gasoline was $2.00 a gallon?”
Building a massive Olympic complex?
If he favors a union of North America and wants to nudge it in that direction, would he go to the extreme of addressing a crisis in a way that would make it easier? Attempts to prop up financial institutins with a bail out increases government debt and devalues the dollar, possibly making it more palatable for the US to marry up with a common currency. In effect, using a crisis to achieve an outcome he desires.
I have no idea if there might be a connection, but there sure are some strange things happening and I am just wondering if there might be some deeper agendas at play.
How do you impeach a Treasury Secretary, and what exactly do you do with an extra-Constitutional monstrosity like “Chairman of the Fed”?
IMO, all you can do is try and help the survivors, clean up the mess, and begin to work to try and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
There is one more thing you can do: Apprehend any surviving perpetrators, and publicly execute them.
Obviously you did not read the report correctly! This is a credit crisis that is happening and these are not the droids you are looking for. Move along, move along.
That's a loooooooong stretch off topic for this thread. How about you start your own Bush and the North American Union thread instead?
ping
BTTT
The problem is that MOST Amerikans are living like this EVERY SINGLE DAY! The majority (about 65%) of Amerikans live paycheck to paycheck. And this is the same thing - they rely on that next check to make up for the bad decisions they made with their last paycheck.
Studies show that the last two generations have almost completely abandoned the practice of “pay yourself first.” Individual personal savings accounts are almost non-existent. And all of these people believe and live as if their next paycheck will pay all of their expenses. So, if they get laid off, get really sick or have a emergency like a broke down car or medical requirement, they have no money to handle the expense.
A perfect example is how the bankruptcy courts have noted that medical bills are the LEADING cause of bankruptcy. Now, the MSM and Democrats say this is because “the cost of health care is outrageous!” but they fail to mention that the families refused to plan for rainy days. So, yes just like all other expenses, health care has gone up, but maybe it is because the hospitals have to write-off so many bills due to BANKRUPTCY filings!?!
Instead, these new generations live in the moment. They drive newer cars than any other generation in history. They have larger, more expensive houses at a younger age than any other generation in history and they live larger than that weekly paycheck. So, any little bump in the road causes major catastrophe!
If you are discussing a fraudulent credit crisis, I don’t think so, because one would logically wonder WHY someone would perpetrate a fraudulent credit crisis. But, forgive me. I’ll take my thoughts elsewhere.
Some folks live in small rural areas, have small paid off homes, drive old well cared for cars (all paid off), live off small salaries, have small bills, etc..
Perhaps focus should be shifted as to how to manage in a different way.
Oh, I agree. I used to be one of those lost in the moment. I thought I was living the high life. I had a business, paying for a house I couldn’t afford and was making $70K a year. Then as a general contractor, I got messed over by a sub-contractor. All of a sudden, I was over $56K in debt with only about $300 in the bank! After loosing my house, three trucks, my business and almost my wife and kids, I said, “No more!”
At the age of 35 I had NOTHING. I started over and five years later, I paid cash for my current home. I have one loan. I drive a 1996 Chevy truck. And I am much happier.
I finally realized that I cannot reach the lifestyle that I was living unless I do a few things:
1) Stop acting like I have that lifestlye.
2) Quit posing as a charlatan.
3) Start actually working towards HAVING that lifestyle.
Of course, I could use the “they said I could afford it...” excuse, but that is not the truth. The truth is I wanted it all - TODAY. And that is where we are in Amerika.
So, these guys don’t see where these businesses are doing anything wrong - heck that is how they live too. So the problem is there is little self-reliance in the Amerikan public and until we change that we will continue down this slippery slope to Socialism.
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