Our Peoples Congress at Work

[rokid]

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Mike wrote:

Whyshould a credit card companybe obligated to do the calculation for the person borrowing money from them? Maybe this is just me being "selfish" or "heartless" again, but I think it's the responsibility of the person borrowing the money to figure this outBEFORE borrowing the money. The interest rate is right there. Any idiot should be able to see that borrowing at 19% APR isn't the best idea if you aren't going to pay it off quickly.

Hey, I think it's a good idea. It's easy for the credit card companies to do (they've got all of the numbers andthe computing power) and the costwould be negligible. In addition, it might alert somecustomersthat they have a credit problem BEFORE it's too late.

Of course, that's assuming the credit card companieswant people to use credit responsibly, which,of course, they don't. They WANT people to carry balances at 19% interest.They want people to pay late so they can assess exorbitant late fees.

That’s why the credit card companiesalso offer credit to anyone that's still breathing - including high school students. I don’t think they’re soliciting grade school studentsyet, however, I wouldn’t put it past them! They don'tmakemoney on the frugal, financially disciplinedpeople who pay their balances off every month.

Finally, they want a free lunch. They want the return associated with a risky loan,e.g. 19%, but they don’t want to assume the risk. In addition, they want Uncle Sam to help them collect.

Hmmm. I can see how this is good government policy for the credit card companies. However, how is it good for the average person? :%

 

[Guest]

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Mike wrote:

BTW, the Great Depression had nothing to do with tax cuts. That is quite possibly the dumbest thing I've ever read. Tax cuts fuel demand via consumer spending.

Tax cuts decreased the revenue which in turn forced the gov to stop spending. The govt shut down. Remember the sheep on theCasa Blanco lawn crap? That was becausenone essential gov employees werefired. With Brentton Woods they could notrun a debt like the obviously can now.When the checkbook went negative they had to destory the checks.

Consumer spending is like trying to dig yourself out of a hole. It does not help with the trade balance. The savings rate is .02 now. I actually think it is negative since they saving rate does not factor in consumer credit interest.

If you think consumer spending fuels the economy in the long run. God help you! It is like charging all your Christmas present in November with reckless abandon. Because in Jan the bill because due. Sooner or later you will have to pay it.

History will repeat itself. You need to get your facts straight. YOU TRULY HAVE NO idea what you are talking about. You really don't and that is sad. Very sad.

Btw: Your statement is what they want you to think. However economically and fiscally it is the dumbest thing you can do - YET WE ARE DOING IT.

 

[Guest]

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rokid wrote:

That’s why the credit card companiesalso offer credit to anyone that's still breathing - including high school students.

Some friends of my parents that live down the street5 year old was offered a 30K credit card from Firstusa.

Iread stories that petsare offeredpreapproved credit cards.

You know that they say "They do not know you are a dog, on the internet".

Don't get worked up. This is chaos theory.

The youth have been brainwashed that - people bad - corporation good.

History repeats itself. However, when the youth are the ones that are getting chucked out to the street because of their out of control spending habits that is when it is time to pack it in. Game over - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

 

[Guest]

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American way, don't blame it on the credit card companies, we all needed them at one point:

20's: Buy your first car, get your first apartment, and furnishing's. How? Credit.........Don't forget the school loans........go out and have a good time every night.

30's: Start actually paying off some principle on those credit cards, get married, start a family, finally pay off those school loans, and maybebuy a house. How? Credit.........go out and have a good time on the weekends.

40's: Pay off all those credit cards, get a home loan to put your kids through college if you bought that house in your 30's, if not, buy that house now so your kids have a place to stay while they work at Mickey D's trying to put them selves through school, start an IRA with $1000, take a vacation. How? Credit...........

50's: Pay off those bills from Christmas, fix the roof on that house you bought in your 30's, put that $1000 you were gonna spend on vacation into your IRA, buy a 2 year old car and go watch a movie once a month. How? cREDIT...........

60's: Start planning for retirement, put new tires on that old car, pay for a new septic tank and or well. How? Credit..........take care of those grandkids while you wonder what happened to the money you put in your IRA,

70's: Pay for your husband's funeral. How? Credit.........Look forward to bingo on Thursdays and church on Sundays.

80's: Dementia sets in..................what bills?



Disclaimer: the previous story is only theoritical and not meant to portray what actually happens in ones life. Life is what you make of it and what you want it to be. A little credit helps once in awhile though.........:^

 

[Show-me]

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That was great but no one filed bankrupts in your version T_T. I have no problem with people having credit just don’t give them 20 credit cards, a house payment, car payment, and school loans at the same time and expect them to pay everything off. If we allow people to become so indebted they won’t give a crap if they ever pay it off. I love the commercial for lendingtree. “I’m up to my eyeballs in debt someone please help me.” I wonder how many people felt that hit home when they saw it.

If you dangle a carrot (credit) a few feet in front of a horse to entice it to work it will work. Trick is not to founder the horse on carrots or place the carrot so far away it won’t think it will ever get it. Credit companies are “foundering” people on credit and there is no end in sight so why try to pay off the debt. There are thousands of companies and attorneys that advertise to help you file bankruptcy so it must be OK.

Good luck this week T_T!:^

 

[Guest]

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Show-me wrote:

That was great but no one filed bankrupts in your version T_T. I have no problem with people having credit just don’t give them 20 credit cards, a house payment, car payment, and school loans at the same time and expect them to pay everything off. If we allow people to become so indebted they won’t give a crap if they ever pay it off. I love the commercial for lendingtree. “I’m up to my eyeballs in debt someone please help me.” I wonder how many people felt that hit home when they saw it.

If you dangle a carrot (credit) a few feet in front of a horse to entice it to work it will work. Trick is not to founder the horse on carrots or place the carrot so far away it won’t think it will ever get it. Credit companies are “foundering” people on credit and there is no end in sight so why try to pay off the debt. There are thousands of companies and attorneys that advertise to help you file bankruptcy so it must be OK.

Good luck this week T_T!:^

I prefer debt settlements....................TY, you too.

 

[Show-me]

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tsptorture wrote:

I prefer debt settlements....................TY, you too.

Me too!

 

[Rolo]

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ROFL!!! Torture, nuut...that was hilarious.



Montana wrote:

Fair and Balanced. We get to hear both sides and make our own minds up. Works for me. Wish someone would look into their crystal ball and tell me how long the energy bubble is going to last. :#

Ditto.



My six picks will be in by Tuesday, since I will be doing a little tweaking tomorrow...some of them I've mentioned in other threads, like my account talk, where I say what I am buying when *ahem* I buy it and why...very little domestic and in value funds, much foreign and energy.

 

[Montana]

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All mine is in Large Cap Value 25%, Foriegn 25%, Energy 30% and 20% Cash. All can be moved without penality within a day. No individual stocks. All Mutual Funds.

Nice to have you back Rolo. Must have been busy with the house.

 

[Rolo]

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muaha...I wish I were working on the house...I got this management seminar/class thing for six weeks...a lot of work...not much time for anything else.

It's nice that people noticed.

 

[Mike]

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Dr_Dubious wrote:

"Tax cuts decreased the revenue which in turn forced the gov to stop spending. The govt shut down. Remember the sheep on theCasa Blanco lawn crap? That was becausenone essential gov employees werefired. With Brentton Woods they could notrun a debt like the obviously can now.When the checkbook went negative they had to destory the checks."

Uh, no. The government has never stopped spending. I always found the term "non-essential employee" to be hilarious. If you aren't essential, why the heck are you an employee there?

"If you think consumer spending fuels the economy in the long run. God help you! It is like charging all your Christmas present in November with reckless abandon. Because in Jan the bill because due. Sooner or later you will have to pay it."

It does fuel the economy. I have taken college level micro and macroeconomics courses. I think I have some idea as to what I'm talking about here. The only issue with consumer spending is how much is fueled by revolving debt.

"History will repeat itself. You need to get your facts straight. YOU TRULY HAVE NO idea what you are talking about. You really don't and that is sad. Very sad."

My facts are straight, thank you very much. Good to know that itdidn't take you very long to revert back to your more typical MTbehavior.

"Btw: Your statement is what they want you to think. However economically and fiscally it is the dumbest thing you can do - YET WE ARE DOING IT."

I agree, the government spends far too much money. Entitlement programs and other reckless spending will be the death of us.

 

[cowboy]

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What are you trying to say mike? One paraghraph says the consumer spending doesn't fuel the economy, then the next says it is. I think right now that the US government is giving people jobs just to keep the money turning and about 75% of government jobs are just that. One thing I notice is a lot of people think they are essential and reality is, when their gone no one knows it. One thing about history is it sneaks up on you and it's there without u realizing it.

 

[Mike]

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I used a lot of quotation marks. I was saying that consumer spending fuels 2/3 of economic activity in the country, while MT was taking issue with that (and I went in alternating format with his quotes and my responses, which may have been confusing).

I have no idea how many people are not essential where I work, but I'd say the number is fairly high. Most of the people working there are specialists and can only work in one limited area. If the workload isn't that high in that area, they cannot "float" to a busier area to help. There was a crosstraining memo floated out months ago, but nothing ever came of it...gee, I wonder why. I'd venture a guess that the place could be run easily with 1/4 - 1/3 fewer people if the remainder were all generalists.

 

[cowboy]

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Mike wrote:

I used a lot of quotation marks. I was saying that consumer spending fuels 2/3 of economic activity in the country, while MT was taking issue with that (and I went in alternating format with his quotes and my responses, which may have been confusing).

I have no idea how many people are not essential where I work, but I'd say the number is fairly high. Most of the people working there are specialists and can only work in one limited area. If the workload isn't that high in that area, they cannot "float" to a busier area to help. There was a crosstraining memo floated out months ago, but nothing ever came of it...gee, I wonder why. I'd venture a guess that the place could be run easily with 1/4 - 1/3 fewer people if the remainder were all generalists.

I'll tell you why. They aren't any busier than anyone else. They just want you to think their doing everyone a service. Most of the time most government shows a work load just to justify jobs. If you do your work you have no work load do you. Many government offices are based on workload.

 

[Rolo]

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Mike wrote:

Dr_Dubious wrote:

"If you think consumer spending fuels the economy in the long run. God help you! It is like charging all your Christmas present in November with reckless abandon. Because in Jan the bill because due. Sooner or later you will have to pay it."

It does fuel the economy. I have taken college level micro and macroeconomics courses. I think I have some idea as to what I'm talking about here. The only issue with consumer spending is how much is fueled by revolving debt.

Not only does it fuel the economy, it is the whole premise behind the free-market system. duh. Otherwise, MT, what does fuel the economy?

(watch, he'll say taxes...snicker)

 

[Mike]

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Cowboy - actually, since I work in a hospital, there is a workload. Any lab testing that the doctors order - whether it's inpatient or outpatient clinics comes down to us. The lab has several sections, though - and it's possible for one to get a ton of things to do in a short amount of time while one or more of the other sections has very little to do. As long as those other sections are populated by specialists, it is not possible for them to assist the busier areas of the lab. That is grossly inefficient and not cost effective.

I could easily justify my job based on the hours I work (that nobody else wants) and the number of things I know how to do there. I'm actually a useful federal employee that would have little trouble getting a job in the private sector if I needed to do that (especially now that I've hit the magic 2 years of experience threshold). Once in awhile, I receive mailings from various places asking me to apply for a job with them... I even received one a few days ago telling me about supervisory job opportunities for people with 3 years of experience. Heh.

Rolo - he could say a number of things... government spending, social security, who knows...

Interestingly, in economic calculations, government spending is counted the same as individual spending. When it comes to the sum total of economic activity, spending is spending, after all. The only difference is that government spending is far less efficient than the private sector for the most part.