"You're thinking of this place all wrong. As if I had the money back in a safe. The money's not here. Your money's in Joe's house...right next to yours. And in the Kennedy house, and Mrs. Macklin's house, and a hundred others. Why, you're lending them the money to build, and then, they're going to pay it back to you as best they can. Now what are you going to do? Foreclose on them?...Now wait...now listen...now listen to me. I beg of you not to do this thing. If Potter gets hold of this Building and Loan there'll never be another decent house built in this town. He's already got charge of the bank. He's got the bus line. He's got the department stores. And now he's after us. Why? Well, it's very simple. Because we're cutting in on his business, that's why. And because he wants to keep you living in his slums and paying the kind of rent he decides. Joe, you lived in one of those Potter houses, didn't you? Well, have you forgotten? Have you forgotten what he charged you for that broken-down shack? Here, Ed. You know, you remember last year when things weren't going so well, and you couldn't make your payments? You didn't lose your house, did you? Do you think Potter would have let you keep it? Can't you understand what's happening here? Don't you see what's happening? Potter isn't selling. Potter's buying! And why? Because we're panicky and he's not. That's why. He's picking up some bargains. Now, we can get through this thing all right. We've got to stick together, though. We've got to have faith in each other."
Of course, now the problem is, the money didn't just go into Joe's house. Joe's mortgage got bundled with a bunch of other mortgages, some good, some bad. And then insurance companies sold insurance on those bundled mortgages. And when a portion of the mortgages went bad, and the investors who bought the insurance went to collect, the financial markets went down, and AIG and the rest starting going hat in hand to Congress.
If we had been just putting money's in Joe's house, well, if Joe defaulted on his mortgage, the bank could handle that. They always have. Even in the 1970s energy crisis, the 21% interest rates of the late 1970s, and even the recession in the early 1980s.
Now? Now, we're handing out more than $7 TRILLION to companies, and the only one's we're asking for a plan or any sort of accountability is the auto industry. Because it's all the fault of minorities getting mortgages and auto workers making $73 an hour. Yup, that's the problem.
January 20 can't get here fast enough.
7 comments:
And why are the Potters of the world buying now? Because the Bush Crime Family drove the economy into a ditch so they could pick through the wreckage & find bargains at 10 cents on the dollar.
Seems that everyhing George the Smarter did both to the economy & Iraq was just a test run for George the Lesser.
Excellent analysis, Duck.
Why thank you, chuck.
E-mail me with your next musical appearance, please.
Duck:
This is not the problem or cause of the President. It is OUR fault for spending more than we make each month, it is OUR fault for having to have the McMansion, on a burger king salery. It is OUR fault for just having to have the big SUV that gets 18 miles to the gallon. Duck think about it, I love the wonderfull life thing and it is spot on, but since when do we spend more than we make? When someone who we are suppose to believe in tells us we can afford something we cannot, and then convinces us of it! I live in my budget, I save every payday first then make purchases I need and pay my bills if there is anything left then maybe dinner twice a month for the wife and I. This is not a Obama gonna save us or Pres. Bush crime family it is US putting ourselves in such a position. Pres. Clinton convinced us that everyone should own a home, and I agree, The money changers in the temple saw a golden calf in the form of the low income set who wanted that home, and those people lent them money they knew was shakey from the start. Do I blame Clinton? No, I blame those who took advantage of those people, however when they fail on the payment someone else gets a bargin. Just my thought
It's not my fault, I can guarantee that. My family of 4 lives in a house that's less than 1,400 sq. feet because that's the mortgage payment we could swing 12 years ago. We make more money now, of course, but we didn't upsize. We stayed within our means.
I've done nothing wrong - every bill's paid on time, perfect credit history. And yet, Citibank wants to raise my CC rate to 19%.
It ain't me, I can tell you that much.
Hey everyone,
This is Anon. I (since my post is the 1st on the thread, not to be confused with Anon. II)
It's not that I think Obama is gonna save us or that Bush is the source of all evil on this planet (that would be Cheney), but how do you determine between those who were victims of deliberate, pre-meditated fraud & those who were simply victims of their own greed & irresponsibility.
I'm no bankruptcy lawyer but the only fair way to figure who's entitled to compensation & how much is to go over it case by case. And I've no idea how long that would take.
Regardless of who you think is at fault we're in a mess right now.
It is my personal opinion that bailouts are needed as part of the recovery plan.
That said, for the hand that is doling out the bread the other one ought to have a big huge wrecking bar in it out in plain sight so the recipients know they'd best be wise in handling the funds.
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