President Bush just signed the bill. Riiight. The communities haven't already been in crisis for quite some time? Tell that to this lady. Mostly everyone loses here, though. Let's note the lesson: Overzealous greed is bad, mmkay?
Overzealous greed is as bad as people trying to do things financially that they are incapable of doing. It is everyone's fault imo, not just the guys with money
People who buy houses that they live in expecting to make a profit by selling them in 2 years or think: hey these rates will stay at 2% forever really didn't think things through. The sad thing is all these banks and people made so many errors over the last few years it makes it harder for those of us with good credit who are paying our bills to get the loans we need.
That was my point. I wasn't tagging just the wealthy at all. You can be greedy even if you have nothing. Everyone reached for a bigger piece of the pie than could be supported, whether they had money to begin with or not. If you try to get a bigger house than you ought to be able to afford, rather than selecting something realistic, then you're greedy.
Probably a 2nd mortgage? There are a lot of elderly people out there who didn't end up with enough money invested for retirement and they wind up having to do a lot of screwey things with their homes.
I shot to the head would have been more effective. Sorry I felt this thread was lacking shock comedy.
Everyone is to blame for this mess... People for spending far beyond their means, taking out mortgages and loans they cannot afford, and racking up credit card debt for frivolous crap that they don't need (hey, I'm guilty of this too). Banks and investors because they took advantage of the lax rules and greedy people to try and make even more money than they already have or need. Governments for not implementing the appropriate regulations and providing proper oversight, and especially ignoring the problem until it was too late. We're all going to suffer because of this short-sightedness.
QFT. You can shift things around on your balance sheet and use more loans to pay for what you owe, but eventually your debtors will come to collect. Same applies to individual and corporate finances. Not to mention I have become *completely* fed up with the incompetence and greed of our politicians. Go read the actual bill they passed through for the bailout. I almost threw up seeing the kinds of ridiculous GARBAGE (thats right, garbage is the only word I could use to describe this) that they snuck into the bill. There is only one political party... they're all crooks.
This video has been floating around a bit now http://www.truveo.com/Burning-Down-the-House-What-Caused-Our-Economic/id/4165489843
Annnnnd we're gonna make the $700 billion back by... ...having a weapons fire sale! YAY! Taiwan is the first taker to the tune of $6 billion. (Yes, I know it's not really working like that, but the timing is hilarious nonetheless.)
I don't see how this could possibly backfire on us. I mean, it's not like anyone would ever consider using our own weapons against us. I mean, we sold them those as a shortsighted solution to financial issues, not for them to actually USE them. Wait, what do you mean that already happened? But seriously, shortsightedness is exactly what got us into this situation and I'm afraid that this is just a temporary way out that patches things over until the next crisis. Mind you I don't have a clue where to start regarding a better plan, but there's just so many holes in this one.
Wait, they actually signed the bailout?!?! Stupid call IMO. I find it absolutely stupid how the COs of wallstreet and the companies that caused this problem have shitloads of money and I dont think that they're expected to pay a penny of it. I mean, last I heard they were making like 60 mil a year, plus commisions and such. I'm also sort of surprised they didnt use Warren buffet's 'ebay' idea tha was proposed, or to sell parts of wallstreet to smaller businesses. @thogun: I agree that it is everyone's fault, but there are certain people that are to blame for it at the roots, which are the companies that were giving mortgages to sketchy clients and not taking a down payment. (pardon me since I dont know how to form the following phrase very well) The canadian economy is a little more sound because I believe that we have to have a 20% down payment on it, so if the mortgage goes tits up, there is at least a set value to the mortgage.
You can get into your first home with 5% down, but then you have to get insurance from CMHC. Overall, yes, its much harder to get a mortgage here in Canada, and there are more safeguards in place. However, Canadian banks, along with those from other countries have had their greedy little fingers in the US mortgage pie -- so its affecting us indirectly as well.
That's only because we have a world economy these days. Since we aren't isolated anymore anything that goes on in the U.S. China, Europe, Japan, or anyplace that plays an important roll in the economy will have a detrimental effect on everyone else if not dealt with.
Oh I know, i was just trying to make a bit of a joke Guess it wasnt as... obvious as I intended it (or it was just a bad joke. lol)
There goes the dollar value...Did anyone know that last week 3 hours before the bill failed to pass that the FED reserve printed 680billion dollars to send to Europe to help out the banks over there? This further depreciated the dollar value now we have 700billion more dollars magically appear out of no where putting the dollar into an even further trench in which the WORLD will suffer for. Has anyone seen what the "revised" bail-out actually consists of? I haven't sadly and I can't find it. I do know that a lot of shit is randomly placed. A company in the virgin islands that makes rum is getting 6million dollars... The fact that the house failed to vote the initial bill and passes a second bill with just as many people saying "hell no" to them about it just goes to show how much "choice" an American Democracy really gives citizens. Giuliani actually wanted some of the 700 billion within the bill to be paid to him and his "council" for helping put together the bill... What makes me even sadder that the senate and house didn't give a rats ass that the American public wanted a change in the financial system is that BOTH Democrat and Republican nominees supported the bill.