This guy has the right idea!

[cobra bill]

Originally Posted by Seagull81

When they bail out those firms, it ought to be an automatic- no trial- sentence of 20 years and forfeiture of 80% of their wealth to help pay for this mess for the President, vice President and Treasurer of each one of those companies. They knew what they were doing. Well, greed shouldn't pay! And if they don’t do something to the people that caused this they will be back in another 15 years to do the same thing in a different way.
Steve

I agree completely!

[mdmull]

When you basically understand the packaging of thousands of mortgages into CDOs and the whole concept of the credit debt swaps (about which my understanding is REALLY basic) you'll realize the Enron guys were mere amateurs at fraud & deceit. The investment bankers/hedge fund managers speculators, etal. are real pros - To the gallows with them all!

[Gatorac]

I think this whole blame game thing is a bit shifted. At least in my area. In my area the issue was real estate speculation. It drove property values up so fast it was ridiculous. Too many homes were being bought not by the end user. It was the same situation that caused the stock market crash of the 30's. In the 30's people bought stock on margin because it seemed it was a sure thing. When you buy a house with a mortgage that you only intend on selling in 6 months, you are doing the same thing as buying a stock on margin. When the market moves against you, your F'd. We are all now F'd.

The new construction industry became such a huge part of our local economy. Now that it is gone, so are the jobs. The rental market is gone now. If you own rental propeties, you are screwed. Many of these rental properties are now being given back to the bank too. It used to be you could rent a duplex out without even putting a sign up. Now it's a ghost town.

The government did nothing to stop the speculation.

I am a small business owner (11 years) who owns 3 rental propeties. I never bought a property with the intent to turn it over quickly. I never accepted an adjustable mortgage. I've run my business using a minimal amount of credit. I've had to lay off 5 people in the past year. I may not have jobs for the rest of them soon. If another tenant moves out, I will not be able to pay for the taxes and insurance on the property. The mortgage payment is easy. One of the properties doesn't even have a mortgage on it.

Having to let a spectacular employee go do to lack of work is awful. The package they are proposing will do nothing to help us here. Blaming this party or that will do nothing to help either.

Have a nice day.

[cobra bill]

Well said Gatorac, now is not the time to blame one party or the other, but we should make sure they do what's best for the people and not the fat cats on wall street.

[vanoochka]

The best explanation I've yet seen on how we got into this mess...

HARSH LANGUAGE WARNING!

http://www.slideshare.net/georgeneme...prime-cartoon/

[TerrysSPF]

cobra bill: You say that now is not the time to blame one party or the other.............but THAT is exactly what you do.

Do you remember in the late 1990's when the Democrats and the Clinton administration were asking for lax lending practices so the "poor" and minorities could obtain home loans? -I do. They changed the laws, they were weak on oversight, and the banks made it easier for people to get approved for loans. Many top executives working for Fannie Mae are Democrats, and some even came from the Clinton administration. Two of Omama's top advisors are former CEO's of Fannie.

Is Bush innocent in all of this? -Hell no. He did ask for reform of Fannie and Freddie back in '03 and '05 (and McCain asked for it in '03 and '06) but the Bill was blocked (actually shot down my members of both parties - but mainly the democrats). -But average U.S. citezens don't know whats going on in Washington and paid no attention to Bush's request.
However, as President, he has the power of the bully-pulpit and, IMO, should have gone directly to American citizens and explained that Fannie and Freddie were dealing in bad paper.

-At least we would have been warned.

Barney Frank (Chairman of the House Financial Services) and Chris Dodd (Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee) are both Democrats, and their Committee's are in charge of banking oversight. Both men said that Fannie and Fraddie were in "good shape". Barney Frank even said that Fannie "couldn't get too big" when he was questioned by Bush about Fannie and Freddie possibly taking on too much dept.

Blame Bush all you want. But what's your excuse on why DEMOCRATS didn't warn America about what was going on? -They obviously knew about it too.

[wtm442]

Originally Posted by mdmull

Another victim of the american education system/ 85 billion divided among 200 million is only $425.00 Have fun paying off the mortgage.

Hear it from the author ....

You know the old saying, "You do the math."

Well in my little experiment today, I wanted to see how many people really do do the math. So I sent the message below to 100 of my pals at random. I wanted to see how many folks would catch my intentional three-digit error...just three little zeros.

So far only 2 people have actually done the math and let me know about it.

Congratulations Rick Steinberg and Derrick Phillips! They got it right. When you divide 200,000,000 people into $85 Billion you get $425.00 NOT $425,000.00. It would take $85 Trillion to get the $425,000 number.

[Seagull81]

When I posted this I knew the math was wrong, but i like the novel way the guy put it and set it up.
I guess the worms are out of the can! LOL!
Steve