The American Public is at It's Limit

Originally posted by eric52081
Please post here if you are experiencing the same troubles as me. I want to hear everyone's opinion on this ongoing struggle in the United States of America. I just can't bear it anymore. I am tired of being run over by all of the power hungry rich that could care less about the oil price or the blue collar wages. Please give me your opinion.

Understand this: In 1998, I was making $45,000 a year (give or take). I was feeding/clothing/taking care of 4 people, 2 cars, a cat, and two and sometimes 3 dogs. And yet, it was nothing to blow $100 a weekend on fun stuff. It didn't even effect my budget. Now, it's just my son and I, and I make $54,000 a year (give or take), and money is very tight.

Heck, even 5 or 6 years ago, we used to go see a movie at least once a week (popcorn, candy, cokes, etc.) and it wasn't too hard on the budget.

It is going to get very bad soon, and people do not believe it. I have warned people that we are in the first stages of a depression, but they do not believe that either. Big multi-national corporations are doing just fine. That's what happens when you can have your products made by asian slaves and children. It's not so fine for family owned businesses.

Agree the only companies here that are doing well it out sourced corps or the big gulpers like walmart,target etc.The real shops,family owned are mostly gone due to this walmart ridden suck.

Unfortunately it's not just the U.S population who are beginning to find it difficult to live. I live in the U.K and I am in a similar situation... I am a 22year old white single male, I have been unemployed for the last 3years... we are told that there are plenty of jobs and that "us english" are too lazy to work... I agree there are those who are too lazy to work, however it annoys me that we ARE ALL labelled lazy... I would love a job, I go to the Jobcentre daily and apply for available jobs. The problem I see is that 95% of the jobs advertised are through work agencies (middle men, essentially) I have worked for work agencies many times only to be let go... the rights that we have earned over the past 100years to gain secure and long-lasting work have been erradicated in a matter of a year. Due to my unemployment status I am heavily in debt, energy bills, water rates, council tax etc. Also with rising food prices etc... I have great difficulty trying to feed myself.

I make about $20,000 a year. I spend one quarter of it on fuel. Lenders have offered me a million dollars at 6%. I should just take it and join the strange ride they have set up for us. We all owe at least 10,000. So much money has gone into the hands of the ones who came up with all these scams. They will take care of us. They will use the money and rescources of our grandchildren. Sorry children, we got greedy.

It sickens me that this is the situation that I and many others find ourselves in... it's just the beginning of much worse things to come. The globalist elites have planned it all perfectly... it's a war of attrition on the masses, they want us angry, ready to kill. The pathetic thing is many people are angry, yet what are we doing about it? ABSOLOUTLY NOTHING!!!!! The globalist elites love this... it only shows our ignorance and utter obedience to THEIR system.

Now is the time... stop talking about what to do and ACTUALLY stand up and make a difference!!! There's a very simple way to end all this... tell everyone you know about HOW we are controlled and then just say no, get out of the system... the only thing keeping this all going is ourselves... we police our own prison! As soon as we say no... and act... the whole system will come crashing down.

As simple as that...


Resentedhalo08.

You know, if the American people hadn't racked up their credit cards, bought more house than they can afford, especially on adjustable rate or interest only loans, spent more than they earned, it would be a heck of a lot easier to weather this storm

Times are tough. I do believe we are heading into either a serious recession or depression. Though, I think it is NOT made by the government doing this TO us, but by us expecting them to babysit us.

Common sense will tell you what you REALLY can afford to pay in a mortgage. I was a mortgage broker from 1992-2007. I did mainly conforming loans. What I saw from 2003 forward, on a day to day basis was truly scary. An individual adults STUPIDITY is not the governments fault. They do not say "You must buy a car that has a 600 payment per month". People do so because they want NICE cars. They won't "settle" for a Civic. People want nice furniture, so they put it on credit card.

I advised many people when they were buying a home that they were on financial shaky ground. That they might want to reconsider. EVERY single customer *knew it* They *wanted* it. Not need. Want. I told one customer that if his life changed at all, he would end up in bankruptcy. It did and he did. At the time, he told me if I wouldn't do the loan someone else would. This was a 750k home(which in this area is a custom home with about 6000sf in an exclusive neighborhood) They had 4 highline cars. They had a second home. They chose that. The home did not foreclose though.

Yes, times are tough. No doubt. We the American people put ourselve there by living on credit. It is so easy to buy the line that its the Government's fault. It is our fault for not saving and living more frugally. Gas is hurting us badly now. Food, goods, just getting to work.

If you are old enough, you would remember people who lived through the great depression. People like my Grandparents who saved A LOT and lived on a little. We have forgotten the past and therefore, condemned to repeat it

So many people seem to believe the government should fix our personal problems. That they should take from the wealthier and distribute it to everyone else. When you give the government that much control, you lose more freedom. Nothing in life is free.



[edit on 6/11/2008 by llpoolej]

I've been living off beans and rice for so long my dog doesn't want to be in the same room with me.

The policies of the New Deal created a large middle class in this country and the polices of the Republicans are destroying it.

The Democrats may not be perfect but at least they have always stood up for the little man whereas the Republicans have always stood for the wealthy.

[edit on 11-6-2008 by grover]

The democrats don't want to see "regular" people move beyond middle class. They lose control. Actually, I don't think most of the government does. Democrats aren't for the little guy, they are for controlling the little guy. If you make someone dependent on you, you control them.

Republicans have their own issues.

All the politicians are out for their own gain. I don't think they have ANY of us in mind unless it benefits them in some way.

I am self employed, my husband is self employed. Someone like Obama, would destroy small business with the taxes he proposes. At least the Republicans don't target those trying to better themselves and succeed.

On all those little tests, I end up being a conservative libertarian. We all have brains and talents. Some are more talented and smart than others. Those that go into business for themselves take HUGE personal risks to do so. The rewards can be great or not.

I don't want to government to GIVE me anything. I don't want it to TAKE from me either. I am happy to pay my fair share of taxes. I am not happy to pay an unfair share

Originally posted by llpoolej
You know, if the American people hadn't racked up their credit cards, bought more house than they can afford, especially on adjustable rate or interest only loans, spent more than they earned, it would be a heck of a lot easier to weather this storm
...An individual adults STUPIDITY is not the governments fault. ... I advised many people when they were buying a home that they were on financial shaky ground. ...I told one customer that if his life changed at all, he would end up in bankruptcy. It did and he did. ...

And it's not the people or the government's fault if corporations do stupid things. So, you find no irony in the fact that you are on here claiming it's "stupid people's fault" when you ADMITTEDLY LOANED MONEY TO PEOPLE ON "FINANCIAL SHAKY GROUND"? Oh, but that's right, your former company doesn't get bit in the butt when they foreclose (on the average).

Your company KNOWINGLY lent money to people with the very real possibility that if anything negative happened, they would not be able to pay it back.

Tell me again why the taxpayers should bail out the banks suffering under this foreclosure crises?

Uh, you think the lenders didn't suffer for the market tanking? I take it you do not read the financial news.

Believe me. Lenders have tightened up ship majorly over the last year. The ones who are left. None of our major lenders are still doing business anymore. This is not subprime, these were major companies.

I knew this was coming for both lenders and borrowers. Anyone with a lick of sense could see it. I took three years off 2000-2003 and was shocked who could get loans when I came back in 2003

You can only advise people so much. They will do what they will do. At least I was straight with them and did not try and push them into something they couldn't afford. They knew and didn't care

And NO, the government shouldn't be bailing people out of this. I have no idea why the taxpayers need to pay for the debts someone else WILLINGLY incurred.

The subprime market was a bit sleazier. I do think there was some brokers who did trick people and falsify things. I still don't think we should be bailing them out. Life is a series of choices. I have made my less than stellar ones but no one bails me out. Not even my Mother

If you want to get an understanding of exactly why a lot of people feel the people of this country are at its limit as this thread maintains... watch the 13 June 08 edition of Bill Moyer's Journal... it spells it out in a nutshell.

www.pbs.org...

Originally posted by llpoolej
Uh, you think the lenders didn't suffer for the market tanking? I take it you do not read the financial news.

Believe me. Lenders have tightened up ship majorly over the last year. The ones who are left. None of our major lenders are still doing business anymore. This is not subprime, these were major companies.

I knew this was coming for both lenders and borrowers. Anyone with a lick of sense could see it. I took three years off 2000-2003 and was shocked who could get loans when I came back in 2003

You can only advise people so much. They will do what they will do. At least I was straight with them and did not try and push them into something they couldn't afford. They knew and didn't care

And NO, the government shouldn't be bailing people out of this. I have no idea why the taxpayers need to pay for the debts someone else WILLINGLY incurred.

The subprime market was a bit sleazier. I do think there was some brokers who did trick people and falsify things. I still don't think we should be bailing them out. Life is a series of choices. I have made my less than stellar ones but no one bails me out. Not even my Mother

Suffer, suffer what? How can anyone say that. Gee, let me see, The homeowner lost everything, the bank STILL has millions of dollars, and ARE still loaning money out. Yea, that`s right, we all feel sorry for the banks for taking great risks like that, when they knew it would backfire in the end. Let`s see, you loan money to people who you know can not handle the payments(I`ve seen many of my friends go through this). Maybe the banks SHOULD JUST SAY NO to giving loans like that.

Originally posted by sir_chancealot

Originally posted by llpoolej
You know, if the American people hadn't racked up their credit cards, bought more house than they can afford, especially on adjustable rate or interest only loans, spent more than they earned, it would be a heck of a lot easier to weather this storm
...An individual adults STUPIDITY is not the governments fault. ... I advised many people when they were buying a home that they were on financial shaky ground. ...I told one customer that if his life changed at all, he would end up in bankruptcy. It did and he did. ...

And it's not the people or the government's fault if corporations do stupid things. So, you find no irony in the fact that you are on here claiming it's "stupid people's fault" when you ADMITTEDLY LOANED MONEY TO PEOPLE ON "FINANCIAL SHAKY GROUND"? Oh, but that's right, your former company doesn't get bit in the butt when they foreclose (on the average).

Your company KNOWINGLY lent money to people with the very real possibility that if anything negative happened, they would not be able to pay it back.

Tell me again why the taxpayers should bail out the banks suffering under this foreclosure crises?

Ha, believe it or not, we are bailing out everyone else. How? Through high gas prices, yes, that`s right. The big oil companies are run by the World Bank and the IMF, that`s where their funds come from. They in turn loan out billions of dollars to countries who ask for help. When they do this, the W.B. asks for collateral, this being land. So when the country can`t make their payments, guess what. The W.B. gets the land. This happened to Brazil. And now our good ol goverment wanted to put a tax on us(again) to pay off our debt. Gee, let`s see, get taxed to death, or pay for gas that we don`t have enough money to really pay for. We may as well go buy a tent, stock up on what food we can, quit your job, and live in the wild. Because that`s where we are going to end up. No better way to control us.

Originally posted by eric52081
Please post here if you are experiencing the same troubles as me.

i do not have those circumstances which you consider ~troubles~

i both survive and thrive on $14k a yr.,
i would say you might review what you view as valuable,
and embrace difficulty because struggle builds character---
unless you choose to see struggles as morbidly stressfull.
(which sounds like your worldview)


zen

It was stupid and reckless of the banks to make those loans. I didn't make the rules, I just played by them. Do I feel sorry for the banks? No. It is their own fault and their own making. Do I feel sorry for people who bought more than could afford? No and yes. I don't feel sorry for the ones who knowingly did, as the majority KNOWINGLY did. I do feel for the ones that were duped. That were pushed or lied to. There were people who were mislead and the companies that did that, should be shut down.

I still think that the banks need to suffer their losses as do the people. We have all met those adults whose parents, always bailed them out of whatever trouble they got into. They never learned and they never changed.

I don't think the government should be bailing out ANYONE. They aren't here to be our Mommas. They are here to protect and serve(us). The reality is they serve and protect themselves.

reply to post by St Udio


Agreed. Adults made fun of us when, three years ago, we bought a small Kia sedan on a $50,000/year income. We liked the price, the warrenty, and we loved the gas mileage. People with more expensive cars would openly make fun of us. Who's laughing now? We still have that car and pay about $25 a week in gas, which is the most we have ever paid.

When we decided to buy a house, we were very strict about the loans we would accept and the price we would pay, focusing on the monthly payments to determine the price we would pay. My husband is the main bread winner and he gets a raise about every 6 months. We chose our house payments based on what he made at the beginning of this year.

We consider our only splurge to be satellite TV. My computer and internet is a requirement for one of my jobs. During the summer I clean hotel rooms for the extra money.

Times are tougher than I can ever remember, but my grandparents told stories of much worse times.

My long-winded point is this, and as a response to the post quoated in mine: prestige is worthless, there is nobodyin your life you need to impress, and this, too shall pass. Hang in there.

Okay I still don't see that t's gotten as bad as people are implying.

How did my mom take care of three kids by herself after my dad left and took everything? How did she go to nursing school, pay rent, send her kids to a private school, and feed all of us. No outside help from any family.

This was about two years ago. We are now a middle class family. We live in a 4 bedroom house, and have decent cars. She has absolutley no debt. She has never been in fear of losing her job.

So to everyone out there who is in a bad place, tell my mom how bad it is when she was standing on the curb with three kids and nothing but a car.

It is people's own fault what happens to them. I'm currently attending college and I have yet to be in debt to anyone. No student loans no car payments.

I think the one thing that people should remember is, A PART OF WHAT YOU EARN IS YOURS TO KEEP.