Posted By: Jim W on Friday, October 03, 2008
Like I keep saying, they just want to fool you til 5 November. After that, it's "Bend over- I'll drive," led by none other than Barney "Blow-hard" Frank, literally.
Posted By: geoff on Friday, October 03, 2008
But getting in over your ears in debt was the "patriotic thing to do" in the days just after 9-11. Could it be that Bush was lying about that, too?And didn't McCain & Bush & Paulson & all the rest keep repeating that mantra about how the economy was really, really sound, just fine, don't pay any attention to the man behind the curtain, etc.?Maybe if the press & politicians didn't have so little respect for the public and didn't keep lying to us (then again, why should they respect the public? when people keep voting on the basis of who they think they'd rather drink a beer with...?), maybe we could have done something to avert the worst.But no: everyone wants to "feel good," and confuse radio punditry with reality. It's so much nicer burying your head in the sand and ignoring the economic elephant in the room (GOP?), or the dangers of global warming, or the potential blowback of invading Iraq or supporting the Shah or eating too many hamburgers or not investing in schools, etc.; if people concentrated on issues more important than lapel pins, "terrorist fist jabs," middle names, etc.
Posted By: jack sprat on Friday, October 03, 2008
"The “do nothing republicans” and that damn Bush “September 11, 2003 New Agency Proposed to Oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae By STEPHEN LABATON The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago. Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry…” http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E3D6123BF932A2575AC0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print The Dems response to the republican attempt to control the debacle “These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis, the more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.” Barney Frank - 2003 in response to Bush administration overhaul plan."
Posted By: jack sprat on Saturday, October 04, 2008
Chris H As you'll recall the only one's "paniced" orignally were the "money men" who made the bad paper. Wall Street Paulsen was reputed to have earned $2.8 trillion at, I believe Goldman, why Bush had a Dem in as Sec of Treasury I'll never know. But now is a good time to judicuously buy right if you can. Unfortunately Buffet and the bunch, though gambling with their money, will now have "we the people's" taxes to cover his.The deal stank then and hasn't done any better festering for a week.
Posted By: Chris H on Saturday, October 04, 2008
Blame game over, now move on to what Linda and others are saying...I think we need to heed Warrant Buffet's words of wisdom: "We will pull through. They say in the stock market ... buy stock in a business that's so good that an idiot can run it because sooner or later one will.”Do you think KRAFT is going down? How about Wal-Mart? Think about it. "Buy low and sell high.” Buffet bought into several of these “investment banks and other companies that just tanked. Now why would he and JP Morgan Chase and B of A, Citibank, Wells, etc. do that?Because, they bought assets at a discount! And well qualified borrowers can still buy a home or a car or obtain a credit card and also do so at a discount. There is money out there for potential borrowers to obtain from strong lenders that did not make the “quick buck” and utilize only sound lending practices. We’re out there!Please recognize that this moment, right now, IS the opportunity of your life time to buy assets, stocks, bonds and homes that are at or near their lowest in value and at the lowest possible rates, (IF you are borrowing money). Cash purchases are getting discounts in the Real Estate industry and elsewhere. Remember the 80’s when mortgage rates were in the teens, (14 – 18%)???Just make prudent investments, pick the companies Buffet speaks of: stable with solid boring, consistent histories and you'll do fine. Help your clients buy a home in a nice area that they can afford. Buffet certainly has. Did you know that he still lives in a modest 3 bdrm, 2 bath that he owns outright in Omaha, NE?One final note…France is one of the few countries that this credit crunch has not hurt very badly. Why? You might ask…Two reasons: One: on credit of any type, you are collateralized and your debt service ratio is NEVER more then 1/3 of your income. It means that when the French walk into a store, their credit card’s limit is their savings account. It’s more like a debit or savings secured card. Two: It also means that a home purchase’s payment of Principle, Interest, Taxes, Insurance, plus water and sewer, (all together) cannot be more than 1/3 of their annual income in France. 33.34% people!Back in the day, when mortgages first came out, 29% was the maximum debt to income or debt service ratio. I’ve seen even documented incomes gain approval at 56% in America. Bottom line: Do the math, choose wisely and then invest in your future and our country’s future accordingly…
Posted By: John Handforth on Saturday, October 04, 2008
I'd pay attention to Mr. Buffett. He has a few more dollars than I have. He started out with a paper route. He saved his money, then bought a bike to expand that paper route. He has always made his money work hard. He has amassed $56,000,000,000 through sound financial investment.He knows things that we don't and has started his own financial bailout of Goldman Sachs. I'll join him after I break my gallon jar of quarters. I was saving on a smaller scale.
Posted By: Reality Check on Sunday, October 05, 2008
While your article seeks to bring more depth to resolving the deeper sources of the current financial situation, Your assessment underplays the role of the financial experts/industry who should be ultimately accountable. Why?Well, when I go to my doctors, dentist, auto mechanic, electrician, builder requiring their services, I do so with trust in their expertise for diagnosis and recommended medication or repairs. I expect them to be responsible in discharging their services e.g If I am homeless due to prescription drug abuse problems, it will not be sound medical judgement and practice by the doctor to make me the offer of 'living rent free in the pharmacy for the next 5 years'. In a sense, this is what the financial institutions 'OFFER' daily to people that they are aware to be financially challenged either in financial control, financial circumstances or financial judgement. YOu see adverts like 'no credit, bad credit welcome, equity loans for vaccations and whatever toys you want NOW, consolidate your loans and get more loan to spend recklessly, morgage offers may be way above your income but refinance in a year or two (when you start bleeding) etc.'. But their aim is to generate a sustainable source of PROFIT which is the bottom line, through interest charges. As long as you owe them you are a guaranteed source of revenue.My point is they are responsible or should I say irresponsible as experts and should be accountable to a good degree.As to the bail out plan, I say what is good for the goose should be good for the gander. Generally these companies, If I am unable to pay my loans and conduct my business, will reposess my home and other collateral. (No concerted effort to bail me out). But now they have the troubles and what ... the taxes I managed to pay to keep from being jailed by the IRS while in business, goes to keep them alive to live to own me another day through the same irresponsible process.If I make 'profit' under the good times of the capitalistic market system then I should be ready for the bad times of the same market system and not expect free bail outs especially when the bail out really guarantees nothing and the bad managers, executives and experts are still in place to do it again.I say let the market alone. Let the chips fall where it may and the fat cats be held accountable. We will not die. A lot might be lost but we will come up better. A catastrophe might destroy, but better buildings and facilities come up in place of the old and damaged. This might be a chance to rebuild a better financial system rather than keep alive one that has proved to be on it's death bed. It's a mater of time.
Posted By: Ron Friend on Sunday, October 05, 2008
I beg to differ with your opinion that we are to blame and how you arrived at that conclusion. At 56 years of age I am a Viet Nam AND a Desert Storm era veteran. Addtionally, I am college educated (business and law) and I have worked for the same company for the past 38 years. When my wife and I bought our home (on a VA loan) we looked for a mortgage that would fit in to our budget then. We knew what we could afford, and that is exactly what we bought. ( 3 bedroom, ranch style, on 1 acre of flat grund with trees) We are a 2 car family. I, and my son-in-law, do our own maintenance and repairs. Additionally, we only wait to replace one of the vehicles after it is paid off and if it looks like minor maintenance costs could exceed the cost of a car payment. Of the credit cards we have we pay the total balance when we receive the bill. And yes, we do put some away for retirement other than our contractual pension plan, and yes, we do put some away for our grandchild's education. No, it isn't the working class and poor people that have gotten us into this mess. It is a grossly failure of accountability at many levels. Start with our President, the leader of the greatest country in the world. He took a surplus and turned it into a deficit that our great grandchildren will be paying off. In other words, George W. Bush bankrupted the United States of America and threw the world into economic chaos. No one challenged him, or rather his party would not allow anyone to challenge him. The drug companies, the HMO's, the oil companies, and financiers all love him. The same President went after Bin Laden and the Taliban in Afghanistan and the world, yes the world, backed us. Then what does he do? Lies, twists intelligence reports, ignores sound advice and world opinion, and does something no President of this nation has ever done before. He attacks, and invades, a sovereign nation that could not, and did not have the capability to, do American interests any harm. He sends everyone, even the National Guard, into harms way. Why do I say even the National Guard? The responsibility of the Naitonal Guard is for national defense on home soil. Of course President Bush wouldn't know about that because he didn't fullfill his own military obligations. And the Congress backed him! He put women in the military in harms way in war zones. He, and his Republican led Congress at the time, then attempted to cut veterans benefits! Thus we have world opinion against us, our military is stretched thin, so what does OPEC do? Create an oil shortage, and coerce the world into raising crude prices. One of our "friends" and a member of OPEC, Saudi Arabia, (of which a majority of the 911 terrorists were from) refuses to help their "good friend" George Bush. Do we hold any of the oil companies accountable for the grossly exagerated increases in fuel price? No. That one thing turned world economics on its ear. The cost of everything rose to staggering heights. No one, and especially the media, did anything to force accountability. The very fabric of our constitution has been ignored by this administration. The needs of the few rich have been fullfilled on the backs of the many working class and the poor. And you still do not hold them accountable. Sooner or later the piper must be paid. Wall Street is just a start. So please, please don't tell us we have met the enemy and they are us. No, it is a corrupt system led by even more corrupt politicians that is at fault. And no, we don't need that type of experience in control for even one more day.
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