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Forums - General - Tough economic times - How is it affecting your life style?

Hawk on 25 February 2009

I'm not personally affected myself



Tag: Hawk - Reluctant Dark Messiah (provided by fkusumot)

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mrstickball on 25 February 2009
TheRealMafoo said:
mrstickball said:

The bankers were idiots in giving out the money, and the people were stupid for not doing their homework and realizing the predatory lending practices that were going on.

 

I agree people were stupid for buying something they could not afford, but the banks were being incentivized by government for giving the loans. If banks gave a certain percentage of subprime loans, then they got a better deal on all their loans. It was Congresses way of putting poor people into homes.

That would have worked if people only bought homes they could afford. They didn’t. They used the constant increase in home values to buy homes they could not afford, gambling that when there payment went above what they could pay, that they could just refinance and use the increased value to do the same thing all over again. That only works until home builders meet demand for an ever increasing home owner base. Before the “Community Reinvestment Act' of 1999”, home ownership was a constant 60% of the population. When builders finally caught up, it was 75%. That means 20% of home owners had loans that if banks were left to their own devices, would have never given. Banks traditionally are not in the business of throwing good money after bad.

For years Congress got reports from independent auditors telling them that Fanny and Freddie were in trouble. Congress chose to ignore it. Telling a booming economy that subprime lending has to stop, and people who should not buy a home now can’t, is not in fashion. Waiting until it’s too late and then blaming everyone else seems to be though.

When looking up the name of the Community Reinvestment Act that caused this shift that caused the housing bust, I couldn't help but watch some of the horrendous accusations made by Democrats in congress that the auditors were wrong.

My community has been a 'victim' of the housing bubble. We're on the edge of a major city (Columbus, Ohio). Wonce the CRA went into effect, real estate prices went on a sharp increase for the past 7-8 years, and many people overspent on their houses. Once the bubble burst, those that were trying to sell their houses got a rude awakening on the 'real' price of a home - now half of the city (around 13,000) is on the market, and the houses aren't selling, as buyers are weary of the seller's stupidity.

I agree that it wasn't entirely the banks fault(s) - their goal is to minimize risk, and maximize profits. When the government subsidized bad behavior, and stupid ideas, there's nothing holding them back from doing it. Still, you wish that someone would have shown restraint, which is why I say everyone is to blame - but the Govt. first, people second, businesses third.

 



Back from the dead, I'm afraid.

The_vagabond7 on 25 February 2009

So far I haven't been. My city seems to be doing well, and aside from losing money from my young 401k that my company provides (luckily there wasn't much there to begin with), I haven't really felt much of an impact. Well actually I did try to buy a car recently and got rejected even though my wife and I have impeccable credit. That sucked, but then we got a deal on something else so I didn't really care.



You can find me on facebook as Markus Van Rijn, if you friend me just mention you're from VGchartz and who you are here.

akuma587 on 25 February 2009

So, I guess those banks who gave out all those loans and the people who entered into those loans aren't to blame right? Neither is Wall Street who gorged themselves on these things like a fat family at a Chinese buffet?

Let's not blame the person who shot someone or the person who shot themselves. Let's blame the person who sold them the gun! But let me guess, you guys are anti-government regulation on guns.



We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.  The only thing that really worried me was the ether.  There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke

It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...."  Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson

Slimebeast on 25 February 2009

The crysis is affecting me in no way, nor anyone I know.

All I hear is everyone talk about it, a lot in the news and stuff like that.

This crysis is overrated.



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TheRealMafoo on 25 February 2009
akuma587 said:
So, I guess those banks who gave out all those loans and the people who entered into those loans aren't to blame right? Neither is Wall Street who gorged themselves on these things like a fat family at a Chinese buffet?

Let's not blame the person who shot someone or the person who shot themselves. Let's blame the person who sold them the gun! But let me guess, you guys are anti-government regulation on guns.

 

Akuma standing up for Personal accountability? Wow. Never thought that would happen. Oh yea, this one is more on the Democrats then the Republicans, so it’s no longer Governments fault.

If you think that people or entities should not take an offer now, that they can’t afford later. I agree with you 100%. I blame the people first who bought the houses. I am glad you agree with me.

Now, let’s move on to the spending bill that just past. Every state is getting some money, but in turn needs to set policy that in a few years they can’t afford. I am glad you and I agree that they should not take the money. I mean if they do, it’s only the states stupid fault for obligating themselves to something they can’t pay in the future.



Moongoddess256 on 25 February 2009

I was poor and living with my parents before, and I'm poor and living with my parents now. My hours have been cut to the union minimum, my tsp (thrift savings plan) account took a beating. My friend got laid off, I'm gonna bring her some food as soon as I can get a hold of her. The town I'm working in - half the businesses have closed. Including a couple that have opened within the past year. Its kinda sad.

But I'm fine. Actually at the moment I'm much less depressed than usual.



[2:08:58 am] Moongoddess256: being asian makes you naturally good at ddr
[2:09:22 am] gnizmo: its a weird genetic thing
[2:09:30 am] gnizmo: goes back to hunting giant crabs in feudal Japan

mrstickball on 25 February 2009
akuma587 said:
So, I guess those banks who gave out all those loans and the people who entered into those loans aren't to blame right? Neither is Wall Street who gorged themselves on these things like a fat family at a Chinese buffet?

Let's not blame the person who shot someone or the person who shot themselves. Let's blame the person who sold them the gun! But let me guess, you guys are anti-government regulation on guns.

I find the analogy of a gun shooting humorous, coming from a left-winger.

Who argued that it was only the governments fault? Businesses and people share part of the blame. However, the government initiated the bad behavior. It's not like banks were clamoring 'let us give loans out to poor people with bad credit!'. If the government decided to remove all alchohol and tobacco tax tomorrow, do you think there'd be more smokers and alchoholics? I think so. And that's the same line of logic that led us to this mess.

Everyone caused this. The governments incentivized bad, risky, and stupid behavior by the banks. The banks became predatory, and the people bought into it hook, line and sinker for 'the American dream'



Back from the dead, I'm afraid.

SamuelRSmith on 25 February 2009

Not particularly. Hell, so far, my dad's been doing better out of the recession.



dsister44 on 25 February 2009

i was recently laid off and my car was reposed the other day and i got a couple of final notices on some bills and im more depressed lately and im tired of people blaming bush it wasnt all his fault guys