From Riches To Rags

Reply #24

dingo — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 06:44:02 GMT

If food cost more, people will eat less; this means that obesity and heart disease will be reduced dramatically. That's a good effect. However, I dont know what will happen to gasoline price. May be it will go through the roof; then, people will switch to public transportation. Hence, we can have a cleaner air to breath. Thereupon, we expose less to lung cancer risk.

The world is in chaotic state now. Let it operates on autopilot.

Reply #23

KY Floyd — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 19:12:05 GMT

Why bother breaking them up into smaller companies? Why not just make it illegal to improve efficiency? Let's eliminate the use of electricity in factories, so all of the unemployed water wheel technicians can find jobs again. We can eliminate big trucks and require that all goods are transported by wheelbarrow, and increase teamster jobs by well over 10,000%. We can easily create a job for everyone who wants one. I don't know about you, but I'd love for a box of cereal to cost $25.... [ More ]

Reply #22

dingo — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 13:58:13 GMT

Now the goverment should create a new form of anti-trust laws to break down big corporations. These big boogies only hoard in money and keep cutting jobs. All they want are buyers; they can create tons of robots to produce merchandise and sell to the average men. Break them down, so we can create more small businesses; then more people will have jobs.

The current economy is the consequence of corruption in high executive levels and extremely efficient use to technology in production (rob... [ More ]

Reply #21

PrisonerSix — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:25:44 GMT

Where do I find a deal like that? My problem is I bought a house I could afford and have had no trouble paying my mortgage. It's a modest house in a middle class neighborhood, nothing fancy, it wasn't even new. I guess because I did the right, responsible thing, I'm out of luck.

Reply #20

dphillips — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:50:06 GMT

greengrad, I love your analysis, regarding the next generation's financial bailout: kids and grand kids paying the debt for the executives' inept critical thinking skills, along with their avarice and hubris.

It appears that hubris will be the executives' downfall. Unfortunately, the living contributors to the economy will be swallowed up and consumed by the vultures.

Reply #19

sfilippo — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 14:01:05 GMT

I tried stocks and commodities for around ten years. I finally learned my lesson that if you aren't on the trading floor, you are blind to what's going on.

Floor traders skim off of investors. They are able to ride the momentum of a large trade because they actually see it about to take place.

If I know that one million shares is about to be bought or sold in a particular stock, I can either get in or get out prior to that trade being made, and ride up or down on the momentum for a profit.... [ More ]

Reply #18

justxploring — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 17:30:48 GMT

There's already been a suicidedirectly related to this scheme.

By the way, for years I've read comments by people who assume only wealthy people make investments, which isn't true. If you save a portion of your income every year in a 401K or IRA, after 30 or 40 years you can wind up with a very sizeable amount of money. There are plenty of middleclass people who venture in the market, commodities and other types of investments.

I don't see why losing your home or having your car repossess... [ More ]

Reply #17

dld1961 — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 17:22:18 GMT

Probably off the subject but we have 2 gas stations in Grand Rapids Mi with gas priced at $1.06 per gallon. God bless and good luck.

Reply #16

charmed7 — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 17:08:52 GMT

You have to b very careful about investing your money these days.

People have vey creative ways of scamming you out of your $$$$. GREED

plays a very key role in all that, if its look or sounds to good to true it

proably is.

Reply #15

grengrad — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:15:11 GMT

The joke is already on us, and our kids, and their kids, as we all try to pay off the trillions of dollars in debt this country has run up in the last 25 years.

Reply #14

grengrad — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:10:03 GMT

The US automakers are mostly to blame for the situation they are in. I do not think anyone in America, other than GM's board, would have agreed that making less and less fuel efficient vehicles, while the wildly successful Japanese cars continued to get better and better mileage, was a good idea. That said, we really cannot afford to let them go under right now.

$700 Billion from TARP and $2,000 Billion from Federal Reserve in lending to financial firms... no problem. Bonuses and vacations fo... [ More ]

Reply #13

Todd — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:04:46 GMT

I'm with you on your other comment, but this one I'm not so sure about. Historically, there is certainly no evidence to show this kind of thing works. I guess we'll all find out if the joke's on us.

Reply #12

Todd — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:01:50 GMT

How about that nice little pay raise they gave themselves? Pretty sweet to be elected ruler , eh

Reply #11

rcbbuckeye — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:54:45 GMT

Exactly right!

I sell furniture for a living. For the most part, the first half of 2008 was good, I made money because people were out buying. From June until about the beginning of December it has been not so good. People quit spending. So far this month it's been better. But I fear for 2009.

We are a consumer society. If people can't or won't spend, then everything collapses. And a big part of the problem is that we have lost a tremendous amount of manufacturing jobs. Look, not everyone... [ More ]

Reply #10

sfilippo — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 10:43:31 GMT

Well said, grengrad and LittleoLady.

I like the poker player analogy.

I'm close to the real estate business. My wife and sister both do that. I've walked through alot of empty houses the last couple of years, just peeking at the upper-class way of life or what it used to be anyway. There are some really strange floorplans out there. Makes me wonder what the builders were smoking when they designed them.

My hope is that Obama and his team can ignite this economy early on. He seems to be... [ More ]

Reply #9

cosmotravis — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 06:25:06 GMT

good post gren. one of my friends got involved with one of those scam loans from a fed bank. He ended up getting to keep a 500k house and 250k in the bank with nothing to owe. after finding out how this worked, i no longer look upto people with lots of money. it's not what you know, it's who you know.

Reply #8

Littleoldlady — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:29:00 GMT

I personally think that if our economy is ever going to get back on it's feet, common everday working people have to have money to spend. They are the ones who make wealth for the upper groups. They buy cars, clothes, food, etc. If they don't have ANY money to spend on things then everything stops. The poor worker who works for 7.00 per hour has no buying power. He needs to make more money. He is just surviving. after they take out Fed Income Taxes, SS and Medicare taxes, etc. he has NO disposab... [ More ]

Reply #7

grengrad — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:16:50 GMT

Sfilippo,

You are exactly right, and the reason we have had 60 years of prosperity is because everyone was taxed to death during world war ii. Americans who earned as little as $500 per year paid income tax at a 23 percent rate, while those who earned more than $1 million per year paid a 94 percent rate. We basically had socialism during the 1940s, which redistributed wealth, and then allowed 60 years of capitalism.

William Greider said that the economy is like a poker game. He said that i... [ More ]

Reply #6

Pogo — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 19:15:36 GMT

WOW! - Took the words out of my mouth... Agree With All That - Pogo

Reply #5

sfilippo — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 19:11:45 GMT

Ha... I don't know what PSYKOMO was trying to say exactly. Something about cars, I guess.

The big 3 and all of those employees connected to them are definitely an over-night disaster waiting to happen, but the bulk of industry is small business. Choking that sector with higher taxes in order to save the giants of industry isn't the solution either, but that's probably what will happen anyway.

It might serve to keep the big 3 going in the short run, but once people have had enough, they wil... [ More ]

Reply #4

rcbbuckeye — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 14:51:08 GMT

The fact that you could decipher Psyko is evidence that you are pretty intelligent.

And you are right, a government that serves its people rather than themselves would get things on track. Why is it that the common people can figure that out?

Like the old beer commercial said, Why ask why

Reply #3

sfilippo — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 14:17:01 GMT

I don't think tiny cars are the answer, PSYKOMO.

A Govenment that actually serves it's people rather than themselves might work.

Reply #2

psykomo — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 08:07:22 GMT

WOW WOW sfilppo:

psyko ALL need- U !!!!!!

where were U 1/2008!!!!!!

What kinka car's can we EXPECT 2 drive??????????????

Do U THINK we will ALL ride BUS'es until D govement

CRUSHE'SSSSSeeeeeeeeesssssssALL. SUV'ssssssssss?

THEN D big-3 will copy the 2-seater SMART-CAR!!!!!

sold sell'g now 4 $16,000 but in 2020 we PAY!!!!!!

$50,000 per copy BENZ of EUROPE get's $10,000

fee 2 go back 2 D WORLD goverment!!!!!!!!!!!

(note: 4 all DUMBO's like PSYKO )!!!

DAMLER-BENZ jus... [ More ]

Reply #1

sfilippo — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 06:10:14 GMT

My take is - Capitalism works great for about 75 years. Once the cash finds it's way to the top though, everything just locks up. Those that could see it coming just made it worse by starting a feeding frenzy prior to this mess. Now, the Federal Reserve can't even entice the banks to loan money by lowering interest rates. If the Feds just print more cash, inflation kicks into high gear, and we definitely don't want that!

Cash is supposed to flow from the working man into the economy and then... [ More ]

From Riches To Rags

myturn — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 23:15:22 GMT

We all like reading about people who struck it rick. But reading about the Madoff allegations, I was wondering what it must be like to be to loose so mush money like that. The people who invested were not your average Joe, but very wealth people. After saving and investing for years, what must it be like to loose all or large part of your wealth overnight