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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?
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.
In 1982 I paid more than US$175 to lift my 18 footer out of the water when a storm was coming. Slip fee was over US$2K back then too. And in NY you only could use the boat essentially for 3 months. Winter storage was a bargain at US$10 a foot, as long as you closed the boat up yourself. I figured the last year I had the boat which was in ’82, it cost me US$300 every time I turned the key. The only advantage was that back then you could sell a boat used for almost what you paid for it new. I paid US$7100 for it new in ’79, and sold it for US$6900 in ’83. In ’83 the same boat was over US$12K new.
A boat owners two happiest days…The day he buys it, and the day he sells it! Another proverb; A boat is nothing more than a hole in the water into which you throw money.
David,
Also, we have the new enhanced driver’s licenses. If you apply for one, it works like a passport on the Canadian/Mexican border crossings. Some may not be traveling as far now and opt out of getting a passport and use this instead.
No matter which way you slice it, worldwide travel will be down for the foreseeable future.
Here is another jolly piece of info.
We’ coming apart
DECEMBER 29, 2008, 1:54 P.M. ET
As if Things Weren’t Bad Enough, Russian Professor Predicts End of U.S.In Moscow, Igor Panarin’s Forecasts Are All the Rage; America ‘Disintegrates’ in 2010
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By ANDREW OSBORNMOSCOW — For a decade, Russian academic Igor Panarin has been predicting the U.S. will fall apart in 2010. For most of that time, he admits, few took his argument — that an economic and moral collapse will trigger a civil war and the eventual breakup of the U.S. — very seriously. Now he’s found an eager audience: Russian state media.
Igor Panarin
In recent weeks, he’s been interviewed as much as twice a day about his predictions. “It’s a record,” says Prof. Panarin. “But I think the attention is going to grow even stronger.”
Prof. Panarin, 50 years old, is not a fringe figure. A former KGB analyst, he is dean of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s academy for future diplomats. He is invited to Kremlin receptions, lectures students, publishes books, and appears in the media as an expert on U.S.-Russia relations.
But it’s his bleak forecast for the U.S. that is music to the ears of the Kremlin, which in recent years has blamed Washington for everything from instability in the Middle East to the global financial crisis. Mr. Panarin’s views also fit neatly with the Kremlin’s narrative that Russia is returning to its rightful place on the world stage after the weakness of the 1990s, when many feared that the country would go economically and politically bankrupt and break into separate territories.
A polite and cheerful man with a buzz cut, Mr. Panarin insists he does not dislike Americans. But he warns that the outlook for them is dire.
“There’s a 55-45% chance right now that disintegration will occur,” he says. “One could rejoice in that process,” he adds, poker-faced. “But if we’re talking reasonably, it’s not the best scenario — for Russia.” Though Russia would become more powerful on the global stage, he says, its economy would suffer because it currently depends heavily on the dollar and on trade with the U.S.
Mr. Panarin posits, in brief, that mass immigration, economic decline, and moral degradation will trigger a civil war next fall and the collapse of the dollar. Around the end of June 2010, or early July, he says, the U.S. will break into six pieces — with Alaska reverting to Russian control.
In addition to increasing coverage in state media, which are tightly controlled by the Kremlin, Mr. Panarin’s ideas are now being widely discussed among local experts. He presented his theory at a recent roundtable discussion at the Foreign Ministry. The country’s top international relations school has hosted him as a keynote speaker. During an appearance on the state TV channel Rossiya, the station cut between his comments and TV footage of lines at soup kitchens and crowds of homeless people in the U.S. The professor has also been featured on the Kremlin’s English-language propaganda channel, Russia Today.
Mr. Panarin’s apocalyptic vision “reflects a very pronounced degree of anti-Americanism in Russia today,” says Vladimir Pozner, a prominent TV journalist in Russia. “It’s much stronger than it was in the Soviet Union”
Mr. Pozner and other Russian commentators and experts on the U.S. dismiss Mr. Panarin’s predictions. “Crazy ideas are not usually discussed by serious people,” says Sergei Rogov, director of the government-run Institute for U.S. and Canadian Studies, who thinks Mr. Panarin’s theories don’t hold water.
Mr. Panarin’s résumé includes many years in the Soviet KGB, an experience shared by other top Russian officials. His office, in downtown Moscow, shows his national pride, with pennants on the wall bearing the emblem of the FSB, the KGB’s successor agency. It is also full of statuettes of eagles; a double-headed eagle was the symbol of czarist Russia.
The professor says he began his career in the KGB in 1976. In post-Soviet Russia, he got a doctorate in political science, studied U.S. economics, and worked for FAPSI, then the Russian equivalent of the U.S. National Security Agency. He says he did strategy forecasts for then-President Boris Yeltsin, adding that the details are “classified.”
In September 1998, he attended a conference in Linz, Austria, devoted to information warfare, the use of data to get an edge over a rival. It was there, in front of 400 fellow delegates, that he first presented his theory about the collapse of the U.S. in 2010.
“When I pushed the button on my computer and the map of the United States disintegrated, hundreds of people cried out in surprise,” he remembers. He says most in the audience were skeptical. “They didn’t believe me.”
At the end of the presentation, he says many delegates asked him to autograph copies of the map showing a dismembered U.S.
He based the forecast on classified data supplied to him by FAPSI analysts, he says. He predicts that economic, financial and demographic trends will provoke a political and social crisis in the U.S. When the going gets tough, he says, wealthier states will withhold funds from the federal government and effectively secede from the union. Social unrest up to and including a civil war will follow. The U.S. will then split along ethnic lines, and foreign powers will move in.
California will form the nucleus of what he calls “The Californian Republic,” and will be part of China or under Chinese influence. Texas will be the heart of “The Texas Republic,” a cluster of states that will go to Mexico or fall under Mexican influence. Washington, D.C., and New York will be part of an “Atlantic America” that may join the European Union. Canada will grab a group of Northern states Prof. Panarin calls “The Central North American Republic.” Hawaii, he suggests, will be a protectorate of Japan or China, and Alaska will be subsumed into Russia.
“It would be reasonable for Russia to lay claim to Alaska; it was part of the Russian Empire for a long time.” A framed satellite image of the Bering Strait that separates Alaska from Russia like a thread hangs from his office wall. “It’s not there for no reason,” he says with a sly grin.
Interest in his forecast revived this fall when he published an article in Izvestia, one of Russia’s biggest national dailies. In it, he reiterated his theory, called U.S. foreign debt “a pyramid scheme,” and predicted China and Russia would usurp Washington’s role as a global financial regulator.
Americans hope President-elect Barack Obama “can work miracles,” he wrote. “But when spring comes, it will be clear that there are no miracles.”
The article prompted a question about the White House’s reaction to Prof. Panarin’s forecast at a December news conference. “I’ll have to decline to comment,” spokeswoman Dana Perino said amid much laughter.
For Prof. Panarin, Ms. Perino’s response was significant. “The way the answer was phrased was an indication that my views are being listened to very carefully,” he says.
The professor says he’s convinced that people are taking his theory more seriously. People like him have forecast similar cataclysms before, he says, and been right. He cites French political scientist Emmanuel Todd. Mr. Todd is famous for having rightly forecast the demise of the Soviet Union — 15 years beforehand. “When he forecast the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1976, people laughed at him,” says Prof. Panarin.
Here’s the article.
U.S. MILITARY PREPARING FOR DOMESTIC DISTURBANCES
BY JIM MEYERSPosted On: December 24th, 2008
A new report from the U.S. Army War College discusses the use of American troops to quell civil unrest brought about by a worsening economic crisis.
The report from the War College’s Strategic Studies Institute warns that the U.S. military must prepare for a “violent, strategic dislocation inside the United States” that could be provoked by “unforeseen economic collapse” or “loss of functioning political and legal order.”
Entitled “Known Unknowns: Unconventional ‘Strategic Shocks’ in Defense Strategy Development,” the report was produced by Nathan Freier, a recently retired Army lieutenant colonel who is a professor at the college — the Army’s main training institute for prospective senior officers.
He writes: “To the extent events like this involve organized violence against local, state, and national authorities and exceed the capacity of the former two to restore public order and protect vulnerable populations, DoD [Department of Defense] would be required to fill the gap.”
Freier continues: “Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order … An American government and defense establishment lulled into complacency by a long-secure domestic order would be forced to rapidly divest some or most external security commitments in order to address rapidly expanding human insecurity at home.”
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned last week of riots and unrest in global markets if the ongoing financial crisis is not addressed and lower-income households are beset with credit constraints and rising unemployment, the Phoenix Business Journal reported.
Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma and Rep. Brad Sherman of California disclosed that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson discussed a worst-case scenario as he pushed the Wall Street bailout in September, and said that scenario might even require a declaration of martial law.
The Army College report states: “DoD might be forced by circumstances to put its broad resources at the disposal of civil authorities to contain and reverse violent threats to domestic tranquility. Under the most extreme circumstances, this might include use of military force against hostile groups inside the United States.
“Further, DoD would be, by necessity, an essential enabling hub for the continuity of political authority in a multi-state or nationwide civil conflict or disturbance.”
He concludes this section of the report by observing: “DoD is already challenged by stabilization abroad. Imagine the challenges associated with doing so on a massive scale at home.”
As Newsmax reported earlier, the Defense Department has made plans to deploy 20,000 troops nationwide by 2011 to help state and local officials respond to emergencies.
The 130-year-old Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military’s role in domestic law enforcement. But a 1994 Defense Department Directive allows military commanders to take emergency actions in domestic situations to save lives, prevent suffering or mitigate great property damage, according to the Business Journal.
And Gen. Tommy Franks, who led the U.S. military operations to liberate Iraq, said in a 2003 interview that if the U.S. is attacked with a weapon of mass destruction, the Constitution will likely be discarded in favor of a military form of government.
http://www.republicbroadcasting.org/index.php?cmd=news.article&articleID=2830
Lotus,
Thanks, and yes you did give me Dr. Kokayi’s name when our son was suffering from asthma. Our son decided ultimately that he did not want to go into the city, especially because he didn’t have health ins.
I didn’t even think of Dr. Kokayi for my wife. He would be a good choice, being closer than most other doctors using alternative and conventional medicine. If she remains in remission, I think we will need some professional help in order to keep her immune system strong. This cancer is immuno-responsive, but it is so scary that we have to rely on western conventional treatment for the time being, as it is the only proven method of treatment. The major problem with the conventional medical treatment is the side effects of the large amount of radiation she’s been exposed to, by all the scans and radiation therapy she’s gotten already.
Enjoy your stay in CR. You’re just missing out on a nasty snow storm back in NY. Upstate, we’ve gotten about 8-10 inches so far, on our way up to a possible 14″. We’re jealous!!!!
Thanks again, we really appreciate it. Bring back some nice weather with you when you return.
Union,
Thanks for the links. I just checked them and they do look interesting. We do know someone that did do an Alternative-nutritional therapy, and went into spontaneous remission. He was one of two people that this was documented happening to. We had gotten a link from a relative of his for a nutritional program. My wife was diagnosed early, and it was removed. So we’re still not sure we need to do heavy alternatives yet.My wife has been using host defense mushrooms, and intestinal bacterial suppliments, and we did some juicing in the beginning. But juicing is hard to stay on. We’re hoping for the best by doing what we can without making too many life changes.
I didn’t mentioned the name of the cancer before. It is called Merkel Cell Carcinoma. It is more serious than Melanoma. I’m sure most have never heard of it. I would also like to tell everyone, there is a higher incidence of this type of cancer as you get closer to the equator. Although they really have no idea of the exact cause, sun exposure is suspect.
If anyone is interested in seeing what it is, and reading what it can do, here’s a link http://www.merkelcell.org. It is a scary disease, and most doctors have never seen it, and it is misdiagnosed frequently.
That is one option we’ve thought of, but we both can’t stand the winters up here, so we will have to make some provisions to be down there in dry season.
Best wishes again.
Dear Frank & Anna,
Thank you for your concern. We have been using some alternative measures. Presently we are using immune boosting mushrooms to augment the only form of effective treatment known today, which is radiation. Her cancer is very immuno responsive, and also very responsive to radiation. We haven’t looked into Germany, but will check it out. We’ve researched all of this for about six months now, and have a support group that keeps us up on all the latest alternative, as well as conventional treatments. The problem is, with only 1500 new patients a year it almost guarantees no research money, and therefore very little in the way of new treatments. She caught it early, so the prognosis is good. She just has to be careful of recurrence, and has to be protected from UV exposure. Limiting the UV will be a tough task in a country like CR.I really think your best bet would be that Harvard doctor, and a contact doctor in the US. I know there are some specialists in Weschester county, NY that have extensive experience with Lyme patients. I believe one of them is in Mt. Kisco. I can’t remember his name, though. If you contact Northern Westchester Hospital, I’m sure they can give you his name.
We can think the medical field has it all figured out. Until you are up against a rare or unusual disease, you believed they could cure anything. We’ve found that you have to do your own research, and be responsible for your own health, particularly in these instances.
You are moving on the right track toward treating Anna’s Lyme disease. I wish you both a happy, healthy, and successful transition into your new home in Costa Rica.
Pura Vida
Frank & Anna, It might serve you to have a doctor from the US in contact with a CR DR. for the antibiiotics needed to treat Lyme disease. We live in NY and it is common here. I believe Doxycylene is used in the early stages. CR may not have the type of drugs needed to fight Lyme, and I think you should check this out first. You may be able to have the antibiotics shipped to a DR. or hospital in CR if you can’t get them there. If the condition is chronic it may be hard to be away from the US and treat it.
Lyme is a tricky disease. I took a short NY State seminar on it years ago. It likes to hide in the body for weeks or months. That’s usually the reason they can keep some people on the antibiotics for an extended period, if I remember. Our son had it once, and it was cured with one cycle of antibiotics.
We know well what problems you can have dealing with serious diseases when there are no doctors available who are well versed in its treatment. My wife was recently diagnosed with one of the rarest forms of skin cancer, and there are only two real experts in the entire US that know enough about it. We’ve seen one of them. We will have to remain in the US for the forseeable future. There isn’t even any chemo that has been developed for it yet. Retirement outside the US would be iffy for us at this point, but we’re still hoping.
I wish you the best for Anna’s speedy and complete recovery.
crhomebuilder, the FDIC is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. I believe they act soley as an insurance against individual’s deposits in banks being lost through bank failures. I don’t think they have any oversight authority. They should though, given the current financial situation.
If the federal gov’t just gave $700 billion to bail out Wall Street ( which might turn into $7 trillion,) with only a few days of considering it, then spend weeks debating the US auto industry bailout of only $15 billion, What makes us think they would ever really care about us peons.
The trust we had in government has been weakened by these political hacks that only seem to be watching over us and protecting us, when instead, they they are bought and sold like the cheap suits they are.
As a conservative, I can tell you there are no conservatives left in Washington. It is one big political club now. Republican, democrat, or whatever label you wish to call them by, they are only interested in their own future.
When the entire world is melting down, how is it possible that no one knew this was going to be this bad? How come they only now tell us that the US has been in recession since the last quarter of ’07, when we could have told them that months ago? How come congress made legislation to allow credit card companies to raise interest rates to 29.9%, when the old usary rate was 25%? Lobbyists are buying legislation for the big boys. Our voices are being drowned out by huge sums of money being spread around the halls of congress.
If things get worse, you might see an awakening by the public. If they throw a bone at us, then don’t expect anyone to start raising a fuss.
Costa Rica’s large middle class is defined purely by being the largest in Latin America. When compared to the majority of Latin America, this seems plausible. Democracy has established some of that, along with coffee, banana and other exports from CR. Attracting foreign companies may or may not be the panacea for enlarging the middle class. Let’s face it, they’re only there for the cheap labor. Ticos should be owning more businesses. Ticos should be creating jobs for themselves. A thriving middle class, as others have pointed out, allows gov’t to extract more for ever expanding gov’t programs. Exactly what we in the US have, and are going to get more of shortly.
Rampant consumerism fueled this last boom in the US economy. Once that went flat, the economy freefalled. Running a society on unbridled consumer spending is a recipe that works about as well as marxism. They both work for a while, then they collapse under their own weight.
If CR is to follow the example we in the US have provided, then they are going to have a period of growth, then the fall. When you replace values with things, you realize how shallow living becomes, and how worthless lives become in the process.
Most of us here see the value in the Tico way of life, and appreciate it for what it is. However, if consumerism is the route they wish to travel, there isn’t a whole lot we can do to change it. If we’re the model for their economic dreams, then I wish them luck.
Sprite, Right wing, Left wing, they both screwed us royally. I do get your point, and I believe we are in agreement as to the outcome. There will be many who suffer from the destruction of our country by greedy politicians and persons who had no compassion for their fellow citizen. There hasn’t been one form of government, when left to its own devices, that has not laid waste to the people, and the land they govern. The electorate may be responsible for putting them in office but, it wouldn’t matter who was in charge. “Power corrupts… and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
For us, Costa Rica is presently still on the table. That may change in the future. We still have some time yet to decide. You’ll undoubtedly be going sooner. I wish you well.
