Debt and regular people

[Paula C Moe]

We are all here and have to live with our governments decisions on h0ow to maintain our countries economy.

Why did it have to come to an impasse?  Are we not smarter than this?

All Comments and imput is appreciated.

Best and love to all!

Paula

[Dave D Poet Rhumour]

Unfortunately the last 50 years have shown that western economies have to go through boom and bust all too frequently.

A lot of the problems we face are due to too much freedom in the financial markets who can break a currency on the basis of a rumour and too little foresight by politicians, who being faced with re-election worries take short term actions and leave the tricky problems to the following government to sort out.

 

The resultant chaos could be avoided with logical planning, but don't expect it anytime soon - the lemmings in the fiscal world must run their course first and those that survive the economic meltdown will have the opportunity to offer up alternatives if they choose to do so. Though will those in power seize the chance to protect the masses from the excesses of bankers who have been 'playing poker' with the investments that we depended upon giving us pensions to retire on....

 

"Life, don't talk to me about life" (Douglas Adams, who was wise enough to know that the answer to 'everything' is 42)

[Paula C Moe]

Dave,

Thanks for the response and feedback.

We have lived, for a time, in the open arms of the snakes of too much for too many that were swindled into taking the deal.

I work for a large bank, in the modification department, and know all too well the hardships that the greedy put upon the lives of those who just wanted a piece of the "American Pie": a home of their own.

Yes, those in power are now reeling from these choices and all of us are suffering because of them as well.

Best to you my brother,

Paula

[desmond dillon]

 

'neither a borrower or lender be.'   debt is like cancer and those that market it are the investment banks. they seek to get people to invest in this debt they create by wrapping it in gold stars. lots of them and lots of AAAs. but they've sold to much for to long and like and pyramid selling scene the ' regular people' are the last to find out about it. the bonus money has long made its way to offshore tax havens and the like. banks should not have been allowed to do it because now the motor's bust and there is no fixing it till the debt is written off i.e. you and me and the regular people have worked their buts off for less money for longer hours for a long long time. the alternative is simple....  don't reschedule any debt but everyone governments included just renege outright. they will never want to lend again .  how brilliant is that..

[heather wilkins]

 For many years our society has lived in debt. Houses, cars, boats, and all kinds of play toys.

Their logic, if you see it and want it well just buy it.  Charge it. People today have charge accounts

that would take them ten years to pay off. What a pity.  Credit has been made to easy to get. Just

buy, buy, buy. Today the economy is sluggish. Millions are losing their work, and everyone is

in chaos. Wondering what to do. If common sense had been used this would have never happened.

We cannot listen to the government, they  do not pay our creditors for us.  A Bible principal is

"owe no man nothing"  that is sound advice.   heather

[heather wilkins]

 

Today our goverment cannot pay the interest on their debt.

How will they ever touch the principle? They cannot.

Is this stupid or what.?

[Eva Libre]

 

It began in SPAIN, THEN EUROPE + now the R-Evolution has arrived in US ? People are saying NO to BANKS, Governments gathering in TOWN squares in 10,000's demanding a real democracy FOR the PEople. PEACEFULLY led Educators, laywers at the help co-ordinating an intelligent response to hold them to account.. NOthing like this has happened before. INTERESTING times, PEOPLE are DEMANDing a new Global Economy DID YOU HEAR ?

 

[dave wiley]

its politics at its finest. everybody wants their cake and eat it too. my view is that some are getting to much cake.

[Paula C Moe]

Dave,

Thanks for the reply!

We live in times of turmoil, I realize this daily when I deal with individuals trying to avoid through modifications, or, hoping for the best when they are facing a foreclosure sale date in a short period of time.

Yes, I work in Loan Servicing for a HUGE bank, and I hear it every day.

What we truly need to do is to look at the devastation that has occurred because of greed and poor business choices that have caused many to distrust not only the banks, but the government.  The current administration is doing all it can to assist, however, because many in this fine country of ours disagree and are not going to back down on those disagreements, we are going to experience impasse after impasse until someone puts the brakes on that.

I, myself as an individual, can only do so much.  I DO make a difference in many people's lives on a daily basis, however, the hard conversations have to be had as well.

Sad times.

My big question is, have we learned from this tragic mistake? Or, are we just going to think it will go away and we can do it over again in the next few years?

Best,

Paula

[Helen of troy]

You are absolutely right. We do have to live according to our different countries laws. Some decisions you just cannot change, doesnt matter what. We have to accept that in order to have peace of mind.

[desmond dillon]

human beings lived and felt inner peace on our lovely planet long before such a thing as a bank existed. those of us alive now have no need of banks and their debt. we owe them nothing.!

[heather wilkins]

I do believe people want too much to quickly.  If they would start out little with a plan such as save first then spend later they would be much better off in the long run.  Proper education in management is necessary in this world we live in.  for example----I wanted a new car, but I did not want to finance it.   So I made do with my old one started saving and it didn't really take me that long to acquire enough for my new one.  My title is clear and no one can repossess it.  I am not a big fan of out standing debts.   Government cannot help us much. We must take charge of our own lives.  

[Dave D Poet Rhumour]

The reality here in the UK is that our economy has been running in deficit all my life. The one chance we had of getting out of debt was to have used the windfall of our North Sea Oil revenues to rebuild our manufacturing sector into a competitive state, but the triumph of lunacy over logic occurred when our government threw away our coal, steel and car industries, tripled the unemployment levels to 3 million and turned many towns into ghosts without any possible replacement jobs.  Our coal fired power stations turned to imported coal with high sulphur content that damaged the environment faster than ever.

We should have invested in clean power generation, but we built Gas fired power stations which are now supplied by imported gas.  We should have invested in our car industry, but that was left to overseas firms who now make the profits.  We should have invested in our white goods manufacturing, but now we import virtually all domestic appliances.

The same story for so many industries - while Germany & France invest in their own manufacturing, our greedy finance guys simply say 'why bother making, we can buy in cheaper'.

But reality is you can't do that for long, since the economy is overburdened by social costs for millions unemployed and many more millions of part time staff - those on full state benefits and those on partial support (tax credits, etc).

And despite all of those citizens without adequate jobs to chase, the current government makes hundreds of thousands more people unemployed and tells all those without a job  'tough - the support you were entitled to is being cut - go get a job', while migrant workers continue to live in squalid overcrowded conditions so that they can send money back to eastern Europe, etc.

Most newly qualified graduates cannot get a job that pays enough for them to clear their student debts - but the government puts up the University charges.

Meanwhile the gap between the rich and the average workers in the UK grows ever wider.  How much longer before we begin to ask why the failure of Bankers, Investors and other Businessmen should be paid for by the misery of those they have let down for decades?

And yes, personal debts have been much too high - the cynical manipulation of banks and businesses to change our previous reliance upon saving into one of reliance upon easy loans was never for the benefit of the lower & middle income families - it was entirely so that trade would continue at a level that lined the pockets of the rich  to a greater degree than ever.

So by all mean blame the crisis we face now upon debt - but remember where that was always controlled from - Government, Banks and Investment institutions.

Anyone tempted to think I'm a red might like to know I'm a retired company director who ran 2 limited companies for many years - and did so without borrowing.