Comments on: Credit Crunch 2010

By: Mike S

Mike S — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 22:15:43 +0000

Unmonitored Free Trade has ripped the heart out of North American manufacturers. You want jobs? Quit importing products that are made at near slave labour rates and bring the jobs and money home.

By: john tucker

john tucker — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:48:42 +0000

These days my mailbox is being swamped, like the good old days, with offers of credit cards from banks. While I realize my good credit score is unusual, I’m still appalled. However, I send them all back to the banks in their postage-paid envelopes. Because the “low rates” that they promise to me am0ount to usury!
In a world where they can borrow money for 0% interest, even the “teaser” rates they offer to try to lure me in are close to the highest rates anyone has ever offered to me. These banks are out of their minds! They want 15% for purchases, and 25% to 30% for cahs advances …

By: crapdetector

crapdetector — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:24:17 +0000

I can’t stress enough how utterly sick and dissapointed i am at the stupidity of partisan posts – both Democrat and Republican – that are interestted ONLY in blaming the other party for this economic collapse. If only it were that simple! But the truth is much bigger and deeper than that. Clinton’s ‘surplus’ was the result of Fed bubble #1 (stock market) caused by the same Keynesian monetary inflation policies that caused bubble #2 (real estate). There was NO Clinton surplus because SS inflows expanded hugely, exceeding budget shortfalls that are the persistent feature of every president since Kennedy. Bush fiscal conservatism evaporated into thin air after 9/11 and dug us deeper into the hole that only few people would acknowledge. Debt fueled consumption by consumers at all levels were sustainable until they were not. We are now in a painful but necessary process of re-allocating resources – or what’s left of them – and we will not see another barn-burner of fake prosperity for a long time. And that may be a good thing. Until then, blame yourself for electing politicians who see no further than the next election, just like corporate leaders see no further than the next quarters profits and their own bonuses. As soon as the spendulus loses steam, like the cash-for-anything programs they fund, we will see the resumption of recessionary pressures. Prepare yourself by living within your means.. and try to do a little more thinking about the need for true leadership rather than the short-term debt-fueled money fixes that seem to be the only solution offerred by the two-headed monster that we call our party system.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:41:30 +0000

Four words…Live Within Your Means. For years, we watched our government borrow their way to “prosperity?” We, too, as consumers were encouraged (and banks MANDATED by the FEDS) to loan to uncreditworthy people. How long does that formula work?

I, too, fell into that trap…and managed to pay my way out of it…since living in a cash only world on a MODEST income, I am happier and much less stressed!

By: Pangea

Pangea — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 15:54:24 +0000

The U.S. is already in a Depression. You don’t see it, because it is covered-up by design. There are 40 million on food stamps. In the Great Depression, those 40 million would be captured in black & white photos, standing in soup lines. But the gov is sheltering us from this, by handing out coupons to get their soup at the stores. Millions more are allowed to live as squatters in their homes, without making payments, because the gov doesn’t want them on the streets. I could go on & on, but you should get the picture in crystal clear color.

By: sharonsj

sharonsj — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 15:29:23 +0000

Abut 5 years ago I had a chilling conversation with a woman who worked in the Federal government. She was just a standard office employee in some department, not even a person of some importance, and she warned me that the economy would fall apart–there was no other expectation.

That was because of the government’s accounting practice of listing debt as income. This confused me. To any human who, for example, owes on a credit card, having to come up with $75 a month to pay it is considered an expense. But not for the government and not for the finance industry. They “balance” their books by listing debt as credit.

If this all isn’t a Ponzi scheme, then Americans are stupider than I think. The way out for individuals is to get rid of debt (pay it off, walk away, declare bankruptcy), Keep your money far away from the big banks and do not invest in stocks (another Ponzi scheme) because then you give the financial industry your own money for them to risk and to pay themselves big bonuses while you go broke. Screw them in return.

By: Flyer1

Flyer1 — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 03:31:39 +0000

Seems to me less borrowing is better. So why is it our economy cannot exist without everyone borrowing through the nose? Why is that? Because without borrowing, the wealth transfer stops. No one needs to borrow money. Period.

By: dippity doo

dippity doo — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 01:38:56 +0000

And all the kings men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again…

By: MtNobody

MtNobody — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 00:29:32 +0000

But this article only refers to the tip of the ice burg. Don’t forget the biggest problem of them all. Derivatives. 600 to 1,500 trillion dollars! Who’s addressing that?

By: ray

ray — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 23:22:58 +0000

You cannot blame this on Dems. or Gop. they are both equally to blame. The biggest problem is that all governments attempt to manipulate their economies to maintain a steady 3 to 5% growth and that was great while it lasted. But continous growth cannot be sustained indefinately, eventually we will overpopulate and deplete our natural resources. When that happens it will all come crumbling down. At some point in the next few hundred years or less we could experience a population collapse of up to 80% dead within a generation or two. and a crazy world that is a cross between mad max and the bronze age.

We need to stabalize our population and develop an economy based on flat to very small growth 0% to 0.5% growth. and concentrate on developing new food and energy technologies to survive the millenia