DISQUS

sukabi1 · 1 year ago

I've been thinking since the beginning of the "bailout" that if they ignored the consumer in this taxpayer's money giveaway that folks would start to get pissed and start letting their credit cards default and go to collection.... the late fees, over the limit fees and finance charges all stop once it's turned over to a collection agency. Sure you get hit with a ding on your credit rating, but really, how many folks can get a loan or more credit now anyway???

anarchy · 1 year ago

my credit rating is shit, and the credit card companies
can go fuck themselves.. I tell collection agencies that
they are the bottom-feeders of the financial world 'cuz
they feed off the misery of others AND that they can
fucking sue me, garnish my (non-existent) wages and
put liens on my bank accounts (about five bucks in
checking & savings combined) for all I care.

I felt pretty bad about defaulting right up until my tax dollars went
to the fat cats in the form of bailouts, so now I say FUCK 'EM.

sukabi1 · 1 year ago

I'm sure you're not alone.... there will likely be a tsunami of like-minded folks before too long...

I might have joined you, but I've got 1 credit card and it's about paid off...

DLR · 1 year ago

It doesn't take bailout money for banks to lower their own interest rate, forgive 40% of the interest that has been built up and restructure how they figure their interest. (For one, stop charging interest on all new purchases from the time of purchase when you still owe money.) Would the banks use the bailout money to circulate as more credit or to pad their bonus and high salaries?

dad · 1 year ago

fuckers

Zorba · 1 year ago

And we're surprised by this........why? The current crowd in control has shown over and over that they are only for their friends in Big Business and screw the common people. Even though it's the common people's tax money that is being used to bail out Big Business.

eagleye · 1 year ago

When the bailout was being discussed, there wasn't sufficient discussion about the fact that the Bush administration couldn't be trusted to handle it properly. That was the single best reason for voting No, and I can't recall anyone bringing it up.

interlude · 1 year ago

just had dinner with my banker. a small but successful statewide bank, not business outside of Oklahoma. i was told that the Treasury called them and other banks in the area and offered them bailout $$$, even tho they don't need it.
to the credit of my bank, they refused it.

ahaque · 1 year ago

MR. PAULSON, PLEASE GO ALREADY
Henry Paulson's indecisiveness and lack of leadership is playing havoc with the markets around the world. As soon as he opened his mouth Wednesday November 12, Dow Jones fell by over 6% sending shock waves around the world markets.

The $700b bailout package was approved by Congress on the premise that it will be used for buying toxic assets from banks to provide liquidity. Paulson now says he will not buy these assets. He says one thing one day and another the next, sending confusing signals. He indecision is sending shivers down the spines of Pension/Investment/Fund Managers. In these times of trouble (worse since the depression), a strong leadership and a steady hand is required. Mr. Paulson is certainly not that. Had it not been for the leadership of Mr. Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister to inject funds into banks through preferred shares, Mr. Paulson would still have been deciding on what to do wioth the bailout money.

Besides, why are a couple of investment bankers from Goldman Sachs running the Treasury? Aren't the Investment Bankers the real culprits of this financial fiasco, producing fancy derivatives which are now sinking the entire financial system. They have walked away with millions of dollars from their previous jobs and are now running the same ship that they helped sink in the first place.

Mr. Paulson, please resign and go already and take the other investment bankers in Treasury with you. You will do the world a great favor by quitting. As you know the new Administration does not take over until January 20, which is two months away. If you don't resign and handover to a neutral person, it may be a little too late for the new Administration to salvage the situation.

sukabi1 · 1 year ago

So in the last 2 days we hear that:

1) There has been NO oversight of the $700B, and the agency tasked to provide oversight hasn't been staffed yet.
2) The money that was supposed to buy up toxic mortgages / derivatives isn't / won't be going that purpose.
3) WAY more $$$ has been given out to businesses through other avenues than the $700B initial bailout amount
4) Banks and credit card entities are begging Treasury help consumers and Treasury's saying FU

Anything else??? and why isn't congress demanding Paulson's head on a f'n pike???

Indigo · 1 year ago

The puzzling part is that we have not yet hit bottom.

Mike_in_the_Tundra · 1 year ago

Chris, you forgot about putting medical costs on plastic. So far I haven't had to, but my partner has Alzheimer's. How do I pay for adult daycare and eventually a nursing home without using a charge card? We have decent health insurance, but it doesn't cover those things.

Andrew · 1 year ago

There's nothing new under the sun here Chris. Keep your society dumbed down and in debt and you can control them far easier. Take a state like New York. They are projecting a 42 billion dollar deficit over the next four years and Govenor Patterson wants to cut 5.4 billon from the current budget because business on Wall Srtreet has gotten so bad. The only reason those banking bonuses will be paid is because of the tax revenue they generate as well as the money that is spent for everything from fine dining to tips for the show shine boy.
At what point do we the people tell the ass wipes in Washington to go fuck themselves? At what point do we tell them to take a dose of their own medicine and live like we the masses do from pay check to check and robbing Peter to pay Paul from one credit card to the next?
Thank goodness for blogs that allow us little people to vent as well as get the truth out, but what good does it do if we place the same corrupt people in power? That's putting the fox in charge of the hen house and people like Dodd and Schumer are only providing lip service to the masses while we continue to spin towards a depression.
One can only hope that Barrack Obama will put into place effective changes and dump the old guard in favor of progressives that will aid the middle class rather than the elite 5% of our population. Those in positions of power now that let this happen while looking the other way should have been fired. Paulson and Bernanke come to mind as first choices. But unless drastic measure are taken, the light at the end of the tunnel is the proverbial speeding train and we the people have been hog tied to the tracks. France had the right idea when they started removing the heads of the aristocracy. Perhaps it's time to start re-thinking what our Republic is all about. A free ride for crooks or an even playing field for all?

EsmeK · 1 year ago

This is an outstanding article by Michael Lewis (author of Liar's Poker) brilliantly clarifying how toxic this mess is, and how entangled all the big investment houses are, and how ugly it's going to be as it continues to crash. These castles were truly built on air:
http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-...

money quote: "Eisman knew subprime lenders could be scumbags. What he underestimated was the total unabashed complicity of the upper class of American capitalism."

It's not simply that these bankers are incompetent and Paulson is enabling them. They (including Paulson) are criminals, and they need to be pursued and prosecuted as criminals.

burro · 1 year ago

Just read the whole article and it's great. Great info and really well told story. Too bad it's a great story of how we got screwed. Jeezus, money just turns people into destructobots. I heard Paulson twice today on NPR and The News Hour. Both times he sounded like a complete fraud. A charlatan with a line of crap to sell and endless ways of rearranging the words to make his B.S. sound fresh and wonderful.

Thanks for posting the link. I've sent it on to a few friends.

GrMtGirl3 · 1 year ago

Been a total game of Crooked Bush and Paulson aiding a abetting their fellow crooked bankers . . .
The rich protecting the rich! Never any intent to solve the actual problem . . . no more bailout monies until Obama is in office.

VegasDave · 1 year ago

If the banks want to forgive part of credit card debt, they ought to start with the horrible interest rates they are charging. Consumers might be better able to afford their credit cards if the they weren't paying 25%-30% annual interest.