Posted on 02/09/2012 1:55:08 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
Not to disparage your larger point, which is true, but in this part I believe you have confused the John with the whore.
Is it Wall Street's fault that Congress is for sale to the highest bidder or is the fault that Congress has too damn much power?
You wanna bet? We watched it happen. As gas penetrated the $4 barrier, our customers stopped paying their bills. It was unexpected and a lot of people could no longer pay their mortgages, plus all the other stuff they'd already bought on credit. I hope folks are more prepared this time for the $4 gas at the pump that we expect this summer. I have friends that were just able to unload their $1.5 million, 80 year old mansion (emotional sale to the grandson of the original owner/builder -- all cash) and traded it for a foreclosure in the $500k range (previously $1.3 million). Yes, they've had a lot of expenses associated with the sale and purchase, but they are still coming out ahead with a newer house, on a smaller lot, and no debt. My point being that I don't think that the previous owners would have lost that house except for the downward spiral started by the $4 gas.
Thus spake Baroness Carpetmunchausen.
People will buy gas to get to work before they'll make their payments. Perhaps it has something to do with food, electricity, heat, cable, phone, the car... you know, the immediate and critical needs of life... IOW, those that go bad within weeks if they don't keep up. It takes six months for the mortgage thingy to catch up with them, but by then, it's irreversible. All of those costs but one are stable, one can budget for them.
Look at the map of where the worst of the mortgage meltdown occurred: the insta-burbs of LA, Las Vegas, Florida, North San Diego County... For people who move from LA to Palmdale and commute two hours each way for the means to barely pay for as much house as they could leverage, these folks use a lot of gas.
I'm with Rick on that one. Gas prices pricked the bubble, with Soros' hired Enron thugs in London holding the needle.
Thanks TF!
I think I know what the penis-phobic Madcow may be obliquely referring to.
What’s hilarious to me as a student of conspiracy theories is that leftists, who ridicule conservatives as gullible hillbillies because of our beliefs in things like an Ultimate Authority or a Universal Lawgiver, SEEK OUT and BELIEVE any wacky conspiracy about Christians they read - on the Internet or otherwise.
Because Santorum takes his faith at least somewhat seriously, he must be painted with as much Alinskyite ridicule as possible - for instance, trying to turn his name into a disgusting sexual reference.
That’s what makes me think Madcow here is referring to a conspiracy theory about guillotines being shipped to military bases to prepare for mass executions of Christians.
http://educate-yourself.org/ps/guillotinesinamerica15feb09.shtml
There is only one source/witness I’ve found for this story, and of course none of the military personnel supposedly in the logistics chain in charge of shipping and setting up such equipment has leaked word of it. Military personnel who would inevitably have family members who could be potential victims.
So Madcow has taken the actual truth of the French Revolution and, in my opinion, slyly winked at her fellow neo-commies to see if they can help her get this smear to stick on Santorum.
Bump.
Yeah, people will laugh at Rick for saying that Gas Prices had a part in the housing crises... but, Gas Prices to have a impact in housing, transportation , food prices, .... just wait until gas stays at over $ 4.00 a gallon, people won’t be laughing then..
Yeah, people will laugh at Rick for saying that Gas Prices had a part in the housing crises... but, Gas Prices do have a impact in housing, transportation , food prices, .... just wait until gas stays at over $ 4.00 a gallon, people won’t be laughing then..
I adhere to the thought that evil happens when good people do nothing. Let us never quit being a good person fighting back.
Look...I am not claiming for one moment that High gas prices are not devastating to the economy. What I am saying is that people are putting the cart before the horse. The banks started going down before Gas prices rose. Then Gas prices rose. Not the other way around. Many people had already stopped being able to pay there mortgage. That is why the ponzi MBS scheme was failing. After that fact- When gas prices shot up- Of course it amplified the problems a lot. But if you look at Gas prices as being the trigger then you miss the forest through the trees. You miss the real culprits, and you can not ensure that it does not happen again. Again I say that Wall street drove up the price of oil during the crisis, maybe partly out of fear, but also as a means of making a lot of money from a commodity that people have to buy, no matter what it costs.
True, but it is getting to seem impossible now. Too much is wrong. And too many people have bought into lies. At some point the balance scale tips, and no matter how hard you try then you cannot tip it back. It seems maybe we have reached that point. I pray that I am wrong. Thanks for your encouragement.
“No, the economy collapsed because government policies mandated insane lending practices to encourage home ownership for undeserving people (0% down)... The house of cards collapsed because of gov’t mandates.”
That sounds like the Rush Limbaugh Subprime Theory.
Unfortunately for Rush’s theory investment banks and pure mortgage lenders were not covered by government mandates. The CRA regulated only deposit-takers. The CRA-free shadow-banking system issued trillions of dollars of subprime paper because it was immensely profitable, not because anyone was twisting their arm; no one was.
Rush’s government mandate theory also has a problem with the fact that the bubble was global, and not just confined to America. Had it been the result of American regulation this would not have been the case.
In fact the origin of the bubble was some financial engineering cranked out by quants back in the 1990s. Specifically it was David Li’s Gaussian copula function, a pricing model with a flaw that was ignored by everyone using it, at least until it blew up the financial markets.
I paid $86 dollar tonight to fill up.
I aint laughing.
That’s a big deal for a guy looking to go out on job interviews in 50 mi radius when unemployment is 8.9%
I don’t understand why this women in combat stuff and all this religious moral stuff about abortion and how Rick would make his daughter have a baby if she was raped stuff or how he would never ask his wifey to pick up a gun and shoot someone that was trying to kill him became so prevent in the national discussion.
Our economy is swirling the Bowl Rick!
I call it the "Chef Boyardee Index" and its sky high.
“and he argued gas prices “caused the housing bubble to burst.” “
They did. What kind of twit can’t see that?
Bubbles tend to burst by their very nature, if not deflated first. But if they are all blown up, all it takes is a pinprick. In the case of housing I am convinced that pin was gas prices. (actually, I think it was fuel prices that triggered the whole damn economy train wreck)
People who were just barely squeaking by simply were pushed over the edge when gas prices went nuts. Then mortgages got behind, then a LOT of people tried to sell while no one could buy, and well, you all know the rest.
“...here’s what Santorum had to say during a town-hall meeting in Texas last night: “
And Santorum was absolutely correct.
Weird...the lefties seem to be arguing on our behalf all of a sudden. LOL
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