The Economy - is it really that bad?

[West Coast Jungle]

Very intersting posts.

I agree with Judy on many points, Americans have become financially irresponsible from the White house to the aisles of Wallmart to car dealers and Real Estate/mortgage brokers. I bought my house over 10 years ago and boy did they break my you know whats to give me a loan. Why? because they had much stricter parameters than recently, with much less risk. Now lets go back 3-4 years lenders were giving loans away, low doc loans, teaser rates(at a record pace) and real estate people were selling homes to anyone wether they could afford it or not. Why? BIG $! Now people are loosing homes they couldn't afford in the first place(at a record pace). We are up to our eyeballs in debt and many cany afford to pay the piper.

Wilomon also makes a great point. Our president took a surplus economy and since then, buried us in deficit(Conservative?). The value of the dollar is weakening. The amount of $ spent in Iraq is staggering, for what? WMD? There are people getting rich from this war, it just aint me and you folks (See Haliburton).
These funds could be better spent help education and help teach jobs which is the key to bring opportunity to the poorer classes. The more educated money makers we have/create, the more people will purchase goods and the more our economy will grow, healthy growth(not borrowed growth) Also we could do something about the medical industry which is in a shambles and costs everyone(that pays) millions.


Most markets go through cycles where things go from under valued (lows) and go to overvalued(highs) only to eventually be corrected and drop closer to realistic values and start again. There are many factors that control this and it will vary from industry to industry and from one geographic location to other areas. The world has become smaller and economies from other nations affect each other now more than ever.



Depending how stable you are financially and how you make your income these changes may affect some more than others.

The bottom line is if a squirrel doesn't save his nuts during the summer he is gonna starve when winter hits. This has been how we have survived for millions of years.
Now people are spending what they dont have and many dont appreciate what they already have and always want more. Our debt is at a record highs and winter is setting in folks(the correction). The old work ethic, work hard and save has changed to, work hard and make minimun credit card payments. This mentality can only last so long and then comes a correction.

How many nuts do you have for winter? That is the most important economy and it differs from person to person. It's not how much $ you make but how much you got leftover that counts. Wether it's $30,000 or $300,000 if you spend more than you make you are gonna get in trouble, eventually.

[monk90222]

Can someone explain how the "stimulus package" put forth was supposed to help this situation, because I don't really understand that. You know, the "government cheese" that came in the mail?

I can explain. My wife, myself and my 2 kids are just a shade under the max income amount. So to us, this is an $1800 check (I think thats the amount...$1200 for joint filers and $300 per kid) that is supposed to be spent to stimulate the economy. I will be putting this money to good use by buying BALL PYTHONS!

[littleindiangirl]

Heck ya, me and the BF will be getting 1200$, and I can bet you that we will be VERY stimulating with it

[Sinsation]

Im not into to alot of politics. Nor am I one to overly worry about the economy. I will say and feel safe in doing so that it has become an issue around my area. Alot of foreclosures and such are lowering property left and right. For alot of people that is bad such as my husband's uncle who's base income is off of the properties he own's.

For those of us stuck in the middle class slot, I will say yeh things are a struggle. But other oppurtunites have opened for us that werent always an option. We have tried for 3 years with about the same income to purchase a new car, we were always turned down or asked to get a co-signer and my brother in-law was in the same boat. All of a sudden we both have been able to get new cars with no co-signer no down payments. We both used seperate car lots, so yeh it does seem like where sometimes things tend to look bad it tends to open oppurtunities for those who before had none.

[Holbeird]

Completly off topic as I'm not even getting into my ideas about this, but I just noticed you're in charlotte brad! I always like to find out there are more bp.net-ers near me

[elevatethis]

For those of us stuck in the middle class slot, I will say yeh things are a struggle. But other oppurtunites have opened for us that werent always an option. We have tried for 3 years with about the same income to purchase a new car, we were always turned down or asked to get a co-signer and my brother in-law was in the same boat. All of a sudden we both have been able to get new cars with no co-signer no down payments. We both used seperate car lots, so yeh it does seem like where sometimes things tend to look bad it tends to open oppurtunities for those who before had none.

I wouldn't exactly call that an opportunity...the only thing that changed is that they are now extending credit to you...and by buying a new car with zero money down, you end up paying a lot more in interest over the term of the loan.

This is pretty good example of what Raul was talking about...financing things that they wouldn't otherwise be able to afford has become the norm for a lot of people and that makes it so easy to spend outside of your means. Same goes for people buying houses - I find it hard to have a lot of sympathy for a buyer that doesn't educate themselves about buying a home, probably the largest and most important investment that they will ever make. And then, when they are approved for this huge mortgage with tiered payments, they get excited about this so called "opportunity" as you put it, and spend much more than what they can actually afford.

[elevatethis]

Completly off topic as I'm not even getting into my ideas about this, but I just noticed you're in charlotte brad! I always like to find out there are more bp.net-ers near me

Yeah I took a job here this past August and will probably be here until early fall. I really like it so far and hope to move back as soon as I can.

back to the thread....

[Laooda]

Well we bought a home $30,000.00 less than what we were approved for, and this year I'm glad of it... because after mortgage and 2 car notes I'm not sure where the extra green has gone... Defiantly NOT into a reptile hobby!

[FL0OD]

the reason this country is in trouble....

Dictionary: narcissism (när′səsizəm) A personality disorder in which a person is so self-absorbed that the needs and feelings of others do not matter.

me, me, me more, more more

no one is willing to come together and try to solve problems anymore because its easier to stand back and point fingers. he said this, they did that, our president this, the congress that, my boss is this, my co worker is that. until people start taking responsibility for there actions and come together to help one another these things will remain the same. "A house divided against itself cannot stand." - Lincoln

[littleindiangirl]

http://www.rossputin.com/blog/media/mortgagemess.pdf

I thought this was quite entertaining and a great explanation about what's going on with this stupid housing market...

WARNING, a few swear words, Don't let your kids read it