I got supplies (water, dried fruit and cans) because I'm hedging that the supplies will go down and price will go up. I bought 500 rounds because you can never have enough precious medals (brass and copper).

If you sayed in the market in 1929, it would take untill 1952 just to break even. If this is even half that bad, stocks are the worst place to be. Invest in corn, soybeans, livestock and metals.

Look at it this way, think of all the great TV we will have when they start the public high profile corporate lynchings.

Ill save some canned beef, and peas just for that/.

Originally posted by LowLevelMason
YOU buy the fear mongering, I'll listen to the experts.

You do that!
In the meanwhile, why not let people DISCUSS the economic crisis on ATS, which happens to be a DISCUSSION BOARD....y'know, where discussions normally take place?

Bottom of the line, I think we have finally learned through this latest slap in the face backlash of what happens when lenders lend money without using discretion. 9 Years ago, after I got married I did not have a credit card. My wife got an application and got approved for one "$1,000". I did not realize until it was $800 spent. I couldn't grip; she bought us a nice Christmas. So the payments started $100 a month. Only 800 were charged making 100 dollar payments a month. 9 - 10 months should be paid off with the interest, right? WRONG!

We got it down to 400 when we got into a crunch and lost a job. Got approved for another credit card "$3,000.00"! Whehooo! I could pay bills for a couple of months if I was unable to find work. Took a couple of weeks and I got a job. Had to use that credit card to make payments on the original remaining $400 cc plus groceries and rent. Now we are in the hole $2200.

We did not make many cut-backs and switch to "Ramen Noodles" to save money. Moved apartments, mail was lost and ended up forgetting about the remainder $300 we still had left on the first CC. A couple months go by and they finally tracked us down. Now we owe $800 because of late payments plus fines and a variable interest rate kicked in. Decided to consolidate the CC into 1. Got one for $7,000 and reconciled all of them into the 1 CC. Couple years go by and we get the CC paid down to around $2,500. They decided to pull our credit randomly which they found our credit was poor. That caused the 1 CC to put us as a higher risk and bumped our interest rate up to the max 29.9%. (Only we did not realize this and they did not notify us of this unless we read the fine print on the back of our statements) About 4 months go by when I finally call them irate when I have been making payment on-time and my balance keeps rising drastically (Now about $5,000, 4 months ago it was only 2,500).

Went to CITI and got approved for a debt consolidation loan. PAYED IT OFF over 3.5 years.

NEVER AGAIN!

NO MORE CREDIT CARDS

If I cannot pay cash for it, I don't buy it. I will save up for 3 months before I buy it and pay for it over 2 years because of interest rates.

Main point of this is, too many were duped into getting the loans for this and CC's for that and could not make payments. Filed bankruptcy, just didn't pay it, whatever. I should not have gotten approved for the later CC especially for the loan amount. They should not have raised the interest rate spiraling my still wet behind the ears financial situation into an 8.5 year depression which stressed me, my wife and we allowed that to consume us (to an extent) into depression. We now only have a truck payment and mortgage plus necessity bills (water, sewage, electricity, and phone).

I have learned the harsh reality of credit. I tried to sit down and crunch the numbers recently. I only spent about $9,000.00 on credit and ended up paying over $17,000.00 just to pay them all off from start to end. Do not get credit cards. Have 1 for true emergencies if you do not have a stash of cash. If you do have a stash of cash, then you have no need for an emergency CC.

To the younger audiences who may be reading this. TEAR UP ALL CREDIT CARD APPLICATIONS! Skimp and save and you will be better off financially. CC brought nothing but worry and stress for 8.5 years until I broke free.

This is one reason why we are in the predicament we are in today. Let this be a lesson never to allow this to be repeated.

Originally posted by anachryon
You do that!
In the meanwhile, why not let people DISCUSS the economic crisis on ATS, which happens to be a DISCUSSION BOARD....y'know, where discussions normally take place?

So you only want people in the discussion to agree with you? Could it be that in the midst of pumped up panic and hysteria, that one side of the discussion is "hey...don't buy the fear mongering?"

But of course that is what usually happens. Anyone questioning the mob "truth" of the matter is immediately insulted and degraded for offering another view point.

However, you do have a point. ATS users don't want to hear anything EXCEPT that the great depression is here. They will create a depression in their minds just to make it seem more believable.They are determined to create a crises, regardless of what anyone else says. Anyone questioning the dogma of financial doom has no place here. Which is why I never bother with these threads, but some times the fear mongering is so high I just can't help myself.

Oh well, fool me once type of thing

[edit on 10-10-2008 by LowLevelMason]