Look, the vote is either for The Communist or the Old Man. At least with the Old Man elected we get some nice eye candy for Veep.
The Economy
- Thread starter nailz
- Start date
Look, the vote is either for The Communist or the Old Man. At least with the Old Man elected we get some nice eye candy for Veep.
Oh, the people at the top made out extremely well on this as long as they didn't have their own money invested in their companies. All the bailout talk about helping the employees of these companies. Do people really not think that even once they have capital, they won't layoff a large percentage of their employees?
The housing market increases while bad overall were extremely inflated in some areas, especially in not that well off neighborhoods of California. By 2006 while the US as a whole was up 65% overall since 1996, some areas of California saw a 280% rise. A house should not be sold 6x in a 5 years period nor double in value in a matter of 6 months. And obviously, someone should not be buying a house 10x his yearly income. It really was just ready to implode once people started defaulting and banks learned they couldn't sell the houses off for nearly as much as the amount lent a year or two before that. Even still, housing prices have only dropped a small % of what they have rose in the last 5 years.
My sister-in-law does a lot of real estate law and she said about 2 years ago someone actually called her up and said they couldn't close that week because they didn't get paid till the following week. Any bank giving that guy a mortgage should not be in business.
rms
Active Member
sh0kr0k
Active Member
lordcthulhu
You Are Bewitched!
LunaTEKKE
Madness Reigns
- Mar 23, 2006
- 1,220
- 8
- 38
I work for a bank that was shut down, and I can tell you this has been the crappiest year of my professional career. Right now, we are all waiting to see what the acquiring company does with the facilities and the employees. Only about 2% of our mortgage portfolio was subprime, but when the market started to dry up, it impacted everything.
While there are no doubt some greedy bankers and mortgage brokers who put consumers into mortgages they didn’t understand and couldn’t afford…there are also some greedy consumers who deliberately bought more house than they could afford on the assumption that prices would continue to escalate. There are also some consumers, appraisers, and real estate agents who deliberately engaged in fraudulent activities related to home sales to make a few extra $$. (Providing inflated appraisals, lying about income, lying about whether a home would be owner occupied or investor, etc.) When the government starts buying up distressed mortgage loans, they will be hiring outside contractors to review the loans…and I hope they catch and prosecute anyone involved in mortgage fraud.
I also think that so-called “fair value accounting” exacerbated the downturn. Someone smarter than me needs to come up with a compromise that provides investors with good information as to the true value of a company’s assets – and yet prevents corporate earnings from going through extreme ups and downs solely based on the whims of the market.
Oh, and don’t EVEN get me started on multi-million dollar severance packages for executives of companies who are getting government handouts…
While there are no doubt some greedy bankers and mortgage brokers who put consumers into mortgages they didn’t understand and couldn’t afford…there are also some greedy consumers who deliberately bought more house than they could afford on the assumption that prices would continue to escalate. There are also some consumers, appraisers, and real estate agents who deliberately engaged in fraudulent activities related to home sales to make a few extra $$. (Providing inflated appraisals, lying about income, lying about whether a home would be owner occupied or investor, etc.) When the government starts buying up distressed mortgage loans, they will be hiring outside contractors to review the loans…and I hope they catch and prosecute anyone involved in mortgage fraud.
I also think that so-called “fair value accounting” exacerbated the downturn. Someone smarter than me needs to come up with a compromise that provides investors with good information as to the true value of a company’s assets – and yet prevents corporate earnings from going through extreme ups and downs solely based on the whims of the market.
Oh, and don’t EVEN get me started on multi-million dollar severance packages for executives of companies who are getting government handouts…
Pellaz
Tigron of Immanion
Sadly, part of that scenario, namely lenders doling out money to people who really shouldn't be considering buying a house, was required by the Community Redevelopment Act.
One good thing about this mortgage crunch: it will keep my friend Jason from buying a house. He gets SSA disability and doesn't work, and his wife works at Wal-Mart stocking groceries. And they were going to buy a house. Even got preapproved for c. $120,000 or so, which is enough to get them in trouble out here in the boonies. Happily, wiser heads have prevailed.
booB
Señor Member
Diamond45
Terminate Bad Music
Ugh... sorry to hear that happen
. I assume you're not at a local branch but at a regional headquarters?I'm soooooooo glad my older brother got of the banking business when he did (he was in collections). He knew that his particular position was going to be outsourced, so he took the initative a couple of years ago and went back to school to be a computer technician. He's just now finishing, so I don't know if he'll be able to find a job in this economy, but I think he'll have a better shot than in the banking industry.
edgeofthorns
24 Hours Ago...
Palin doesn't bother me in the least. For the most part, my beliefs are in line with hers. I relate to her more the other three clowns that are running. Quite frankly, I wish she was the one at the top of the Republican ticket. She drives people crazy, especially some women, because she is a conservative woman.....I like that about her. Basically, she gives the liberal elites the middle finger!
~Brian~
Yippee38
Living the dream!
I've been scared by our economy for a long time. I don't get how our government can allow all of our exports to be tarrifed in other countries and we do not tarrif imports from those same countries.
MetalRose
ProgPower EMT
rms
Active Member
Palin doesn't bother me in the least. For the most part, my beliefs are in line with hers. I relate to her more the other three clowns that are running. Quite frankly, I wish she was the one at the top of the Republican ticket. She drives people crazy, especially some women, because she is a conservative woman.....I like that about her. Basically, she gives the liberal elites the middle finger!
~Brian~
gay
spag
I am a leaf on the wind
It hasn't gotten anywhere close to bad enough for people to learn from this. Some uber rich bank executives pulled off the largest heist in history in broad daylight, and where is the outrage? Nobody gives a shit. They certainly aren't going to stop using their credit cards yet.
No, things will have to tank HARD before anyone notices. Right now, it's just some percentage of unemployed that are actually looking for work, and the people that were using their house as a giant ATM machine that are bothered by this. I think before it's over, it'll affect all of us a lot more.
No, things will have to tank HARD before anyone notices. Right now, it's just some percentage of unemployed that are actually looking for work, and the people that were using their house as a giant ATM machine that are bothered by this. I think before it's over, it'll affect all of us a lot more.
MetalRose
ProgPower EMT
I agree with that in aspect, but there will be no outrage until the "haves" become the "have nots" the middle class are already feeling the pinch. But nothing will be done until people like Trump and Gates are in the soup lines, but that will never happen.
Funny how banks punish the poor and enrich the rich. The execs are walking away with a nice deal while the employees and customers/consumers walk away with a pile of nothing.
-Metal
Funny how banks punish the poor and enrich the rich. The execs are walking away with a nice deal while the employees and customers/consumers walk away with a pile of nothing.
-Metal
spag
I am a leaf on the wind
No kidding. If these banks were burdened with a bunch of crappy loans (which they wrote), then maybe just paying those off would have been a better idea. Right now, CEOs get richer, and the consumers are still on the hook. Still don't even know how much of the bailout is leaving our shores for the coffers of foreign investors.
To me, some banks failing would have ensured that this was a one time thing. To me, even the idea of the bailout made no sense if you don't even have a plan to prevent it from happening again. They still have nothing. Not to mention that our "representatives" (what a joke) passed this when the vast majority in the country were against it.
To me, some banks failing would have ensured that this was a one time thing. To me, even the idea of the bailout made no sense if you don't even have a plan to prevent it from happening again. They still have nothing. Not to mention that our "representatives" (what a joke) passed this when the vast majority in the country were against it.
Luckily for me I have a very good financial advisor who gave me some very sound advice two years ago, and i liquidated my 401K, yes i had to pay the taxes and a penality, but it was far less than what i would have lost leaving it in. We also paid off our house mortage and other bills so that we are now debt free, and have no money going out as interest(which when added up was higher than the taxes and penality). What are we doing for savings???? Certificates of Deposit, as they are insured, but granted they don't make you a lot of money but its a savings and it is secure, and will be there when we need it for Mary to finish her education and for Rachel to purse her goals. This finanical crisis has hit everyone some way or another, and it is going to take a lot of effort by the incoming president to work with congress on a non partisan level to get it cleaned up. who knows we may see a time very shortly where the US Dollar and Euro are again 1 for 1.
MinervaPhoto
mew
Palin doesn't bother me in the least. For the most part, my beliefs are in line with hers. I relate to her more the other three clowns that are running. Quite frankly, I wish she was the one at the top of the Republican ticket. She drives people crazy, especially some women, because she is a conservative woman.....I like that about her. Basically, she gives the liberal elites the middle finger!
~Brian~
Sometimes it's hard to tell if someone on the internet is joking or not. I seriously hope that this comment was a joke. For real. Because if it isn't... it's still a joke.
uke:http://www.grizzlybay.org/SarahPalinInfoPage.htm
