Can anyone else blame the economy on the people?

etothepii · 02-12-2009, 05:44 AM

Or am I the only one? This culture of spending borrowed money ... not saving up for anything ... having 12 credit cards in your wallet ... isn't this really what is doing us in? Forget all the economic data for a moment. If we were savers and spenders instead of borrowers for the last couple decades, would we be in this situation?

Just thinking out loud (so to speak) here, and I value your input on this. Back me up, or show me where I'm wrong. Each day, this idea seems more likely to be the truth to me.

etothepii · 02-12-2009, 05:46 AM

Another thought ... isn't "predatory lenders" a euphemism for lazy or ignorant consumers?

James B · 02-12-2009, 07:12 AM

You are right, the people have followed the example of government. We are also all guilty of not holding elected officials accountable. They dump on us and we vote them right back in to do it again.

People were furious about the Bush spending so what they do? Elected a spender that will make Bush look like scrooge. Does that sound like a responsible response? I saved and invested some money but I could have and should have done better. However a lot of people did everything right and now find themselves in dire financial condition. Those are the people that I feel bad for.

nodog · 02-12-2009, 07:32 AM

Yes your right, but why are people as ignorant as we are?

Life is a series of steps each one takes us some where. Were we end up is just were we've been heading.

Your not going to get people to go back far enough to make the right changes, and we will only change if forced to and then when things start to improve we'll do it all over again. Right now the country only wants to recover to a time when the wealthy could make as much money as they want to charge while the lenders give people the money to buy what the people can't ever repay. Some recovery but Obama needs it to pay for the things he promised. In the end the people will pay for those things through higher costs that thewealthy will pass on. When things turn worse again which is inevitable the wealthy will blame it on higher tax's and the Government will blame it on not doing enough. The end conclusion is the end of the U.S. taken over by a people bred for that purpose.

Prosperity is a tough thing to live with. Too bad to.

It is the peoples fault they have everything needed to educate themselves but would rather watch mindless after mindless T.V. show, predators know it and exploit it. Some education system we have in this country, and people think... ah what's the use.[&o]People think homosexuality is about just that, it isn't it's a symptom of a greater ill.

burniegoeasily · 02-12-2009, 07:35 AM

eto
You are right. And now we have an administration that believes its best to use tax dollars to pay off those debts. Only problem, we dont have the tax dollars to do it.

cascadedad · 02-12-2009, 10:06 AM

Quote:

ORIGINAL: James B
However a lot of people did everything right and now find themselves in dire financial condition. Those are the people that I feel bad for.

Evidently, they didn't do everything right.

Agree with you E2tPi. The number one thing in my opinion is that we are a NOW society. We want it all and we want it right now. It is easy to buy a $25,000 car on credit, making minimum monthly payments, but how many people will actually save that kind of money and walk in and write a check for it? My generation is bad, but the kids of today are 10 times worse.

As an example, when I go to the river during the summer, you can't imagine how many 20 something kids I see driving brand new lifted 4X4's pulling a $60k wakeboarding boat. Party on dude!!!!!!! We had a 1975 Reinell for about 15 years. Sold it last year and upgraded. It is a 10 y.o. boat and is everything we wanted, for a fraction of the price of a new one.

Lanse couche couche · 02-12-2009, 10:10 AM

P.T. Barnum said it best, "You will never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people." And this is coming from someone who is up his neck in Master Card and Visa bills because it never seems like I am spending "real" money.[&o]The scary thing is that i am the epitome of competent money management compared to many other people I know.[&:]

cascadedad · 02-12-2009, 10:20 AM

Cut them up Lanse. My wife and I cut up our credit cards years ago. Currently, we have an Alaskan Airlines card that we get mileage for every dollar we spend. It gets paid off every month, without exception. It's kind of a joke, we have charged many, many thousands of dollars on this card and I think we have 600 frequent flyer miles. They'll probably do away with the program before we get to use them.

etothepii · 02-12-2009, 10:30 AM

I've plugged Dave Ramsey before, and I'll do it again ... no consumer debt but a house, 6-12 months of living expenses in the bank, fully funded college investments, 15% to retirement, pay the house off early ...

I'm not there yet, but we have one more car payment, then 3 more credit card payments, then we will be able to sock $700 per month away to the emergency fund, then that $700 (or more by then) will go to investments and savings.
In a couple years, when it's time to replace a vehicle, I'll be paying in cash (for a used car).

Alsatian · 02-12-2009, 10:37 AM

There is plenty of guilt to go around. (1) People who bought homes they could not afford (which includes both ordinary folks wanting to get into a home and folks trying to buy as much of a home as possible on ridiculous mortgage terms [John Carson's former side kick who bailed on his mortgage]). (2) Realtors/bankers who encouraged people to buy more home than they could afford (bigger commissions, more interest). (3) Our consumer-oriented economy that encourages us to buy, buy, buy any new trinkets that marketing can brainwash us into imagining we can't live without. #3 is the most difficult aspect to change, because it is more culturally ingrained and of longer standing.

It is worth remembering that this economic problem is not a US only phenomenon. ***an, Korea, China, India, and Europe are all hurting too. If this is supposed to be all due to the US business problems, that is surprising that we sway the world so thoroughly. I'm guessing, however, that these places too have their own economic problems very similar to our own, so we aren't alone in our foolishness. Some of those folks were foolish too.