Comment by Dan H
March 6th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
It is plain and simple, the likes of AIG and Citi are already on the bottom under a 1000 ft of water. Time to STOP bailing with our money. They seem to be on a course to print enough money to kill the dollar! Then what do you do….start another war , have another terrorist attack?
There are plenty of well-run banks in this country. We need to support THEM, not sink the whole system for the sake of the TOO-BIG-TO-FAIL crony friends of government. The problem is that we will all loose big-time as the pension funds, retirement accounts and 401Ks are decimated as a result of the fallout.
I converted my IRA/401K money to hard assets periodically as I went along. I had a feeling that something like this would happen. I also set up a disciplined approach to PAY OFF the mortgage EARLY. Home equity loans seemed fairly foolish to me. Why should I risk my home for a vacation ?!!? I can now walk around on, farm, cut firewood and when the time comes, sell off lots from my retirement fund. I won’t loose much in the market. However, we all could loose everything if the system collapses.
*** My 2 Pennies ***
To Dan H:
Thank you for pointing out these two points I kept in mind:
1) There are plenty of well-run banks in this country. We need to support THEM
2) I won’t loose much in the market. However, we all could loose everything if the system collapses.
Our Gov’t action is wrong for the orientation, because they are up there to only know the feelings of those fat cats’ pain. They don’t see something, a real “emergency” in the bottom.
Before I retired 5 years ago and moved to a rural area in Texas, I had been in the high or highest social pyramid dealing with some state's Governors. Up there, I was really in blindness “See no evil, Hear no evil.” Today, Look at all the government plans, I feel so sorry that nobody in power can see through the fog.
Our conventional wisdom to solve American poverty is "full employment." It is wrong said by the poverty specialist Barbara. I’d like to say the assumption “to stimulate our economy is go through saving big banks like Citi, BAC” is terribly wrong.
As Barbara found in 2000, some working class people have to live in a lousy “motel” or his car due to lack of rent deposit, even they are working so hard to stand up for 11 hours. Now, let’s look at so-called “tax credit”, no matter what it is federal or California state’s, how can the bottom 50% of our people come up 20% down to buy a home when subprime loan is history, when a lot of my neighbors are even unable to have $1,000 at hand to put his rental deposit or when HUD, FDIC, bankers hike their loan processing fees? Let alone some don’t even have a spare money of $20 to go buy a bag of dog food for a hungry strayed dog coming to their home; or some working couples have to come to me asking for $30 loan for gas tank fill-up to work when the gas was $4 per gallon.
The truth is no matter how low the housing price goes down, there are 50% or more of our people has no capability to be with sufficient down payment to buy a home unless it is free or $7,000 in Detroit. As usual, some have to keep spending their 50%-70% hourly wages on expensive weekly high mortel charges, not on a more comfortable and cheaper apartment. In other words, they have to stay where they put their assrs in now: no kitchen, no air conditioning, no living room, no refrigerator, no fan, or window (a caveman?); even shareing the bed with others. They are working peoples, including WalMart's employees. Huh! the biggest world retailer/ private employer to create/ provide jobs. Many of them have to work two jobs to make the end met. Their living condition is making our American society no better than the third world. Don’t believe me?
Go read Barbara’s book “Nickel and Dimed.” Barbara didn’t make it up, I see it and feel it everyday to know it is true.
Suffice to say that those invisible poor have no way to buy a home under the current conditions. What’s that supposed to mean? No home purchase, equally as to set a clearly written law saying “you are out, working class!” You are not getting any penny from government’s fake mercy money of home purchase tax credit. Am I right, my hard working class?
Tell you the truth, when I look at the face color of Obama, One thing bothered me keeps popping up in my mind. I recalled the misery of the black slavery when they called a black citizen “NEGRO.”
When those slaves set free in 1860', did those WHITE people in power be kind or wise enough to go set up today’s “stimulus” plans to give some basic need to help them live decently or independently with hope for the future? What is or are needed for them to start to stand up as a freeman? Did most new freemen have some necessary means to live decently? Absolutely not! They can't even afford their "affordable" shelter as our working class today.
For the same token, think about who knows what those poor folks need? Don’t just say they are lazy. That will insulting our intelligence, at least a challenge to Obama’s IQ. How come Obama claiming he grew up from the grass roots of lower social class, but just acting as he was a white autocracy in the past who was so blind to know what a “dependent” poor lives under “social welfare” framework and to provide real help to them in need and in deed?
I know a fact that Pres. Obama is the 2nd generation who doesn’t have live experience of black slavery in his farther's family. He may not have the frame of reference to the hardship our black slaves went through. However, I may have to go back and see how he has done so great to break the social “glass ceiling” than Rev. Jessie.
Full employment would not sufficient to solve the poverty in America. Simple, it is based on a wrong assumption: “social income or wealth will equally and automatically distribute or grew among All social classes.” In fact, the rich gets richer by knowing the new rules such as stock derivatives or being helped to play the paper money game by their attorneys and CPAs. The poor stays the original point or is getting poorer without time, energy, knowledge and resouces to cope with the new ages by spending all his time on the new wave of 2 job life style (I am not dare to say as a working blue ant in Communist China). The disparity of national wealth dramatically increased; the wealth accumulated on the top only; money didn’t go down to the bottom naturally as water, even we have a president who has a middle name“water.”
Today, we see all the big fat cats or so-called “too big to fall” institutions has gotten a lot of bailout money. At least enough to spend on "CEO compensation or bonus" to reward those wrongdoings. They are encouraged to "expand spending" of half millions dollar on a weekend party in California to help our government "stimulate" our distressed economy.
Benanke, Hank Paulson and Tim Gaithner (I call them BHT in short, no offense to refer to "bigshit." I truely mean, those wives working Badly to put their Husbands Through to be dumped after their husbands get their PHD degree) have the same fallacy assumption: “Give money to the big banks, then others will get loans.” Did we see any liquidity (water) fall down to the bottom? Is that fair to those prudent middle size banks you mentioned? Is that what we call the spirit of "free competition" to cut the chance for the good banker to grew into the bigger or biggest when the established ones fail?
Give the poor some fishing tools (a sufficient money to not only buy, but also to plan or invest in themselves), please don’t just give them fishy, wasteful “goodies” to barely prolong their life under so-called “temporary shelter assistance” or “social welfare.” (Please check what Barbara got in "charity" basket, you'll know goody is not needy.)
Putting myself into those poor folk’s shoes, I wouldn’t be so nice as Barbara to say those working class is doing “savior” contribution to our American society, by selling (donating) their labor cheap (not “exploitation” as Karl Marx said?). As Dr. M. L. King, I would rather shout it out loudly : “that is a torture, as cruel as keeping a slave free but naked and hungry, by the name of freedom. I have a dream tomorrow we’ll see a world to give people a chance and means to hope, to drive and to excite themselves to plan their future and enjoy the happiness of achievement .”
Sadly enough to say, in the current subsistence level under Obama‘s plan, sometimes it is just like “放生” in Buddhism to set animals free into the jungle without rebuilding their ability to be fit in and live in.
Now is the best time for re-building America! While our government revitalizing US economy, we shall be able to give the misfortunate invisible poor people “sufficient” down payment to buy their shelter that is the biggest expense, if those taxpayer's money would not to be spend or wasted on those fat cats and red tape, PERIOD.
| 03/08/2009 | See we are so different! (2) | 1 | 122 | 93 |
兩小時內的老美『城邦』點閱數為１２２﹐透過個人網誌點閱數為９３。這是太公在聯網一個月也常達不到的數目啊﹗看來太公英文是比中文好喔﹗
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