Posted on 10/09/2008 3:26:20 PM PDT by neverdem
And your point is?
VDH PING
I was brave enought to look at my 401k, it is down 31%.
It will take years to recover, just the value I paid in.
The point is we are in for some rough times. Also, education and common sense do not always go together. I’ll be praying for this country, I suggest all of you do the same.
True that...what I have a problem with is the idea that folks are genuinely shocked that there is greed on Wall Street.
I like the author's observations. I thought the author made quite a few trenchant ones. I thought this was the best:
"If these guys are our best and brightest, then it is about time we rethink what constitutes wisdom, since an Ivy League law degree certainly seemed no proof of either intelligence or ethics."
Nobody ever said they were the brightest. They’re just guys who want to make a buck.
Guess you missed the 'widsomspeak' here. Or, perhaps you just don't like VDH?
Greed on Wall Street; and unfricking amounts of arrogance in Washington. . .and the ‘hallowed halls’ of Congress. Am surprised that Barney has not has HIS nose bloodied yet. . .
"The crisis of the abuses of banking is arrived. The banks have pronounced their own sentence of death. Between two and three hundred millions of dollars of their promissory notes are in the hands of the people, for solid produce and property sold, and they formally declare they will not pay them. This is an act of bankruptcy, of course, and will be so pronounced by any court before which it shall be brought. But cui bono? The laws can only uncover their insolvency, by opening to its suitors their empty vaults. Thus by the dupery of our citizens, and tame acquiescence of our legislators, the nation is plundered of two or three hundred millions of dollars, treble the amount of debt contracted in the Revolutionary war, and which, instead of redeeming our liberty, has been expended on sumptuous houses, carriages, and dinners. A fearful tax! if equalized on all; but overwhelming and convulsive by its partial fall. Everything predicted by the enemies of banks, in the beginning, is now coming to pass. We are to be ruined now by the deluge of bank paper, as we were formerly by the old Continental paper. It is cruel that such revolutions in private fortunes should be at the mercy of avaricious adventurers, who, instead of employing their capital, if any they have, in manufactures, commerce, and other useful pursuits, make it an instrument to burthen all the interchanges of property with their swindling profits, profits which are the price of no useful industry of theirs. Prudent men must be on their guard in this game of Robin's alive, and take care that the spark does not extinguish in their hands. I am an enemy to all banks discounting bills or notes for anything but coin. But our whole country is so fascinated by this Jack-lantern wealth, that they will not stop short of its total and fatal explosion."
~~Thomas Jefferson to Dr. Thomas Cooper, 1814
Every shill on these boards for the crony bastardized version of the Free Market we have today has pretty much said that:
1) The people who run Wall Street deserve whatever they can get
2) We are too stupid to fully understand the intricacies of all that is done on Wall Street
3) Without leveraging and derivatives certain "investments" would not make sense, but since one of these masterminds thought it up we need to allow leveraging and derivatives in order for it to happen.
Wall Street, Government, the Media, liberal community organizers, etc. all contributed to pounding the average American with the message that we would be stupid if we didn't leverage as much of our wealth as we could by buying large homes, getting HELOCs, putting most of our 401k into stocks, etc.
I realize that ultimately each individual is responsible for his own welfare, but if every major institution is yelling at us 24/7 to borrow, borrow, borrow then it is no surprise that a huge percentage of the American population went out and borrowed.
The people who the community activists wanted to help the most ended up being the ones who are currently in the worst shape: they got invited to be the base of the Ponzi pyramid.
Of course they will be saved by the well-meaning nimnolds in government, but those of us in the middle will end up being squeezed once again.
That our government tries to dump the risk on taxpayers does not bode well for future enterprise.
Greed on Wall Street? Arrogance in Washington? Are you sure? I find it hard to believe.
Just about all of our nation’s problems can be EXPLAINED by the DEATH OF COMMON SENSE and the dearth of individual responsibility!!
If you can’t figure it out... then you are part of the problem.
There’s a problem?
Only for someone who is forced to move because of a job change does the current market value become relevant. They will lose the difference between the remaining amount of the loan and the current market value. However, those situations represent only a small fraction of those who are "under water."
I think we need to quit focusing on those who are "under water" and focus on fixing Fannie and Freddie (and maybe Sallie).
Is it, that you have 'other issues'?
Good one! And ‘thank-you’ Mr. Jefferson. . .
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