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crhomebuilder,
Remember, Reagan inherited the “Misery Index” mess left by Jimmy Carter. Let’s just blame the greedy. This mess isn’t going to go away anytime soon. There is plenty of money in fewer hands these days and most probably will stay there or even increase. There is no system of government that works forever. Socialism, Capitalism, Communism….They all fall on their faces. Those that can vote largess from the public treasury are to blame too. I heard the other day something like 60-70% of New York City fireman are retired on disability pensions that average US$85,000. The disability rate of combat soldiers is lower. There is no shame anymore. We are going balls up.
You are correct, today’s politicians have absolutely no shame. History has repeatedly told us but we are very good at forgetting and forgiving our elected public officials who greatly profit from the upturns and lay low during the downturns.
Civilians need to plan for reality and prepare to make business and lifestyle adjustments. We are not insulated like the politicians and their lobbying buddies. The U.S. recession has caused worldwide economic repositioning.
Moreover, the USA’s recessions have always resulted in many years of recovery. The recovery periods last much longer than the downturns. Look at how long the Resolution Trust Corporation, (RTC) functioned, as the US government-owned asset management company mandated to liquidate assets of real estate and mortgage loans, as a consequence of the savings and loan crisis of the 1980’s. The RTC was established in August of 1989 and was closed in December 1995.
Do any current events sound similar?
Who benefited from the Savings and Loans blindly lending money that resulted in a huge recession, lasting six years? Another generation of politicians, that’s who. They eased the consumer protection laws, allowing the huge mortgage companies to bury inexperienced consumers with mortgages they could not afford.
Are you willing and able to ride out the next recession for six years?
The current recession has increased foreign investors and international company’s interest to search globally for “safe havens” in emerging economies offshore. What does that mean to the average North American civilian? It means there are less jobs and less consumer spending which will affect everyone in North America for an undetermined period of time.Crhomebuilder, What I find interesting regarding the lending practices of these institutions, is, they knew all along what they were doing. They qualified the unqualified customer at “X” percentage interest, then fully knowing the rates would jack up, and figuring on the unrealistically inflated future home prices if they foreclosed, they still had a win-win situation. And what home purchaser would say no to a financial institution willing to give them the loan? We did not see the collapse until the rates readjusted. Most would have hung on to their homes. Now the lenders cocked it up so good, and the economy is so far in the tank, they will have to lend at 4% to write anything at all, and like it.
The lending was predatory, and the watchdogs (lap dogs) let them get away with it. If the interest rates were fixed, this would not have been so bad. Adjustable interest is an axe over the consumers head, with all consideration given to the company and its stockholders. Also, our illustrious congress allowed credit card companies ( which lobbied them) to hike the rate to 29.9% for any reason they deemed appropriate. Lobbying, and banks, should be dealt with under the RICO statute.
The world’s economy has been sold down the river my friend. The new administration is just like the old one with wanting this stimulus package. Some change! I think we are done, unless voodoo economics really does work.
Our government is broken, along with most others, and the entire planet’s populous is paying the price. The question is, will we ever wake up?
Just to set the record straight, Alfred, Reagan did not “. . . inherit the Misery Index mess . . .” from the Carter Administration.
Reagan’s “Misery Index” was a political ploy, a catch phrase, and nothing more. His campaign staff invented it, comparing just one carefully selected economic index against just one other, equally carefully selected, in order to give Ronald Reagan something catchy that would resonate in voters’ minds. It was not materially less significant than the 1984 Willie Horton campaign developed by those same creative minds.
To be sure, the economic situation in the late 1970s was hardly ideal, but there was never meaningful significance to this petty campaign slogan.
Hi David,
Things were bad during the Carter years. Politicians always use those catch phrases to amplify the best or worst of times. This go-round we had “Change” as the Mantra. Like blaming previous administrations, a la Reagan’s for this mess, I think it is fair to stop at any point in history to blame any current event. Just kidding. We all have the luxury of hindsight, and depending upon our own political bent, we can make a case for anything. The Carter years were rough, and there have been other bad patches we’ve gone through. I think a lot of these things are cyclical and not any one party is totally right or wrong. They simply all are politicians. And we know how that goes.
Government has a purpose in regulating, and in that area we have fallen short. Government, it seems, can never do anything efficiently. The bureaucracy always gums up the works, and what starts out as a noble idea, falls flat. If we continue to rely on our government to provide all the answers, then we are doomed. Unless good people can be elected to office that have a sense of public service, not self-service, then we will be complaining forever. I have never seen a poor politician, just poor people handing over their will. While we have an obligation to protect and defend this nation, and to better the lives of the less fortunate, we should not remove the motivating forces that made this country great. Paraphrasing Reagan, “Government is not the solution, government is the problem.” And to add a little Marxist principle to this, I believe those of us that can do well have an obligation to help those whom society, and their own misfortunes, have left behind. There are moral principles in many forms of governing. Unfortunately, there are people who are less than moral doing the governing.
“The misery index is an economic indicator, created by economist Arthur Okun, and found by adding the unemployment rate to the inflation rate. It is assumed that both a higher rate of unemployment and a worsening of inflation create economic and social costs for a country.[1] It is often incorrectly attributed to Chicago economist Robert Barro in the 1970s, due to the Barro Misery Index that additionally includes GDP and the bank rate.[2]
During the Presidential campaign of 1976, Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter made frequent references to the Misery Index, which by the summer of 1976 was at 13.57%. Carter stated that no man responsible for giving a country a misery index that high had a right to even ask to be President. Carter won the 1976 election. However, by 1980, when President Carter was running for re-election against Ronald Reagan, the Misery Index had reached an all-time high of 21.98%. Carter lost the election to Reagan.”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misery_index_(economics)#Misery_index_-_era_by_U.S_president
Just to set the record straight, unless wikipedia got this wrong.
Nationalization of Insolvent US Banks – As the recession drags on and banking losses pile up, investors have been concerned that the administration could step in and take over some large banks, effectively wiping out stockholders, analysts said. Those concerns gripped markets on Friday after Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, told Bloomberg Television that a short-term nationalization might be necessary. “All these banks are becoming insolvent,” David Kovacs, chief investment officer of quantitative strategies at Turner Investment Partners, said of the broad banking system. “These banks are undercapitalized.” Read all about it at; http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/21/business/economy/21markets.html?tntemail1=y&_r=1&emc=tnt&pagewanted=print
Every new political administration blames the previous for inherited problems. The smiling Hollywood cowboy turned politician, Ronald Reagan and his star studded gang of politicians, supported by the media won the 1980 election.
The gullible American taxpayers foot the bill and likewise consume the hyped up advertising spread by the media giants.
As a result of Jimmy Carter’s inability to deal with the Iranian hostage crisis and soaring inflation, Ronald Reagan won the presidency in 1980, supported by 44 states. Reagan’s presidency began with the exhilarating news of the Iranian hostage’s release and the brainwashed kidnappers said they released the hostages because they feared that Reagan might deal with them “like a cowboy.”
The media directs political campaigns and the politicians who influence Hollywood, have their way with the American public.
Reagan, supported by Hollywood, won the 1980 election with his smiling optimism. Barack Obama, supported by millions of Hollywood’s dollars has mirrored Reagan’s success with the American public.
The Obama brand is now the jewel of mainstream advertising and media. According to the advertising agency with the highest worldwide revenues, DDB Worldwide, “Barack Obama is three things you want in a brand, he’s new, different, and attractive. That’s as good as it gets.”
Obama has his greatest strength among the young, roughly 18 to 29 years old. Advertisers and the media purvey their wares to this group of young Americans known as millennials. They will outnumber the baby boomers by 2010. They are black, white, yellow, and various shades of brown and they eat, drink and sleep with the new media and online social networks, such as Facebook and My Space. The millennials don’t trust traditional methods of advertising, but if you’re connected to the online media, they believe in your brand and Obama’s the new brand they believe in. The stimulating brand Obama. You can pick one up at your local market or shop on-line.
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