USA Declares Martial Law????!

[Kystar]

From what I've read the Campaigns are suspended until the economic crisis is dealt with so that the two Senators running can return to Washington and do their current jobs.

The Election is proceeding as normal in that the Electoral college is still registering voters, states are still being polled.

[Lotus]

From what I've read the Campaigns are suspended until the economic crisis is dealt with so that the two Senators running can return to Washington and do their current jobs.

The Election is proceeding as normal in that the Electoral college is still registering voters, states are still being polled.

Yes, I have to second this. It is the campaigns not the election that is suspended.

My SO is starting to believe, none the less, that Bush maybe posturing to become dictator.
There is something going on under the surface and I am not sure what it is.

BB
Lotus

[Crazy Healer Lady]

From what I've read the Campaigns are suspended until the economic crisis is dealt with so that the two Senators running can return to Washington and do their current jobs

Ahhhhh Okay I see. I heard about McCain suspending everything on his part, and then I guess rumours spread. And FyreGarnet, always good to nip rumours in the bud!!

[Kitsune]

Just an update on the $700 million that Bush wanted to throw at America to make the depression pretend to go away...

In my newpaper today, it says that congress has now accepted the proposal.

I'm telling you, It's just paper nowadays... At this rate, it'll be worth about as much as the russian cash was when they had their depression and were burning the bills to stay warm... they were worth more as paper than as money.

[Draconia]

It is a sad time for those of us in the U.S. I really don't think that we have to worry about Martial Law though. The government would be stupid to try something like that. Anyway we have too many of our military forces tied up in Iraq, the government doesn't have enough resources to have a civil war on home territory. And that I'm sure is what would happen, for there are a lot of desperate people out there. As you can tell in our other posts this economy is hitting my family pretty hard. The hubby and I both hold 2 degrees in an industry that can't just go away. Everyone has to eat, but what jobs are out there are filled. I don't have all the answers for what is ailing the economy, but common sense tells me that if the people stop panicking and pulling all their money out of the banks, they wouldn't be going under. Also if they would lower the interest rates, then people could pay their mortgages and loans, and the banks wouldn't need to go under. It would even open up more money so that the people could spend it on other things, building the economy back up. Of course if the government employess (i.e. senators and congressman) would take a pay cut maybe the people wouldn't be so hostile. We have a couple of local politicians that refused their paycheck because California didn't get the budget out on time so they don't feel like they did their job. They have my vote next time. Remember this is all my oppinion, I never claimed to know a whole lot about all this, but I had to add my 2 cents.

[FyreGarnet]

I do wish there was a way that people could go to their banks, and give proof of certain issues, such as a demotion or being fired, and ask to have their loan reevaluated. Tell them that they still want the house or car, that they are still very willing to make the monthly payments on time, but just can't afford to. It will lower their payment, keep the same interest rate, but it just takes them longer to pay off, so the bank makes more money in the long run because of the interest being the same.

I think the interest rates should remain the same. The reason people have high interest rates is because they did it too themselves. If they don't pay on time, their interest rate goes up because it is a sign of poor credit management and they are a bigger risk to the company. What so many people don't understand is that if they do pay on time and they have a high FICO score, they should call their credit card company and ask them to lower the interest rate. If you have a low FICO score, start paying on time. And again, if it was simply because someone lost income, that is where I think there should be some change.

Because I may lose my job in the next two months (temp job) and have not found one to replace it, I may have to go back to retail. I'm also looking into selling a line of jewelry to supplement my income. But I will do my darnedest to keep some money coming in so that we can afford the house my love's truck and his student loans and the credit cards will be there to help us in the event ends don't always meet. But we will surely cut costs so that hopefully the credit cards will not get too bad.

Also, I'm not removing my money from anything. I wish the media would just shut their yaps. I feel that THEY are making things worse by scaring people. Did we not learn anything from 1929 and the time right before and directly after? The Depression was partly created because there was such a huge scare and everyone pulled their money out of banks. The economy fell apart. Also, with a few of the banks filing for bankruptcy and being bought out, we are covered up to 10,000 dollars per person per bank, no matter what. Because the government insures that, the people like me who have no more than 5,000 dollars in the bank will be fine. So I will not pull my money out.

I guess I should step down off my soapbox again.
These are my opinions and not those of anyone else. So you can ignore me all you want Just like everyone else, haha.

FyreGarnet

[Kystar]

The problem, as I see it, with the whole economy is that people were told they were entitled to certain things, even if they couldn't afford to PAY for those items.

For example, I was barely making $9/hour and hubby was recovering from a credit crash-out (college stupidity, need I say more?) and the one bank told us when we were looking for a house that we could afford $120,000 mortgage. Instead of just smiling, nodding and going to look at houses in that price range, we crunched the numbers. Turns out, with our bills, we could only afford a $70,000 mortgage. Now, had we followed through with buying a $120,000 house, we would be SOL...esp when I started getting sick and couldn't work.

Personally, I think that's the real crux of the situation. People trying to borrow money they can't afford to pay back so they can get the fancy clothes, nice cars and big houses.

But, as stated before by Draconia, this is my opinion...and opinions are like butts; everyone has one, and they usually stink. L8r!

[FyreGarnet]

I also agree with that Kystar. Part of the problem with that is that they go by your gross, not your net. And that is the banks fault, to me. If they don't actually care enough about whether someone can truly afford something like that, and they tell them they can, then the bank is at fault. If the person defaults on their loan because the bank said they could afford too much, then they deserve to lose the money. That is something I wish they would change as well. Thy should ALWAYS go with the net pay.

*sigh* I don't think that will ever happen.

FyreGarnet

[Kystar]

Not only that, but hubby now works at a Credit Union, and he says that not only do they go by gross pay, they also don't take into consider debt ratio when writing loans.

They don't look and say "Well, your car loan takes this %, your utilities take this %, your taxes take this %, your student loan payments cost X, and your credit cards take Y...so you're spending 45% of your net pay...not counting rent...therefore you can pay X dollars." That's something YOU have to do, but we're never TAUGHT this, anywhere!

I mean, honestly, rather than cramming Algebra down every high school kid's throat, they should be making them take Life Accounting. A class designed to explain how your taxes work, how to balance your checkbook, create and maintain a budget, how to chart your debt ratio so you can see if you can afford a big purchase like a new car or house...not some abstract formula used to find out how many times you can stare at the same set of numbers and come up with something different! Much more useful than finding the square root of 12 multiplied by X!

but, teaching high school or college kids how to balance their income vs their debt is common sense, so of COURSE the schools shouldn't do anything to teach it!

Okay, </rant> sorry.

[FyreGarnet]

I completely agree with you there. When I moved out on my own and in with my then boyfriend, now husband, I learned a lot from him. My parents didn't teach me much more than writing checks. I didn't even know how to do laundry, but that's my mother for you. If we had some classes about how to live, and how to look at your money properly, I think our debt would be far less. So many people don't even understand how credit cards work. Little kids see their parents give the clerk a piece of plastic and never see them pay the bill. They think that it is a way of getting things for free. There is so much we can do to teach our children to do better than what we or our parents have done.

FyreGarnet

[Lotus]

Yes, I agree that education for the public on how to handle your money is a good idea.
This whole thing goes back to my ad rant. We are bombared with ads that tell us we can have all of these things and we idolize (as a culture) stupid bimbo's like Paris Hilton.
These ads lull us into a false sence of security and display falsely that we can have it all. Our needs and wants become blended.
But enough of this tirade for now.
I watched the heads of my Druidic grove fall down this spiral. I could go on this tirade but, will not either.

While I agree with the whole "buyer beware" concept, I believe that a good deal of the problem is with the preditory loans banks started pushing.
This whole thing stems to greed. They get money when you lose and what happened is too many people lost. When too many people lost then there greedy practices fell on themselves.
Much like how owners of the giant SUVs are more likely to drive-off from pumping gas (if this makes sense...I am about to go to sleep).

There is also this whole American dream culture thing where you must buy a house. My mom keeps on trying to convince me to buy a house becasue it is the 1950s thing to do. I keep on telling her that there is no way in hell that I could even begin to afford a house. Sure, I am "throwing away" money by paying rent but I do not have to worry about things a homeowner would have to worry about. If something breaks then I just call my landlord. Sure, I have renter's coverage but I know that home coverage is so much more. I know that if a freak huricane hits Ohio then I am not completely out. I have no property taxes or other burdens. Enough of this tirade as well.

Just too many rants and tangents that I could go on here.

BB
Lotus

[Crazy Healer Lady]

When the SO and I were going to buy a place, just on his end we were approved for more than enough. However, the payments would be way more than we could afford. I couldn't believe it, but apparently most people don't take that end into account. Honestly, where did this come from?? The bankers and agents and such kept stopping us and telling us that they don't see other people walk away because they can't afford the payments. How is this? How is this even possible? It's no wonder people are working themselves to the bone while sinking in debt and getting sick for it all! And then more bills, time off work, surgeries, and so you have to work harder, and you get sicker, and... How did entire nations end up this way? And most people, energetically, aren't even "here" to enjoy what they do have.

[Kystar]

I had a coworker who had a monthly mortgage payment of over $1400, while she worked for around $9/hour and her husband ran a small painting business. She was constantly dealing with having to make arraignments to pay off utilities that she got shut-off notices for because they couldn't pay all their bills. But she could afford four cell phones and monthly Avon purchases.

I watched people getting housing assistance walk out of my office and drive away in a Hummer...and college kids would skip their rent for a month or two to buy a new TV. WTF?

I think, honestly, that somewhere along the lines, we were taught that we deserve all these nice things, that we NEED to show we're successful by having a big house, two new cars and all kinds of techy toys. I remember a lendingtree commercial with a guy saying "I'm in debt up to my eyeballs! I can't even pay my finance charges!" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn5EP9StlVA)

That's what's wrong. We've been told over and over that we need the latest fashions, expensive shoes, expensive cars, big houses to "make an impression". Regardless of how we can pay.

[Lotus]

That's what's wrong. We've been told over and over that we need the latest fashions, expensive shoes, expensive cars, big houses to "make an impression". Regardless of how we can pay.

Do you have any idea how many "hood-mamas" lugging their stuff in a $500.00+ Coach handbags that I see in a day? One regular customer of mine comes in to use her EBT/foodstamp card (government assistence) and is carrying the patchwork coach bag (worth about five or six hundred dollars American) that I was saving for. She has two kids and is in college and is toting this bag?!
Yes, I was saving to buy my own (would take a year's worth of scrimping) but I do not live on any sort of government assistence!!!!!!

I always wondered how people can afford this stuff?

BB
Lotus

[Kystar]

I worked at a rental place for apartments, and I've seen people on housing assistance with designer bags, designer clothes, one lady was dressed head-to-toe in licensed NFL gear, mostly in LEATHER and drove off in a hummer! But they're on government assistance for housing! WTF?

I have no idea how they GET the assistance...and how they pay for things unless they lie through their teeth.