Is to nyever forgyet, the tubular eel is vat vee all vanted...lol

A russian tale of two provinces...lol

I was editing when you commented, Pac. However, I still haven't a clue what you are saying!

Shame on me! If I am going to be critical, I guess I should proofread my own blogs. I realize it should read "there WAS a record number" but I'm not a professional journalist either. lol

I don't understand why you are mad. I was simply trying to recreate a russian accent, which really had nothing to do with the subject at hand, I agree, but there was no making fun or anything. Just something that came to kmind....sorry. I didn't mean any harm.

I thought I was sensitive and read into things too much. Geeesh..lol

Are you smoking something funny tonight, Pac? Where did I say I was angry at you?   Huh?

You didn't say it out right, but I just got the feeling that you were becuse of what you wrote previously. That's the only thing I based it on.

P.S. Really expensive kind...lol

Take a chill pill...lol

Wow! I guess sometimes I can be read the wrong way, when I'm sincerely trying to be funny in a good way.

I'll just stop doing it I guess. What's the point?

I'm not telling you what to do justxploring, but you really should loosen up a bit....but that's just one man's opiness...lol

What's in your wallet?

The CountryWide and Capital One problems are self induced, IMHO they spent too much time advertising and not enough time properly qualifying the money they were loaning. Capital One would be in the black if they simply had not spent all that postage soliciting me and 150 million other people , and Countrywide would be in the black if they didn't advertise every frinking night for the past 6 years to poorly chosen ad spots.
Capital One is culpable on that also. Do you know how many homes one of those commercials cost?
Hiring hoardes of barbarians is expensive, especially the Huns!

Also, they money they were loaning, they themselves borrowed, shame on them for making poor business decisions.

These companies grew too fast and too furious.

Companies like these because of mailing lists, computers, and greed, lose sight of the fundamentals of doing good ethical business. It is where sayings like "Damn the torpedoes full speed ahead", "It'll be OK don't worry about a thing", come from.   The people that run these companies are perfect examples of the poor job colleges and universities are doing these days. It is all about making money, get through business school with the help of computers, then try and run businesses without good business practices. And of course it Bushs fault.

As far as a great depression, no. Things are very different today, the scenario is not feasible, we have Canada and Mexico to help us out in case we get in trouble. Or if it gets really, really bad, we bring in Hillary with all her experience in world economics, fiscal policy and leadership skills to save the day. Wink, wink, nod, nod.

Jarasan, I feel much better now that you reminded me that Hillary might be in the White House soon. ;-)   

Capital One and Countrywide did lend a lot of money, and probably had too many desirable programs that attracted people who shouldn't have qualified. However, that still doesn't have anything to do with the fact that there have been a record number of foreclosures because people can't find jobs, and when they do, the wages are too low to pay their bills. I mean, I'm a single woman and I just bought a quart of milk for $1.69. What does a family of 5 spend on milk every week? At least it's warm now, but it's going to be a long, hard winter for many families.

Jarasan brought up a good point that I can definitely relate to. Almost every day (no exaggeration) my son gets mail solicitations from Capital One. His gross income last year was $15,000. Why in the world are they spending all this money soliciting a 20 year old kid in a low income bracket? Their offer? A $500 limit credit card with 19.75% interest rate. What a waste of money and paper.

From what I can tell, both companies set out on a mission to go broke. Neither Capital One NOR Countrywide are mortgage lenders; they're both mortgage writers, which means that the vast majority of the mortgages either company writes will be sold to another institution before the ink is dry. That's how they make their money. They don't care whether the loans go bad because, by the time a borrower defaults, their companies are out of the loop.
   One problem is that the fed didn't move quickly enough to reduce the sub-prime lending rate. This helped to create a glut in the housing market, which was already oversold. Countrywide wrote more mortgages than they could sell in an already waning market, and now they're stuck with a butt load of home loans they made to people who had no hope of repaying them. Bad credit? No credit? No problem! Oh, wait a minute ...
   As Rick mentioned below, they target young people and those with faulty credit, and they constantly bombard us with their inane mailings and television commercials, encouraging us to take their money. Predatory lending is just that - predatorial. However, as any self-respecting predator knows, it's much easier to find a good meal BEFORE you've depleted your food supply.
   As far as I'm concerned, these companies got exactly what they deserve. Unfortunately, our government will bail them out, using our money, since every mortgage written by these companies is federally insured.
   Every day I see more and more "For Sale by Owner" signs in people's front yards. This is not due to a spike in housing prices, where the owners are trying to capitalize on favorable market conditions. It's because they can't afford to make their mortgage payments or to pay their ever-increasing property taxes. Soon, Only the rich will have entitlement to The American Dream.
   Something Capital One and Countrywide fail to mention in their commercials is that, when they sell your mortgage to a bank, finance company or to some other institution, your new lender can and will raise your interest rate, and there's not much you can do about it, except to turn over your house keys and walk away. I got my first mortgage from a local bank. Without my knowledge, they sold my loan to another, out-of-state bank. The new bank wrote me a letter explaining that, since I was a deadbeat with unresolved issues on my credit report (a state tax lien, which had been paid six years earlier, and an unpaid ambulance bill, which I refused to pay), they had no choice but to raise my interest rate from 7.5% to 11.9%. Before my next payment was due, I converted my loan to a guaranteed V A mortgage at 5%.
   I spoke to my Economics professor about this problem TEN YEARS AGO. During the mid-90's, credit card companies assailed the consumer market with offers that can only be described as ridiculous; they were issuing credit to EVERYONE; even people's dogs were getting credit card offers in the mail! Anyway, I asked Professor Mangus what she supposed would happen when all of the new cardholders defaulted at the same time (a likely scenario). She explained that it would hardly be noticeable, since the card issuers would get their money back from the FDIC or from another federal insurer. The only problem would be that the new cardholders would find it difficult to leverage their incomes following their defaults. So, the card issuers CAN'T lose, and why should they care about the people whose credit they help to ruin? As long as they get their money, everything works out, see?
   I know virtually nothing about starting a credit card company, but it seems to me that it would be easier, and much more lucrative, than trying to hit three or four numbers in the PowerBall drawing ...

Thank you everyone for your comments.   Good stuff!!