Originally posted by TheRedneck
reply to post by ProfEmeritus

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Similar arguments can be made for the credit crisis, and, indeed, about any of the myriad of crisis we have right now in the US and the world. The poor are, in general, lazy. Not because they won't work, but because they continue to practice a life-style that leads to poverty. It's easier than changing. The middle-class are prideful, striving daily to 'keep up with the Jones'. They indulge in a fantasy that they are somehow better than those around them because they have more things. The rich are greedy. That's why they're rich. All are responsible for this mess, including you and me.



The problem is that this crisis is starting to affect even those that are for the most part out of dept. I only have a relatively small mortgage. We owe no other dept. We pay cash for used cars. We use no credit cards. I can only imagine what it must be like to be backwards in both a car and house payment as well as 10k$ in credit card dept. It is hard for us to balance our budget due to the inflated prices of fuel witch is carried over to all things due to transportation costs. We [like many] are frugal with our money and do not buy out of hand. When those out of dept are pinched as well there is nothing left to fall back on. As it is I do not know what to so with the savings we have other than try to ride it out. If our economy truly goes belly up we are ruined. How much more so for those that are up to their neck in dept. My fear would be that they might be forced to strike off all dept for those that have it and we would be left out in the cold. I guess it has to be someone though.

respectfully

reluctantpawn

edit sorry haven't figured the quote thing yet

[edit on 3-3-2008 by reluctantpawn]

Billionaire Warren Buffett said Monday that the U.S. economy is essentially in a recession even if it hasn't met the technical definition of one yet.

Buffett said in an interview with cable network CNBC the reports he gets from the retail businesses his holding company owns show a significant slowdown in purchases.

The chairman and CEO of Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said millions of people have also lost equity in their homes because home prices have dropped.

"I would say, by any commonsense definition, we are in a recession," Buffett said on CNBC.

But Buffett said it's not clear how far the recession will go because that is difficult to predict.

The sad thing is I do no think he even means it. I think he is just stupid and arrogant or he blew to much cocaine up his brain.

The Stupidest Things President George W. Bush Has Ever Said


10) "Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." —LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18, 2000

9) "I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family." —Greater Nashua, N.H., Jan. 27, 2000

8) "I hear there's rumors on the Internets that we're going to have a draft." —second presidential debate, St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 8, 2004

7) "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." —Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000

6) "You work three jobs? … Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that." —to a divorced mother of three, Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 4, 2005

5) "Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." —Poplar Bluff, Mo., Sept. 6, 2004
4) "They misunderestimated me." —Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000

3) "Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?" —Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000

2) "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004 (Watch video clip; listen to audio clip)

1) "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." —Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002

By international standards, the United States has an unusually low level of intergenerational mobility: our parents’ income is highly predictive of our incomes as adults. Intergenerational mobility in the United States is lower than in France, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Finland, Norway and Denmark. Among high-income countries for which comparable estimates are available, only the United Kingdom had a lower rate of mobility than the United States.

Education, race, health and state of residence are four key channels by which economic status is transmitted from parent to child.

You either need to spend your paycheck right away or quickly move into hard assets like gold or silver if you want to survive.